Most often Indian directors hesitate to film the rural life of India as they may feel that the audience may not like to watch the penury prevailing in the villages. Very rarely do such ventures hit the screens which thrive the furious marketing campaigns of other urban-oriented movies. Paan Singh Tomar is one such movie which tells the story of a real-life Robinhood rooted in the realities of Indian villages. The movie is a biopic of a national Steeplechase champion, Paan Singh Tomar who represented India in the Asian Games, Tokyo, 1958 who later turned to a dacoit or a rebel(as he likes to call himself) because of certain land disputes upon which the police and the authorities turned a blind eye.
The movie made with a shoestring budget of 8 crores reaped a huge success and enjoyed much critical acclaim. Irfan Khan who enacted the role of Paan Singh internalized the character with its subtleties and proved his mettle in portraying powerful characters once again. The movie evolves with natural dialogues typical to the rural backdrop of Madhya Pradesh and tries hitting the ground realities of the land starkly. The director does have an eye for perfection and succeeds in maintaining that throughout the movie.
Still, the movie is not a perfect one. The script fails to logically explain the character transition which Irfan Khan masks with his acting skills. The film loosely explains how Paan Singh transitions himself from an athlete to a dacoit. That part is very fast for the viewer to follow. Also the brilliance which the director and the scriptwriter has shown in establishing a character does not happen in obliterating them. This seems very obvious in the case of Paan Singh’s wife brilliantly played by Mahie Gill. This character comes and goes out of the screen without any discipline which sometimes annoys the viewer.
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