Toofaan (Drama/ Sports/ Prime Video/ 2021)
A sports drama cum underdog story cum love story cum melodrama that revolves around a Tapori extortionist turned boxer turned family man turned boxer!
Director- Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Writer – Anjum Rajabali, Vijay Maurya, Farhan Akhtar
Cast – Farhan Akhtar, Paresh Rawal, Mrunal Thakur, Mohan Agashe, Hussain Dalal,Supriya Pathak, Vijay Raaz, Gauri Phulka, Darshan Kumaar
Plot
Aziz Ali (Farhan) is an orphan and an extortionist who turns a new leaf and a promising boxer when he finds positive influence from his love interest. Nana Prabhu (Paresh Rawal) is the top most boxing coach with a Midas touch but a religious fanatic. Ananya (Mrunal) is a doctor with a heart of gold.
Their destiny takes them on a roller coaster graph of love, grief and glory!
Analysis
When I first saw the trailer, I was like ”Why would someone pick up a story and a concept that has been already been so well used?”. But then coming from Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Farhan Akhtar, I was hopeful that the storytelling and performance would make it worth the while. And that it did.
Pros and Cons
The film keeps you entertained, and with its graph of drama, doesn’t lessen its hold on your attention. What’s clear though, is that it wasn’t meant to be purely a sports drama. The ratio of drama versus sports might disappoint those who expect as such.
There’s good amount of sport and its nuances, but there are many other elements like the underdog story, love story, social commentary about religious fanaticism, corruption in sports and lots of melodrama too.
Farhan’s smashing performance and the fabulous cast keeps you invested. But no denying the fact, that I kept relating many parts to other films like Mukkabaaz, Mary Kom, Saala Khadoos and Sultan.
And yes, the film was quite predictable too. I mean, we cannot be excited to see the same tropes that we have been seeing over the years.
But what makes up for it are other elements like dialogues, cinematography, humour, emotional quotient and the performances. There are plenty of chuckle worthy moments, and many misty eyed ones too.
I wouldn’t rate the music as great as the other Shankar-Ehsaan Loy stuff but it was good.
Even though the duration of 2 hr 40 min should have been ideally shorter for the OTT, barring a few flaws, it remained gripping and entertaining.
Performances
Right from the start and till the end, Farhan rules the frames in every which way. Whatever be his characters, intensity has always been his forte and he uses that to the hilt even this time around. His amazing physical build and his form during the game clearly shows a lot of hard work.
The only flaw that I could think of were some slips from the Tapori lingo.
Every actor who is apart of the cast adds value and makes the story connect with us.
Paresh Rawal as the hard-as-nails and religious fanatic Nana adds gleam to the story the moment he joins it. I feel he had the best dialogues.
Mrunal looks absolutely gorgeous with her bubbly charm, disarming smile and natural unadorned beauty.
It was pleasure to see Mohan Agashe after long.
Hussain Dalal is adorable and a delight in each of his scenes.
Vijay Raaz, being the amazing actor he is, impresses even in a short role.
Darshan Kumaar, Supriya Pathak and child artist Gauri Phulka look perfect.
The film runs a treaded path when it comes to its story but with its execution, story-telling and performances, it delivers an entertaining package.
If you can avoid expecting it to be a proper sports drama, the overall entertainment and cast, especially Farhan, will make it worth your while.