Chandu Champion Movie Review: Move over Vicky Kaushal’s “How’s the Josh?”, Kartik Aaryan’s dialogue “Chandu nahi, Champion hai main” from Kabir Khan’s latest directorial ‘Chandu Champion’ is here to win your hearts and fill you with myriads of emotions. Through this sports biopic, Kartik and Kabir have brought a heartwarming tale of Murlikant Petkar’s life — the struggles and the milestones that he achieved in his career – to the big screen. Produced by Nadiadwala Grandsons, the film takes you back to the 1970s when Petkar was fighting all odds to become an Olympic champion.
A young Murli dreams of securing a gold medal for India at the Olympics. Thanks to legendary wrestler Dara Singh, Murli is drawn to wrestling since childhood and decides to start training in his village at a very young age. Through his adolescence, he manages to get fit and learn the moves and tricks of the sport by just watching others wrestle in the arena. A local competition in the village sees Murli take the centre stage without any formal training and manage to defeat his opponent, who also happens to be a newbie, but with formal training in the sport.
This is where his journey begins. He is forced to run away after the fight and that’s where he catches the train that drops him one station closer to his dream land. The first half comprises his journey from a young athlete to a mature sportsperson and also as a soldier in the Indian Army.
One might even draw similarities to that of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, which depicts Milkha Singh’s (played by Farhan Akhtar) life inside a military training camp in Secunderabad. A strict and loud instructor, young aspiring soldiers and how they stay, enjoy, eat and train together is what makes the majority of the first half. Here, at the training center, Murli shifts from being a wrestler to a boxer, and becomes a pro in the sport thanks to Tiger Ali, played by Vijay Raaz. The training and transformation of Murli from a wrestler to a professional boxer will surely remind you of Eye Of The Tiger from Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky series. But don’t let your comparisons take the front seat, yet!
The second half showcases different emotional phases and struggles of Murli who gets paralysed from knee down after being hit by nine bullets during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The journey from being a person, ready to give up on life to becoming a Paralympic gold medalist, Murli’s story makes the second half look fresh and takes the film a notch higher. Undoubtedly, Kartik has delivered his career-best performance that aptly conveys his character’s inner turbulence, much of it derived from Murli’s childhood bullying and people’s disbelief in his potential. Moreover, it’s the emotional yet rousing finale that will have audiences cheering for Kartik, the star.
Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav and Bhuvan Arora have also done excellent job and played their parts with utmost conviction. Overall, Chandu Champion, skilfully directed by Kabir Khan, proves irresistible with its powerful feel-good story.
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