Review: ‘Victory’ is slow and boring, as predictable as it could get

Spicezee Bureau

If you thought that cricket could prove to be a saviour for Hurman’s sunken Bollywood career, then you are sadly mistaken. Hurman Baweja’s second venture ‘Victory’, which released all over this Friday, is extremely slow, and doesn’t seem to be getting him the praise and applause he has been desperately seeking after the disastrous ‘Love Story…’. Although ‘Victory’ tries to draw influence from cricket-based masterpieces like ‘Lagaan’ and more recently ‘Iqbal’, the film miserably fails to enthral.

Directed by Ajitpal Mangat, with Hurman and Amrita in the leads roles, ‘Victory’ is about the rise, fall and rise again of cricketer Vijay Shekawat (Hurman). The story begins with a young boy chasing his dream of becoming a cricketer, which he eventually moves on to achieve by overcoming many hurdles and obstacles with his determination and hard work. He gets selected in the Indian cricket team, and what follows is, of course, a flashy lifestyle and a few wrong decisions that he makes.

Now, as Vijay’s innocence gets hit by his batting success, his high and mighty attitude that brings his downfall. He begins to perform miserably, he is written off as a one-time hit and is thrown out of the team.

Now comes the most predictable moment in the story, as the film’s ‘hero’ decides to redeem himself and starts to work his way to success once again and succeeds (no points for guessing)!

However, the portrayal of his proud father (Anupam Kher), who is thrilled about his son`s selection in the cricket team and later cuts off all ties following his wild antics, is watchable. Also Vijay’s relationship with Nandini (Amrita Rao), who is the backbone of Vijay, like a true friend and lover, is convincing to an extent.

But, overall, the characters in the film seem like a mismatch, but probably the only memorable moment it boasts of is when you get to see a ton of cricket icons gracing the Indian screen; from Brett Lee to Sanath Jayasurya.

On the whole, ‘Victory’ certainly appears to be one of the worst ways to club cricket with entertainment. To turn on a sports channel on your TV seems to be a better idea than watching the wannabe cricket-based film!

Rating: One star for `Victory`!