Chanthupottu (2005) : A Controversy

                            Chanthupottu is a Malayalam movie directed by Lal Jose and released in 2005 . It tells the story of Radhakrishn...

Jan 29, 2016

Saala Khadoos Movie Review


Films that have subjects connecting sports related issues and sports personalities instantly click with the audience. Even though majority of them that we have seen have a similar build up and style, the presentation and spirit in them pull the audience to watch such films that serve as a motivator, a tonic for inspiration and for a positive attitude in life.
"Saala Khadoos", is the latest of the flicks to join the bandwagon of sports movies. Sudha Kongara's story and film is a well presented film with boxing as its backdrop. Even with similar style of narrative and having the essence of movies like Chak De India, Bhaag Milka Baag, Mary Kom etc etc, Saala Khadoos in my opinion is a winner.
The character played by Madhavan is named Adi is an acclaimed boxing coach . He is a short tempered guy. Disputes with the boxing federation puts him on a tranfer mode from Haryana (which has promising talents in the sport) to Chennai that has a scarcity of promising puglists. Now it is upto Adi to pick some talented youth from there.
He spots Madhi, a fisherwomen and trains her seeing spark of talent in the girl despite some emotional problems and unbalance in her character. Their journey as a team towards attaining glory is the basic thread of Saala Khadoos.
Despite the predictable nature of the story and cliches creating a bad mood, the film is high on spirits and deliver a good punch. Melodrama in some of the situations plus dialogues and the expected ending do cast a dark spell on the overall impact Saala Khadoos can make. But its the performance and properly written characters that takes the film forward and makes it a pretty decent one for a watch.
When it came to the performance, Madhavan I would say perfectly fitted into the role of Adi Tomar. He was able to bring life into that character and also looked at ease in his effort. Zakkir Hussain as Dev Khatri, the head coach of Women's boxing association was a safe bet and did his act cleanly.
But the best of the performance came from a debutant named Ritika Singh who didn't give a signal at all that she was facing camera for the first time. From real life boxer to the reel life, Ritika was the surprise package of the film and will definitely go places. A promising talent indeed!
The lady who acted as her sister was also a proper casting and made her acting count. Having mentioned the above people, one cannot turn a blind eye towards the performance of Tamil actor Nasser as the junior coach at Chennai.
Songs and background score were good. Decent cinematography and neat work at the editing table from the editing team. Boxing matches have been choreographed pretty well.
Saala Khadoos has a heart in it and as a sports movie it wins over your heart though melodrama and an easy predictable route to the climax play spoilsport as an annoying factor in the final outcome. Despite these odds and not delivering a knockout punch, this film on boxing is a film that you can straightaway head to without any inhibitions. I am going with three out of five as my personal rating.
Rating - 3 / 5

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