Striker

Remember the angry young man movies of the yore ? The hero grew up in the slums, had a widowed mom, a sister and a brother, a best buddy and a dream to make it big one day ? Well, if you look at it, Striker is just a modern interpretation of that story – except that its one of the most engrossing movies to have come out in the last couple of years. Unfortunately it also means that clichés like sister getting raped by the villain and hero falling in love with a rich man’s daughter are not there in movie [chuckles]. I am just kidding, Striker isn’t anything like those cheesy old bollywood melodramas.

What Striker is, is a gripping tale of a slum guy with a gift of carrom – who is determined to make it beyond his current 10x10 in Malvani (a suburb of Bombay near Malad) - but is not a sports movie. What we get a deliciously grey character whose morality is not clear – he doesn’t mind playing for money, but will not become a kheli (bhai’s official player). (Carrom in the 70s and 80s is a game controlled by local slumlords with all games having betting on them – and all the best players invariably end up playing for the local bhai Jaleel). Even while playing for money, he stays away from bhai-sponsored events and will play with amateurs instead. Surya’s motto is – you cant beg for it, snatching is not right – so you have to win.

One of the reasons why Striker is such a interesting movie is Surya – played awesomely by Siddharth. He is an enigma – we never get to know what he feels about all the events that happen around him. He shows normal responses like rage and frustration, or the shy smile at his lady love. But we never get a window into the soul of Surya – which makes him very complex and very real-life. We don’t quite know his feelings for anybody – except his sister, whom he clearly loves. With Madhu (the sympathetic fisherwoman) or Noorie, his short-lived love – Surya reacts, but we never get to see the turmoil within

The only time we get to see Surya clearly is when he is with his friend Zaid (Ankur Vikal). Zaid is a carefree, self-depreciating, wastrel friend, who should get all the best-supporting actor awards if they were awarded on merit. Played by Ankur Vikal, whom you have seen in bit roles so far, Zaid is the one with whom Surya laughs, fights and bonds – their relationship holds through everything.

But the main reason why you should watch Striker is because this movie will keep you firmly in your seats no matter what – because the director just doesn’t let you guess whats going to happen next. Just when you think you have it figured out, something happens which throws all calculations off. There are innumerable sequences where you think there are only two possible outcomes of this - and the director will move the story to a third direction. The movie moves as a furious pace and it doesn’t slack right till the end where again, the director ends the movie on a note that nobody would have expected.

The movie sometimes has a feel of a docudrama – so authentic are the visuals of the ghettos in Malvani and the seedy locations of carrom clubs. The ending of the movie is not completely satisfying, however – it looked like the makers decided to abruptly end the movie. If the ending was in the same league as the rest of the movie, it would have been a whole hearted 4.5 star movie. But in its current form, it still is a recommended watch.