Take away a man's passion, watch a living skeleton...
Arjun Talwar, a skilled cricketer, abandons his sport, joins a government job & supports his family. Legal issues snatch his job & he is unemployed.
Arjun Talwar fades away.
The plot depicts how this lost, faded & rusted man comes back. A very quintessential trope, quite regularly used in plots, thus what this film needed to work was its screenplay.
And it worked.
Cricket was a backdrop to this film. What really made the screenplay special was the core chemistry shared between each & every character thus giving an ode to some truly elegant writing.
The film is about the journey of a man's love for his family & himself and all these forms of love are shown effortlessly, motivating the viewer & making him love his vision of life, slightly more.
Additional points:
Punjabi dialogues never felt forced from any actor.
Music is thoroughly enjoyable throughout the film.
Acting: The reason why I'm mentioning this aspect under a separate heading is that it stands out as the best part of this film. The beautiful dynamic between a fatherly coach Pankaj Kapoor & Shahid Kapoor (real life son) is beautiful. Also, the father-son chemistry shows how good a father Arjun actually is.
Well, this film really comprises some mainstream Bollywood non-cringeworthy romance, yes, quite a vestigial trope. Such organic chemistry between the leads show how skilled they are as actors & how beautifully they portrayed the ups & downs of a difficult relationship. Mrunal Thakur gave a compelling performance.
Shahid Kapoor. Till date, the man has surprised the audience every single time he came on screen. Haider, Kaminey, Jab We Met, Udta Punjab, Kabir Singh & whatever the film might be, he has managed to bring something new, something unique in every single performance he gave & this is no exception. Every single phase of Arjun was played effortlessly yet attentively. Long way to go, Shahid.
Jersey review. 23.04.22.
