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Saturday, April 27, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD SPEEDY SINGHS
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: **
A star is almost born. Debutant Vinay Virmani has a natural charm and an
easygoing bonhomie to his personality that goes a long way in furnishing speed
to Speedy Singh. Regrettably there are too many potholes and
roadblocks in the narration leading to a kind of plot that doffs its heart at
all the films on the spirit of sportsmanship and the parental opposition that it
faces.
Though this is a story applicable to numerous second and third-generation NRIs
in Britain, US and Canada the story is littered with cliches and stereotyped
characters .…You know the loud boisterous Punjabi joint-family whose joints
are so creaky you can hear the Bhangra beats groaning out all the way from
Bollywood to Birmingham. Young Virmani tries to bring in a certain subtlety and
lightness to his cliche-burdened role. But the film doesn`t really hold
together.
Bend It Like Anupam? Remember Anupam as the Sardar-father of the girl who would
sneak off to play football when he wasn`t looking in Gurinder Chadha`s
Bend It Like Beckham? What`s the difference between the Sardar
Anupam played in that film. And the one he plays in Speedy Singh?
Go, figure. And while you`re at it do find out what Akshay Kumar is doing being
associated with a film that seems like a not-so-distant of Akshay`s Patiala
House. In that film Akshay`s father disapproved of sonny-boy playing cricket in
England. In Speedy Singh (no, that`s not a grammatical aberration)
debutant Vinay Virmani`s father (Anupam Kher) frowns at his son`s ice-hockey
ambitions.
The ice-hockey tournaments are filmed with more warmth and affection than the
relationship between young Virmani and his pretty girlfriend (Camilla Belle).
The two behave more like squabbling siblings than lovers through most of the
film. Then you can`t blame them. They`re catering to a vegetarian Punjabi NRI
audience.
Speedy Singh is strictly meant to be Babloo`s Day Out with his
entire joint family. The Punjabi household is swamped with stereotypical colours
flavours rhythms and characters. The clamour of Singhs gets unbearably deafening
as the plot creaks forward in an all-too-familiar language. And we aren`t about
the angrezi splattered with Punjabi.
Vinay Virmani`s screenplay (yes, the boy has written the film) brings into play
every cliche, including, the match at the grand finale where the boy`s father
finally realizes his son`s worth.
Ho-hum. Watch it for the debutant hero. As for the rest of the cast, stand-up
comedian Russell Peters has been quoted as opining that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
can`t act.
Has he looked at himself in this film?
Rajveer Singh, raised in an orthodox Sikh Family, has only one goal- to succeed in the traditional white man`s sport of Ice Hockey.Conflicts arise when his strict Punjabi father pushes him to be a true Punjab da puttar and devote his life to Waheguru and their family business.
Speedy Singhs is an action packed, dhamakedor Punjabi movie,set amongst the Indo Canadian community in suburban Toronto,Canada.
