IQBAL
The underdog wins.
I watched Iqbal in the wee hours today. I had earlier semi-watched it online at a live streaming website, but the print was ugly (probably pirated in a cinema hall using handicam!). Since then, I have cancelled membership with the site, but that's a different topic...lets talk about Iqbal here. Iqbal, to me, truly came across as an inspiring movie about triumph of the human spirit. It's a neatly told journey of a deaf and dumb 18-year old poor village boy aspiring to make it to the Indian cricket team as a flast bowler. Cricket is a foreground, but the real theme of the movie is not cricket, it's actually about the passion that makes your dream come true. A lot of the scenes depict this: the melodious 'Aashaein' song itself, the shots showing Iqbal sneaking out of his home in the middle of the night to play cricket when his dad doesn't permit him, Iqbal atop a hillock and raising his hands up towards the sky in ecstasy after being admitted into Girish Karnad's cricket academy,...... Overall, the performances are very good, the mother (Pratiksha Lonkar) and sister (Shweta Prasad) of Iqbal being truly exceptional. Shreyas himself has also given the right look for Iqbal as well as depicting the frustration of rejection and the glow of acceptance, but Shweta Prasad as Khadija clearly takes the cake as the voice of deaf-and-dumb Iqbal and due to her emotional attachment to her brother's dreams. I felt Naseer should have been more forward and aggressive in approach, since he was coaching Iqbal to keep the flame burning within him. Girish Karnad as the academy coach was just right.
For Nagesh, full marks for a brilliant script/screenplay and for extracting a great performance from Shreyas. But I did feel that some scenes could have been dealt better, like the Karnad-Shah confrontment in the stadium ,.... But overall, a great movie and a victory for Nagesh!
There have been some comparisons to Lagaan. I think though both movies use cricket, the approach is very different. Lagaan has a wider scale and is focused on team success, rather than 1 individual. My take is that Lagaan still stands as a much better movie, courtesy Aamir-Aashutosh.
I meticulously went through the interviews and the 2006 Star awards in the DVD. The recognition really moved me.....yet again, it challenged me: if Nagesh can do it, why cannot we? We all have dreams outside our daily chores that sometimes get mundane and diffuse out the joy of life. It's a matter of prioritization within life and taking the step forward....I WILL DO IT 1 DAY!
Okie dokie.....have to go to work now (although I feel like going to some film-making studio.......).
-Sanjit
8am PST, Mar 17, 2006, Milpitas, California.
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