Kartik Aaryan's new film 'Chandu Champion' is yet another life story of a champion, this time of Murlikant Petkar, India's first Paralympic gold medalist. Blending fictional elements into the 143-minute narrative, director Kabir Khan attempts to tell the incredible true story of Petkar, known fondly as Murli. Petkar's journey, a remarkable example of victory over adversity, deservedly needed to be documented.
Born Murlikant Petkar (Kartik Aaryan) in 1944 in the Peth Islampur region of Sangli, Maharashtra, Murli showed early signs of rebellion if any of his classmates in school so much as laughed at his ambition of winning an Olympic medal someday. Murli's life is full of obstacles. Teased by his friends for dreaming big, he is nicknamed 'Chandu Champion', an epithet for a loser.
At EME Secunderabad he trains to become a boxer and his coach, Tiger Ali (Vijay Raaz), who becomes his mentor. But life does not move according to Murli's well-laid-out plans. He fights the 1965 India-Pakistan war, gets shot, spends two years in hospital and becomes paralyzed waist below. He also loses his best friend, Jarnail Singh.
A long-drawn struggle and hindrances follow, but Murli's spirit of survival and resilience helps him overcome his physical disability to emerge a winner. He takes up swimming and other sports.
Director Kabir Khan is not new to hits and successes -- and his name spells class. To make a film on the life of a man who faced one adversity after another with an undying spirit of resilience should have been easy for a director of his caliber. One expected Khan to dig deeper into the emotional battle, besides his physical transformation of Murlikant Petkar.
He is ably supported by a brilliant cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee, who adds enough heft to the frames. Whether it is the village terrain, the state-of-the-art athletic tracks, the boxing ring, or the hospital, all come to life through his seasoned lens.
The jarring background score by Julius Packiam as also the songs by Pritam only serve as irritants in a film that demands pregnant pauses and silences to convey emotions. Aaryan tries hard to play Murli as best as he can. But he is limited in expressing and communicating the demands of the inner turmoils of a tormented character. It is the poor writing too that restricts his performance.
(Arnab Banerjee/IANS)
