After the success of Chak De India, another hockey based sport
film is Reema Kagti’s Gold starring Akshay Kumar with patriotic speech before
the climactic match and the final victory. A fictional story, inspired by true
events and people, of India’s first gold medal win as an independent nation at
the 1948 Olympics in London. ‘Gold’ recreates the journey of this spirited and
lesser-known team that upstaged the British at the 1948 Olympics and made a
statement against the English subjugation of 200 years.
As per story, the film begins in 1936, when India made big
impact in world hockey and won its third consecutive gold at the Berlin
Olympics. This team was called British India team and was managed by the
British Raj. Tapan Das (Akshay), the functionally alcoholic manager of the
hockey team under British India, dreams of winning the Olympic gold medal for
free India and sets about forming a team on knowing that India will soon attain
Independence. But, even as he forms the team, it is ripped apart by Partition,
which not only divides the country, but also the team and now, Tapan is racing
against time to form a new team for the 1948 Olympics in London. Will Tapan
manage to do it in time and make his dream come true?
Akshay Kumar’s stellar performance as the ‘Pagal Bengali’
Tapan Das is a remarkable. Mouni Roy as Akshay’s feisty wife is delightful to
watch. The remaining cast as Kunal Kapoor, Vineet Kumar Singh, Amit Sadh and
Sunny Kaushal are really good and gives able support to Akshay.
Reema Kagti tells an insightful and engaging story and take
us back to that moment in history, which is not often spoken about or
celebrated. Film Gold has certain elements that will remind you of Shimit
Amin’s Chak De India starring Shah Rukh Khan. There is a competition between
two players who don’t co-operate with each other on the field, a patriotic
speech by the manager to inspire the players and bring them together and a
benched player who is brought to play during the finals. The hockey matches
have been choreographed brilliantly and will bring you to the edge of your
seats with your nails between your teeth. The production design and costumes,
which play an integral part in depicting the era, are top notch. The first half
is slow paced and the film takes quite a while to establish the characters and
set up the plot.
In general, Gold is a praiseworthy sport film to watch once for
its inspiring elements and best performances of entire star cast.
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