New Delhi:
'Saala Khadoos' is a film that grapples realistic events, passionate acts and emotion driven tale justifying greed to grasp the lost trust.
Film tries to fictionalise real incidents that have been acting nothing less than hurdles to restrain real talent dying in local streets of the nation.
Infuriated of bad political drama behind the game R Madhavan (Adi Tomar) has been put on a mission to find champion from a place where not even players are found. In Chennai, where banner is put to talk about every important thing, he finds Madhi (Ritika Singh), a care-free daring girl ready to fight hard on almost everything.
The film reels a bit loud on ears while lead pair settles themselves in the character. Screech seems to rule the game over intended roar of the characters.
Director Sudha Kongara, who has made her debut with Saala Khadoos, successfully justifies her seven year experience with Mani Ratnam by creating a beautiful fusion of emotional twists - sisters turning foe, parents selling dreams of children, love riding above dream and political manoeuvres; all this happens within 1 hour 50 minutes with prime focus on the struggle of a true sportsman in nourishing the real talent.
Former Asian Indoor Game champion Ritika Singh is a treat to watch. Despite of ease Ritika must have got due to the familiar concept, she deserves all praise for her acting skills too. She has pulled out a performance many talented actresses might have found difficult.
Complimenting Ritika is R Madhavan, a guy sitting next to me even called his performance better than Shah Rukh Khan in Chak De. Yes, he acted really well, delivered dialogues with perfection and his expressions were also impeccable, but still I didn't find a reason to compare him with SRK. Instead with Saala Khadoos, Madhavan proves he is a master of emotions.
Small characters played by Nassar as coach, Zakir Hussain as selector and Mumtaz Sorcar as Lux presents great calibre of stars but a little more minutes of them would have added flavours.
The film has been shot within fifteen days and it is possible because only few locations has been utilised well to execute the whole drama. In terms of cinematography, the film didn’t had much to speak about.
As shoot locations are few so are the songs. The songs are more character based than being instrumental on soulful lyrics. Music composer Santhosh Narayanan though managed to bring some good background scores, but still a music that stays with the audiences is missing.
Final verdict: A powerfully acted fictional drama inspired of real events is a must watch for R Madhavan fans with added treat Ritika Singh.
