Victory

Harman stars as Vijay Shekhawat, a small-town kid, brimming with batting potential, who gets selected to play for the Indian cricket team. His is an overnight success story. From anonymous newcomer to Next Big Thing, it doesn't take long for him to fall in the wrong company - in this case a cunning talent manager (played by Gulshan Grover) who lands him big endorsement deals, but also distracts him from the game and gets him addicted to wine, women and wealth. By the time our hero realises he's lost everything that's dear to him, it's a tad too late. But nothing that a lazy screenplay-writer can't solve by resorting to the oldest clichés in the book.Victory too is more predictable than the weather in Alaska.Victory, unfortunately, is a completely forgettable film whose scenes play out exactly how you'd expect them to. Sports films often follow the same blueprint; there's rarely any surprise in how a film about cricket or football or hockey will turn out - the hero's side always wins. You see, the trick is not in the ending, but in how you reach the ending. Think about it - were you surprised that the villagers beat the British in "Lagaan", or that the Indian women's hockey team won the match in "Chak De India"? No, you knew that was going to happen twenty minutes into both films. It's the journey up to that expected ending that made both those films special. The problem with Victory is, there is nothing to discover, nothing to surprise you, and nothing exciting at all about how it reaches its expected ending. Amateurishly directed by Ajitpal Mangat, the film is laughable in its supposedly emotional scenes, and too long by at least twenty minutes. The climax, a real hoot, is inspired much from Indian cricket history, with creative liberties thrown in for good measure. So you have six sixers back-to-back, and one final one that smashes the floodlights. All this delivered by our hero who's bleeding profusely from the head, his vision blurred from the injury. Now the big question - has Harman improved since "Love Story 2050"? Well, he's lost some of his stiffness, and his acting's a lot less labored for sure. But it's going to take a much better film and a less stereotyped character for him to show what he's really got. I would recommend, additionally, that he fire his make-up man instantly - the patches on the forehead, the uneven pancake really doesn't make much of an impression. Amrita Rao is wasted as our hero's childhood love; and Anupam Kher hams it up as Shekhawat's upright father, cracking you up with his rhythmic paralytical spasms. It is a film that reduces real heroes like Harbhajan Singh and Brett Lee to junior artistes in the background. Watch it only if you have a high threshold for pain.

Going into the film I had absolutely no expectations...I tend to find any hyped bollywood movie to be overly hyped and full of rubbish. But I was left surprised, very pleasantly surprised and that was a good thing. There's nothing worse than having to sit through a movie with no expectations and get what you expect...

Sure there are flaws in this movie...Vijay's historic rise as a top class batsman is quite unbelievable given that he's goes straight from a virtual nobody to being the hero of the nation in one series...Not to mention the high scores he was achieving...Having watched cricket games it's not all fours, sixes and slogs always...not in ODIs. It's a different matter if we were talking about 20/20 but the game in this movie was ODI and not 20/20. If you want to get technical you've got to consider the weather, the state of the pitch, the ball etc etc. But we'll ignore these. Even so I'm sure the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Yuvraj would love to post consistent numbers as Vijay starts off with...

If the script lapsed in notable fashion it would have to be the transition of Vijay from earnest hardworking, straight laced batsman to playboy, rich kid snob. This faux pas could have been forgiven in the 80s when this sort of thing might have been the norm but sportmen of today are a different breed. They watch what they eat and do, how they act, what actions you perform. The eyes of the public, thanks to the scrutiny of the media, is piercing and unyielding. How Vijay can allow himself to act like a 70s rock star is nonsensical and the transition from one extreme to the other shows a one dimensional thought from the director and writers. Are there any cricketers who act like that today? Would that sort of behaviour be tolerated for an extended period of time? The flow of the movie is decent- there is thankfully not too many moments of over melodrama though the tense ending is quite a stretch.

Acting wise not many complaints. Harman Baweja is okay but at least he takes to the batsman role quite well having done some background research and practicing the swings and poses. At times he looks like a real player but we'll ignore the stupendous amount of sixes he hits. Amrita Rao had a small role but and she was okay. She's quite the expert in playing the friend whose girlfriend/love potential is never realized till the last third of the movie.

Victory is very much like Chak De India though thankfully there's no shah rukh khan to overact and spoil the flow and energy. So far it is the best cricket movie to be made thus far with the exception of the excellent Iqbal. Hopefully there will be others good ones to come forth, just as I hope there will be other football movies to outshine the terrible Goal movie and its subsequent sequels.

Who should watch this? Everyone- it might get a bit slow at times but at the end you won't really find a reason to account for the lost time.

Watched it because I had a few hours to kill and in hindsight I should have just wasted those three hours staring at the sky then watching this movie.

An impressive list of cricketers make their debut with this movie though most of them can be seen only for a few seconds each. The story was PATHETIC. I didn't think Harman Baweja could sink lower than Love Story 2050 but he has managed to do that. The story simply did not make much sense and most of the cricket scenarios are extremely difficult in real life. Getting selected for the Indian team after just one national match is something even Sachin Tendulkar could not manage. It was as if every ball he faced would go outside the boundary which is nearly impossible in real life. Even the reasons why the mob attacks his house are flimsy.

The only saving grace were the various cricketers from around the world. Harman Baweja does not know how to act. Amrita Rao looked pretty. Anumpam Kher was good.

Trust me, save yourself the admission fees and donate it instead. The entire theater (which would be around 10 people on the first day of release) was laughing at every point in the story because of its stupidity, even the "tragic" moments at the end of the movie.

PS : Show me one cricketer who can hit a ball so high and hard, that it would break the floodlights :P

Victory is perhaps one of the best sports movies i have ever seen. Of course its predictable but so are all sports movies. Harman's acting was the only reason why i didn't vote it 10/10. The script is taut, emotional and very racy. I loved amrita rau;s performance, she's very pretty too. Victory is beautiful because its not a typical bollywood flick, the romance is not typical bollywood, there's no dancing and prancing around the trees and there's no melodrama despite being strong on emotions. The simple story of a cricketer who rises from ashes to glory is very simply put without going overboard with fancy gimmicks or fancy camera movements. In fact i remember Richard attenborough's quote after Gandhi that "the best films are the ones which are most simply told without complicating issues and without letting technique overtake the storytelling" and i would say the director ajitpal mangit has done exactly that. He is a master storyteller, one of the best from bollywood. VICTORY TO VICTORY

Victory may not be able to win the race of box office..but it is a good sign for Harman S. Baweja who blundered his debut LS2050.Actually 'VICTORY' is only watchable because of the 45 cricketers in it and the leading man Harman.The script of the film is a bit dull.Music is totally boring and irritating.Only one song is there which can be listened.The theme of the film is good.This is a story of Rise-Fall-Rise of a cricketer named Vijay played by Harman.The other casts of the film were reliable and they did average and good job.But main attraction is actually the boy who failed to make the first impression in his very first film.But Victory will give Harman his proper distinguished recognition. The film is good for one time.The lagging script and bad music are the main negative points.Positive points are...Harman..the real life Cricketers...The story and theme.This is not at all a landmark.It is just a plain entertaining sports movie.