Director: Soumendra Padhi
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Mayur Patole
Bollywood has seen a spate of sports biopics recently, including some stunning ones in Mary Kom and Milkha Singh. However, Budhiya Singh is not just another one of the lot. The movie’s director Soumendra Padhi has raised the bar of sports-based films in Bollywood, and how! The movie narrates beautifully the story of a five-year-old kid, and his journey to break records. It leaves you in awe of the tale of this unsung hero, and doesn’t disappoint.
Budhiya (Mayur Patole) is a young boy who lives in the unexplored slums of Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. He leads a miserable life till a local judo coach, Biranchi Das (Manoj Bajpayee), adopts him and trains him to be an athlete. Despite Biranchi sheltering more children apart from Budhiya, his responsibilities towards him goes a mile longer when he sees the little one’s passion for running.
Soon after, Biranchi approaches local political authorities to support Budhiya and help him run the Delhi marathon in 2006. However, destiny takes an ugly turn when his passionate training turns into a huge political scam. Meanwhile, Budhiya becomes popular and his conviction towards running takes him to greater heights. The child welfare ministry is opposed to Budhiya running at such a tender age and things take a turn from the worse from there on.
Soumendra deserves kudos for his earnest effort to bring Budhiya’s untold story to the celluloid and has successfully managed to portray each character with a realistic touch. Considering it is a biopic, the film manages to emotionally depict Budhiya’s larger than life story in a sublime fashion. He’s also managed to keep the movie’s length limited to two hours, thanks to some crisp editing.
Manoj, as an adamant coach, is flawless. Yet again, he proves his mastery over his craft. Particularly, in the scene where he realises he’s losing custody of Budhiya, his teary-eyed face speaks volumes. He manages to pull off the character of a dedicated coach with absolute ease. Mayur, the five-year-old star of the film deserves a huge shout-out for playing Budhiya’s role with ease.
The only problem the film may face is the lack of a big name to pull in the crowds to the theatres. Thankfully, the opening show of the film had a good 20 per cent occupancy even on a rainy day, which could be a good sign. Even while the movie doesn’t have a Shah Rukh Khan or a Farhan Akhtar, it’s on par with a Chak De! India or a Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Budhiya Singh is a great film with its emotions in place.
