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Chandu Champion is Kartik Aaryan's most ambitious work so far and the actor's muscular gusto is undeniable.
There's visible fire in the man's belly but not enough soul, observes Sukanya Verma.
Padma Shri awardee Murlikant Rajaram Petkar's life story has the fanciful air of fiction.
A starry-eyed Satara lad's first glimpse of glory, when a homie is feted for winning a bronze medal in wrestling at the Olympics, sows the dream of scoring gold for his country.
Determined to learn the tricks of kushti at the local akhara and prove himself a champion before the bullies dismissing him as 'Chandu', he begs to be coached by the dangal deities of his neighbourhood.
Once inside the sand pit though, he succeeds in trouncing the opponent and antagonising the village bigshots.
When fate leads him to the doors of the Indian Army, he begins his drill as a cadet. But the Olympic dream persists and introduces him to boxing for which he displays a natural flair.
Back in the war, he survives nine bullets but is paralysed from the waist down and confined to languishing in a military hospital.
Despite a bout of depression, he is determined to pursue his childhood dream and trains to swim and participate in Paralympics.
Spanning 1952 to 2017, it's the extraordinary manner of Murlikant's dream in the face of relentless challenges -- evoking memories of everything between Sultan's rustic work outs and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag's army routine to 1917's one-take battlefield chaos and Munich's sneaky terrorist attack -- finally coming true that guides Director Kabir Khan's desire to draw attention to a forgotten hero in Chandu Champion.
There's a Forrest Gump-like whimsicality to Murlikant's surreal journey as he survives baying-for-his-blood mobs, bullets and poison.
Kabir Khan's by-the-numbers biopic overlooks to appreciate this in its pursuit of guts and glory.
Often the myth-making precedes the man as Chandu Champion, co-written by him, Sumit Arora and Sudipto Sarkar is preoccupied by the broader picture to offer a portrait of the man.
Kabir Khan understands the language of sport, the hysteria it generates and the nostalgia it perpetuates all too well as highlighted in '83, his most realised work so far.
Compared to its heartfelt approach, Chandu Champion is a movie made out of calculations, not spirit or insight.
One could watch its entire two hours and 23 minutes on mute and still know what the fuss is all about over the course of its stereotypical sentiment and formulaic imagery.
Chandu Champion plays out like a series of training montages featuring kushti training, army training, boxing training, swimming training, boosted by rousing songs echoing emotions of delight, discipline, swagger and hope to underscore Murli's status quo from dreamer to go-getter to rising star to underdog to triumphant.
Between these monotonous tropes and the storytelling slipping into sanctimonious spells, every character is positioned like a cliched detail within the scenario -- the no-nonsense army chief, stern but kindly nurse, goofy but caring ward boy, a silly, supportive best friend, a never-say-die coach and his arsenal of motivational speeches, journalists ready to spread the good word about an unsung hero, a pretty NRI attraction on the international scene... Their predictability feels somewhat comforting in the reliable talents of Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, Sonali Kulkarni and Yashpal Singh.
Oddly though, Murlikant's immediate family remain an indifferent presence throughout his highs and lows.
Chandu Champion unfolds in the flashbacks of a proud man in inconsistent prosthetics and sloppy accent recounting his larger-than-life tale inside a screwy police station setup where Brijendra Kala's comic prowess as a sports enthusiast and Shreyas Talpade's authentic Marathi manus first highlight the weakness of Kartik Aaryan's portrayal as Murlikant Petkar.
The difference in how they both pronounce 'Jadhav' itself is a dead giveaway.
But as its sepia-toned action shifts from the interiors of Maharashtra to the matka dens of Mumbai to the sprawling Olympic-size swimming pool in Munich, Cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee's meticulously choreographed frames, be it shots resembling Warli art or sight of a sun soaked scoreboard through the eyes of a swimmer -- elevate the dynamism of its feverishly staged contests against a mandatory exuberant score.
Chandu Champion's aim of sharing Murlikant Petkar's legend is equalled in Kartik Aaryan's excitement to become him from age 18 to 80 for celluloid.
They do not share any physical resemblance and yet Kartik's physical transformation is his biggest contribution to the role. It's his most ambitious work so far and the actor's muscular gusto is undeniable. There's visible fire in the man's belly but not enough soul.
Kartik's performance is rooted in showboating and a tendency to overstate moments of angry sentiment, comical anxiety or maudlin sincerity, which only underline the laboured energy of his delivery.
His martyr theatrics and die-hard zeal heighten the biopic's impact in magnifying any hint of happiness or humiliation for the sake of a crowd-pleasing melodrama.
That may be enough to please Chandu but not a champion.
