Move over, Mary Kom: 10 reasons why Madhavan-starrer 'Saala Khadoos' is a winner

A week after a lurid sex comedy hit the screens, the Indian box-office braces itself for a rare, sports-based film that comes with the unusual title of Saala Khadoos. It stars the voluntarily exiled (he used the time to train for his character) Tamil-Hindi actor R Madhavan as a raging disgraced ex-boxer on a comeback trail. If these reasons aren't enough to get you excited about this film, here are some more:

Madhavan in a still from Saala Khadoos. 

1. This year seems to be the year of boxers and wrestlers on screen. After Madhavan in Saala Khadoos, it’s Randeep Hooda plays a boxer in Do Lafzon Ki Kahani, ​Salman Khan in Sultan and Aamir Khan in Dangal​ also play wrestlers​. Last year, we saw Akshay Kumar​ as a boxer ​ in Brothers.
   
   2. There are no major stars except Madhavan in Saala Khadoos, the Tamil-Hindi actor who was sidelined for his understated layered performance in Raj Kumar Hirani’s historical hit 3 Idiots and as a wounded spouse in the two Tanu Weds Manu movies. In Saala Khadoos Maddy takes centrestage for a change, and how!

3. Madhavan took two years off from acting, to bulk and beef up for his role as Adi Tomar, the burnt-out, raging wrestler who gets one more unexpected shot at glory. Not only did Maddy transform himself physically, he entered the mind of the embittered boxer to occupy his character’s heart and soul. The dedication shows.

4. Real-life boxer Ritika Singh is the promising upcomer who Maddy mentors. Ritika unlearned all her boxing skills in front of the camera to look convincing as Maddy’s pupil.

5. Getting Raj Kumar Hirani on board as co-producer for the Hindi version was a masterstroke (the Tamil version is called Irrudhi Suttru). Potential viewers began to see Saala Khadoos as a ‘Hirani type of film’, which is motivational and engaging. Hirani has gone all-out to support and promote Saala Khadoos.

6. The director has been with the project for 6 years. Sudha Kongara Prasad has lived through every moment of the script before putting it on screen. She isn’t faking the conflicts. Every character and every moment in the script is based on actuality. How many films of today can you say that about?

7. The fights and the conflicts look real and not staged. Since both the protagonists in the film are boxers, the fights go for the kill.

8. It’s been a while since we had a rugged, no-holds-barred film with a sporty background. Lagaan, Chak De India and Mary Kom are the only names that come to mind. There has been no sports film worth talking about since then.

9. Saala Khadoos releases a week after Airlift. Both are inspirational stories with the same theme — faith can move mountains. Moreover, Saala Khadoos opens alongside Mastizaade, which has its own mountains to climb.

10. Saala Khadoos will release in 2 versions. In Hindi and Tamil. The Tamil version Irudhi Suttru has a different tone and content from the Hindi version. Two interpretations of the same plot is an interesting way to reserve audiences’ attention across a broad bandwidth.

Saala Khadoos: unable to rise above predictability

 The trailer of Saala Khadoos made one fear the worst; the template -- a disgraced coach finding redemption in the success of his protégé -- seemed an instant throwback to Chak De India, as did the running theme of corruption in sports officialdom. Saala Khadoos does deal with both the issues; only the game here happens to be boxing, and not hockey. Having said that, the opening sequence, high on energy and drama, holds the promise that the film might just have a voice and mind of its own. Unfortunately, it proves to be a short-lived assurance.

What follows is a shrill melodrama set against a rather hastily put together, synthetic poverty backdrop. On facing unsubstantiated sexual harassment charges, boxing coach Adi Tomar (Madhavan) is sent off from Hisar to Chennai where he finds a potential champion in Madi (Reetika) whose sister Lux (Mumtaz), part of the boxing team, is trying to get a police job with her sports credentials. Neither of the girls seems to belong to the underprivileged world they are supposed to come from, and seems more planted than the inhabitants of the space. Madi is as far as it can get from being a machchiwali (fisherwoman). Which is quite ok. Mainstream films are all about suspension of disbelief but only if you can connect with the characters, their provocations and destinies. In Saala Khadoos you remain eminently disinterested.

Director: Sudha Kongara
Cast: R. Madhavan, Ritika Singh, Nassar, Mumtaz Sorcar, Zakir Hussain
Run time: 1 hour 50 min

Sentimentality in narration takes over the essential sports. At some point you wonder if this is a film about boxing bouts or the guru-shishya relationship. Which would have been just as good had it been well grounded. The emotional turnarounds are unconvincing, contrived and excessive. The climax far from rousing.

The film does interesting experiment in bridging the North-South divide to reach out to a bigger chunk of the audience. And not just by being bilingual. Madi’s mother and grandmother, for instance are obviously North Indian, Gujarati or Marwari perhaps. You keep wanting to know more of their antecedents. But it’s a thread that’s left hanging loose.

The central characters might be nicely defined on paper but the performances are set a few notes too high. It’s nice to see old-timers Nasser amd M.K. Raina but they are made to do righteous turns. It’s Zakir Hussain as the rapacious coach who stands out despite the predictable villainous turn. Madhavan puts on a lot of bulk, is sincere and dependable as usual but sparks refuse to fly between him and the new girl Reetika who is fresh-faced but the film is not. Saala Khadoos is unable to rise above the predictability and time-worn clichés of an average sports movies. One hopes the Tamil version would have come together better.