Irudhi Suttru

'Saala Khadoos' is A Commendable Effort by Writer-Director Sudha Kongara, which also tunes in strong performances. Its a familiar setting no doubt, but the narrative is interesting & also genuine.

'Saala Khadoos' is The story of a former boxer (R. Madhavan) who quits boxing following a fallout with the authorities over the underlying politics but goes on to coach a fisher-woman (Ritika Singh) to fulfill his dream through her.

'Saala Khadoos' is a yet another story of an Underdog's triumph, despite all the hurdles & struggles. Its fun to watch the Arrogant Khadoos Coach train an equally Fiery Student. Sunanda Raghunathan & Kongara's Screenplay isn't innovative as such, but its well-written & well-paced. Even the dialogue, are real. Kongara's Direction is commendable. Cinematography is fine. Editing is crisp. Santhosh Narayanan's Score is first-class.

Performance-Wise: R. Madhavan is terrific. He enacts his part with utmost honesty & conviction. Ritika Singh is brilliant. She makes a smashing debut, matching up to the mighty Madhavan at all times. Nassar is flawless, as always. Mumtaz Sorcar excels. Zakir Hussain is perfect as the antagonist.

On the whole, 'Saala Khadoos' is worth watching.

Complaint about this movie is that the story is predictable. Yes. Even Airlift movie's story is predictable. And in case of sports based film there's mostly the same story line. "A coach/player will lose and eventually win themselves or make someone win at the end".

It's the screenplay which makes the difference here!!

Screenplay - No-nonsense and straight to the point. It deals with the characters' screen time perfect. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Direction - Narration by the director is really good. Not fast paced. But well paced. Director had brought the things required for the film very well . Be it the acting or the environment.

Acting - Ritika Singh steals the show. There aren't words to describe her performance. Only when watching the film we realize. Madhavan as usual sticks to the character and performed just perfect!! A live example for versatile acting. Other supporting characters contribute their best. Only con is that some unknown faces don't make us feel emotional at times.

Music - Soundtrack of the film as audio doesn't bring much. But when combined with the frames of the film creates magic!! Santhosh Narayanan has given one of his best works.

There are many moments in the film where the wit of the director is highlighted - be it the jokes or the twists or social issue, they have been blended in the picture smooth.

Watch it for Ritika Singh, Madhavan, Sudha, Santhosh Narayanan!!

Very refreshing to see Hindi film with meaningful content. Air Lift and now Saala Khadoos. Maddy and Ritika has done a great job and for a small film its amazing to see what they have done that big filmmaker fail to do. wish more of films like these comes out of our bollywood.

The technical details and able to have a realistic fights like what Ritika has done is very believable and sad to know that we have talented people in every field but blocked by these goons politicians. as Maddy said correctly in the film, remove the politics from the sport and you will find champions in every ally of the country. imagine what India can do in Boxing, and other sports, how about Soccor qualified for FIFA?

Excellent direction, excellent acting, nice screen play. Unexpected reality movie from Bollywood. If you have played any games in the ring or if you truly have experience of sports in India, this is perfect movie for you. It will hold you from start to end. Madhavan and Madhi(Female boxer) have done great job. Hopefully this movie will do good at box office so Bollywood gets inspired to make such movies instead of Melodramas or boring superstar movies like Prem ratan dhan payo etc. Story is completely roaming around boxing. It covers the real face of politics in sports which provides the suspense in the movie. Good fight scenes, good direction and screen play. Must watch in theater.

SCREENPLAY- The movie consists of very powerful plot and old wine in a new bottle with some unexpected twists which can lead the movie into a new level.

DIALOGUES - Dialogues of the movie is very much fresh and impactful. But the best one was

"Kaun Kehta Hai Ki Hindustanion Main Dumb Nahi Hai, Sports Main Se Politics Hatake Dekho, Gali Gali Mein Champions Milenge."

followed by

"Madhi: I Love You Master. Adi Tomar : Main Tere Baap Ki Umar Ka Hoon. Madhi: Bahot Saare Aate Hainmeri Baap Ki Umar Ke, Un Sabh Ko Jaake I LOVE YOU Nahin Bolti. Life Mein First Time Kisi Ko I LOVE YOU Bola Hai.Main Nahi Darr Rahi, Tu Kyun Darr Raha Hai. Tune Toh Kitno Ko Bola Hoga"

MUSIC - Music is done by the new face in tamil industry Santhosh Narayanan who haven't done justice to the songs but the songs are relevant to the situation.

ACTING - R. Madhavan is the "One Man Army" in the movie who took this script into the next level and not even a single time he has disappointed his fans in this movie. The debutante Ritika Singh is awesome with her role in the movie, the real life boxer looks very pretty and very comfortable with Madhavan but the real focus is Madhavan who is just incredible.

DRAWBACKS -

Drawback of this movie is the story, which is not a fresh one as the audience have already experienced the flavor of this type of movies before in Chak De,Mary Kom and like previous ones also in this movie the importance is given only to the coach & player.