Striker - A Realistic Saga which strikes the chord but end up confusing .
Director: Chandan Arora
Running Length: 2 Hours
Genre: Drama
Striker strikes the chord with its portrayal of some realistic drama on the silver screen. Although based on the backdrop of infamous 1992 Mumbai communal riots, the riots have barely anything to do with the movie.
Chandan Arora has tried to do something new this time after his delightful Main, Meri Patni aur Woh and Aaja Nach Le.
STORY:
The plot set in 1980’s in Malvani, a ghetto in Mumbai, it’s a story of a carom player Surya (Siddharth) staying in a dingy 10x10 shack in Malvani, who aims at becoming big in this city of dreams. As rightly said by Siddharth, Us waqt humko yeh nahin maloom tha ki Bombay ko jitna bhi dekho, roz thoda aur dikhta hai.
Surya surrounded by his mother Seema Biswas, his elder brother(Anoop Soni) and his sister(Vidya Malwade), lives a peaceful life till the time the greed for money steps in their life’s. Annop soni messes with the the hard Goon Jaleel bhai of Malvani, excellently played by Aditya Pancholi, while Surya is still small. Anoop in a fuss to make some quick bucks lands up in a tiff with Jaleel, but quickly realizes that he is too small to fight with Jaleel bhai. The film magnificently portrays the period when Surya grows up with his brother playing as a master in teaching him the finest nuances of carom.
Surya grows into a menacing Siddharth to work as a courier boy transporting Gold articles from one jeweler to other in the city while his best buddy Zaid( Ankur Vakil) becomes a criminal vagabond. The desire to make it big still running in the veins of now Siddharth, who trusts a placement consultancy, promised to send him to Dubai for work, despite being cautioned by his brother. The consultancy fakes him and despite of his family constantly protesting, the love for carom and money makes Siddhart enter into the world of illegal betting and finally placing his foothold as a kheli. Siddharth is an excellent striker, and he again comes into a touch with Jaleel, now a bigger don. Meanwhile a new cop (Anupam Kher) has landed in Mumbai determined to clean up Malvani from the clutches of the bhaigiri of goons. Expectedly his affinities to Jallel for money gets him into trouble with cops, distances from his family and yes a bigger trouble with Jaleel himself and ends not very nice at all.
Striker scores full for its realistic portrayal and authenticity, but falters eventually because it tends to become confusing. Siddharth delivers an excellent performance displaying susceptibility when required or a spirit of a teenage guy when required.
Stealing the show, however, is Ankur Vikal who is extraordinary as the free-spirited, hyperactive Zaid. It’s among the finest acting pieces you will see this year.
The script of the movie becomes puzzled and despite Chandan Arora’s sincere efforts in making it lively, somewhere it becomes intense and boring to handle by the audiences. There are two romantic tracks, which don’t leave any impact either on your heart or your mind. It’s not a bad movie at all but yes it could have been much better.
My rating for the Movie: 3