Okay, so now I know there exists a blind cricket team in India and elsewhere. Period.
Other than this general knowledge, the whole film looked like a gimmicky documentary under the disguise of generic cinema. Happy Journey basically talks about a man's ambition to play cricket for his country. An accident makes him blind and his ambition strengthens, as a result. All this is good fieldwork for a potential script. But what follows is a ridiculous plot which bludgeons the whole film.
A team is formed from around the nation by a so-called coach (Lal) who is also a delivery boy for a fast food chain (impersonator; NFC a la KFC). There is high degree of melodrama & politics as these points are shown. And if you have watched the hit Hindi film Chak De! India, then you know how the rest of the film advances to an even ludicrous climax.
Aparna Gopinath is hideous as the climax is irrelevant. I wonder how much she was paid for the blink-and-you-miss role. A hundred? Or a thousand? Towards the end, things are shown which either do not need mention or are totally unnecessary. Talk about creating character depth. Jayasurya might have worked hard but even he shows poor stances. Supporting cast overact. The screenplay is very poor and so is the direction. Cinematography is fine, but that doesn't matter. And, the way the story is unfolded with no coherence between shots is another reason to skip this hackneyed piece of ambitious tomfoolery.
BOTTOM LINE: I might have chuckled a few times and that was strictly in the first 30 minutes or so. Not recommended! Do not let the previews, interviews & reviews fool you.
