Chandu Champion Review: A Feel-Good Underdog Story with Strong Performances
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Vijay Raaz, Bhuvan Arora, Yashpal Sharma, Palak Lalwani
Director: Kabir Khan
Where to Watch: In theaters
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars)
Kartik Aaryan’s most awaited film Chandu Champion has been released in theatres today (14 June). The story of the film is based on the life of the country’s first Paralympic gold medalist Muralikant Petkar. The film’s director Kabir Khan had organized a special screening of the film a day earlier, those who saw the film then are not tired of praising it and even today the film’s shows have started in the theatres since morning. Some people have called it the best film of the year 2024. Critics are giving it a rating of 4 stars out of 5. It is said that Karthik Aryan played the character of Muralikant Petkar very well. Directed by Kabir Khan, this film is a biographical sports drama, which shows both the victories and failures of Murali.
If a person is so famous that people know almost everything about him, then why would anyone go to watch a film made about him? For example, you can count ‘PM Narendra Modi’ and ‘Main Atal Hoon’, ‘Swatantra Veer Savarkar’, ‘Thalaivi‘, ‘Indu Sarkar’, ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’. And, if people have never heard anything about a person, will the crowd flock to the cinema halls to watch his biopic? To get the answer to this question, you can count the names of films like ‘Sirf Ek Banda Kaafi Hai’, ‘Maharaj’ etc. Both these films went straight to OTT. Making a biopic in Hindi cinema has been a big challenge in itself. Most films end up being hagiographies (songs of praise) instead of biopics. Films like ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, and ’12th Fail’ raise hopes but one special thing in both these films was that these stories have been in books. And, from there reached the silver screen. The first biopic of Kartik Aryan’s career Chandu Champion is a film lost somewhere between all these lines.
Chandu Champion Review: The Story Plot
The film begins with an old Murli, who is sitting in a police station and telling the story of his good times to some policemen. He tells them why even today, 40 years later, he deserves to receive the Arjuna Award from the government. The story goes into flashback and from there begins Murli’s life. How a boy born in a small village in Maharashtra wants to win an Olympic gold medal for India since childhood. He is a fan of Dara Singh and for this, he learns wrestling. He takes boxing training in the army and then becomes the ‘Wonder Boy from India’. Every aspect of Murlikant Petkar’s story has been shown in this film. Chandu Champion is Kartik Aaryan’s film. Yes, this is only Kartik Aaryan’s film. He is playing the role of Muralikant Petkar who learned wrestling secretly from his family. When he defeated the village’s son-in-law in the ring, he had to run away from the village. While running away, he became a soldier. He joined the army with the dream of winning the Olympic gold medal and when he got the gold medal, nine bullets had already entered his body.
He had been in a coma for a long time. The part below his waist had become completely useless. He had tried to commit suicide and had also placed a bet on the gambling business of Ratan Khatri, whose biopic ‘Matka King’ Nagraj Manjule started making for Prime Video two days ago, i.e. Matka. This story of Muralikant Petkar is really very interesting to hear. The story in the film starts when the elderly Muralikant has reached the police station to file an ‘FIR’ against the President of India. No case can be registered or tried against the President of India in any police station or court in India. This is a tribute to the Indian Constitution for its President. The film, however, begins with the names of former presidents instead of the current President. But, this takeoff of the film is its first big mistake.
Chandu Champion Review and Analysis
The film begins with a scene from the police station in the Sangli district of Maharashtra. The scene is from 2017 where Murlikant Petkar is seen struggling to get respect for himself and basic facilities for the village. After this, the film goes into the past. Director Kabir Khan has connected the past with the present through episodes. He has proved successful to a great extent, but in between, the story has also seemed boring and irrelevant many times, which can reduce the interest of the audience, but the acting of the actors in the film is excellent. The cinematography is very good. The background music could have been better. The film shows swimming, boxing, and wrestling. Many successful films have already been made on all these subjects and sports have been shown in detail in them.
That detail was lacking in this film, but still, the audience can go to the theatres to understand the real-life struggle of Murlikant Petkar, to see the excellent acting of the actors, and to see another successful biopic of Kabir Khan. These are the three reasons due to why you should definitely watch the film once. The scene shown in reverse during the climax is excellent, the duration of the film is 2 hours 23 minutes. For some time, the film does feel boring, but in the end, it will be worth your money. Yashpal Sharma, Vijay Verma, and Rajpal Yadav gave a wonderful performance in the film, which proved to be effective in keeping you hooked to the film. Kartik Aryan’s Marathi accent in the film will not impress you much, but the way he has worked hard to bring the life of Muralikant Petkar on screen, that hard work will be visible in his acting, in such a situation would not be wrong to say that the film is definitely worth watching once.
At one time, this was a very popular phrase in Hindi cinema. Those who said this never thought about it, nor did they implement it. You can find this out in their films. But you find this in Chandu Champion. They have not chosen the heroic path to show the story of Murlikant Petkar. Because they know that his story is the hero of the film. As long as you are making a film on a story, reality remains. When you make a film on a story, it becomes something else. Like a legend. Less believable. Avoiding this is the first victory of the Chandu Champion. Chandu Champion may be sold in the name of Kartik Aryan, but it will be seen because of Kabir Khan. Because of his grip on his craft. The emotions his films create within you are universal. To see and understand his films, you are enough to be a human being. Chandu Champion is not an extraordinary film. Nor is it something that we have not seen before. Despite this, there is something new in it. Despite being a template cinema, it is something different. It can be called an Indian ‘Forest Gump’. Or it can be seen by connecting it a little with ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’. But this is a third kind of cinema.
However, the film takes artistic liberties on several occasions. For example, in one scene, Murali’s character is wrestling. In between, he is also looking at the prize money. At this point, the film stops. It seems that Murali’s opponent is also waiting to continue the fight once Murali sees the money. However, this can be considered cinematic liberty and moved on. But these few seconds dent the reputation of a good film. The biggest flaw in Chandu Champion seems to be Kartik Aaryan himself. Except for a few scenes after the interval, Kartik seems to be short-handed in the entire film. Everywhere, only his physical transformation is being talked about. How much he has internalized this character, is not heard anywhere. Nor is it seen in the film. This can be called Kartik’s best work. Because he has worked more or less as hard in this film as his character has in the film. This is a film that challenges the actor within Kartik. But he should take this challenge not only physically, but also mentally. However, Kartik should be applauded for choosing such films.
In the film, Murali’s childhood character is played by a child actor. Due to haste, the name of that child could not be ascertained. But you want to see that child on screen for a little longer. This was a completely new type of experience for me. Usually, we want our hero to grow up quickly. So that the hero comes on screen. In Chandu Champion, Vijay Raj plays the role of a boxing coach named Tiger Ali. This is the funniest character in the film. But it is not just comic relief. It has a huge contribution to the story. Kabir Khan has shown in this film how to utilize your actors, even in small roles. Because when you have actors like Rajpal Yadav, Brijendra Kala, and Yashpal Sharma, you cannot let them go just like that. Brijendra Kala’s role may be as small as a cameo. But even in that, you can feel his influence on the film.
The story of the film Chandu Champion is such that not only those who are interested in films, but even those who know the personalities of Maharashtra would be less aware of it. Murlikant Petkar received the Padma Shri award from then President Ramnath Kovind during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign to give Padma Shri to unknown but extraordinary personalities of the society and director Kabir Khan also focused on making this film only after that. This story does not connect directly with the common audience because it is the story of a person fulfilling his stubbornness and putting his heart and soul into it. This is a story of personal development in which there is not much for the society. The chapter of losing the boxing final due to falling into the trap of sports journalist Nayantara could have been the turning point for Murlikant in this film, but Kabir Ali completely failed to create the highlight point of that moment and later repeated the same moment with Tiger Ali.
Chandu Champion, and the reason for this film getting a three-star rating, first reason is Kartik Aaryan’s acting. Kartik has played many boys next door characters till now. He tried to do something new in ‘Dhamaka’ and failed miserably. His acting in ‘Freddie’ was amazing but the number of people who watched it was very low. When Karan Johar removed him from ‘Dostana’, producer Sajid Nadiadwala took him over. This is Kartik’s second film with Sajid after ‘Satyaprem Ki Katha’. And Kartik has worked very hard for this film. Even if we don’t go by the photoshopped photos floating on social media, Kartik’s hard work is visible in the film. The only problem is that there is no other strong actor to support him in the film. This film belongs only to Kartik Aaryan.
Though the film Chandu Champion has a whole army of seasoned actors like Vijay Raj, Rajpal Yadav, Bhuvan Arora, Yashpal Sharma, Shreyas Talpade, and Sonali Kulkarni, the ‘episodic’ use of these actors in the film does not allow them to establish themselves as the helpers of the film. The casting of Vijay Raj cannot be called right here either because he has earlier played the role of Taapsee Pannu’s coach in the film ‘Shabash Mithu’. Seeing him in the role of Kartik Aryan’s coach reminds us of that film again and again. The problem with Vijay Raj is that his special kind of pride does not allow him to lose himself in the character. Instead of embodying the character, he lets the character embody Vijay Raj. And this is no less than a danger sign for any actor. The second reason to watch the film Chandu Champion is not these co-actors but the hard work done by its production design team in the shooting of the film and the third reason is Kabir Khan’s direction.
Khan’s last film ’83’ as a director was highly praised. Ranveer Singh also gave a wonderful performance in the film. But, the film did not work. Kabir Khan might have started making Chandu Champion by putting its failure on the mentality of the audience, but if Kabir can ever return to his roots of Kaimganj, Farrukhabad, then the reality of the characters will shine better in his filmmaking. His films have started reflecting the feeling of the story being closer to silk than cotton. The effect of weather on the characters is also not visible because he does not make his actors work hard in the sun. Kabir Khan’s series of films, which started with Yash Raj Films, has been faltering since ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. Despite this, for rising stars like Kartik Aryan to continue trusting him in the future, he will have to keep his cinema a little more imaginative, a little closer to life.
Chandu Champion Review: The Last Words
In the end, we are faced with the same question from where we started. Is Chandu Champion able to do justice to the story of Padmashree Muralikant Rajaram Petkar or not? The answer is – yes. You get inspired after watching this film. You get surprised. You wonder why you did not know this story till now. You feel angry at the disdain that Muralikant Petkar had to bear for 50 years. But you come out of the cinema satisfied. Beautiful, heartfelt cinema. The story of film is based on the story of the Paralympic gold medalist known as the ‘Wonder Boy from India’, so it can inspire you a lot. Through the film, you can see the proud journey of Muralikant. Along with this, those who are fans of Kartik Aaryan should definitely watch it, after this, you will become an even bigger fan of him.
Chandu Champion Review: A Feel-Good Underdog Story with Strong Performances - Filmyhype
Director: Kabir Khan
Date Created: 2024-06-14 18:24
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