Soorma Review - A Drag That Can't Flicker To Life

Perhaps, I am the wrong person to review Soorma. Because Diljit Dosanjh, flirtatiously smiling at a puffy-eyed Taapsee Pannu (who probably saw reels of the awful Judwaa 2), or even drag-flicking his way to stardom, has pleasures of its own. But Shaad Ali’s Soorma just keeps going, until it can’t help but make a mockery of itself. Soorma tells the real-life story of Sandeep Singh, a mountain of a man, that gave hope to a nation in the field of hockey.

Sandeep’s life deserved a biopic - especially since he was shot on a train, and was deemed paralysed, but persevered and ended up working with doctors to actually start walking again. But Shaad is perhaps the most wrong person there is to make this film. His last mess of a creation (if you can call it that, considering it was a frame-to-frame copy of OK Kanmani), OK Jaanu, was overbloated and repetitive - mainly because of its two leads, whose romantic entanglements left them confused and us bored.

Here, that happens again. Taapsee and Diljit’s characters have a romance that is erratic as the tonality of the film. There is too much swooning, too much posturing and ultimately too much plastic to create a sweet, nuanced love story. Shaad doesn’t know what to focus on - whether the film is a love story, a sports drama or a biopic on this figure. Unfortunately, instead of creating a distinct path for his infamous protagonist, he decides to go all three ways - creating the

hodgepodge mess that is Soorma.

Diljit’s effervescence and smile play well in the first half. His sheer charm and perseverance creates an interesting foundation for this mysterious man. Taapsee has fewer scenes and shows up once in a while (so that Shaad may assure his audience that he hasn’t forgotten completely about her). All the while that she is on screen, she has eyes rimmed with tears and a puffy red nose. It is these discrepancies that make sure Soorma doesn’t fly.

The film isn’t technically sound either. The music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is iffy and while the Soorma Anthem and Flicker Singh pump some adrenaline during the humdrum proceedings of the film, it doesn’t lift off because of the haphazard way in which editor Farooq Hundekar has trimmed the film. It is hugely derivative of their brilliant Bhaag Milka Bhaag (2013) and the makers don’t give the singular pieces enough time to shine.

However, Soorma shines when its real star, Angad Bedi as Bikramjeet Singh, does. He has that never say die attitude about him that the drab script really benefits from. He injects Bikramjeet with the right strokes of sincerity along with just a tinge of jealousy. Angad gives a calm, cool and surprising performance that stands out even more than Diljit in most scenes - especially in the second half.

The film’s tagline is “The Greatest Comeback Story of Hockey Legend Sandeep Singh”. It is truly an admirable feat but in the hands of Shaad, Diljit and Taapsee, this becomes the thing of pure comedy. Marks for trying but the end result is so shabbily put together that not even the collective efforts of Angad, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and a director whose Saathiya still ranks as one of Hindi cinema’s most iconic films can save this one. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The reason why Rakesh Omprakash Mehra’s Bhaag Milkha, an infinitely better film, worked and this didn’t was that Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was not singularly the story of inspiration. It showed all facets of Milkha’s life - the good, the bad and the ugly. Soorma doesn’t have that amount of talent helming the film, so as to rise above and become even a smidgen more than the sum of its anyway loose parts.

I’m disappointed. I walked out of Soorma, disatisfied, as the swarms of people walked beside me with a tear in their eye and a patriotic spring in their step. Maybe Soorma is for these people. But it sure as hell wasn’t for me. I’m going with 2 stars.