Victory

Sports movies fall into 2 categories - a rags-to-riches story where the underdog beats all odds to end up victorious(both Lagaan and Chak De India would belong to this one) or a rags-to-riches-to-rags story where a sportsman becomes successful, allows the success to go to his/her head and faces the consequences. Victory starts off looking like it belongs to the former category but soon reveals itself as an entry in the latter category as a cricketer Vijay(Harman Baweja, back after a disastrous start in Love Story 2050), after languishing in obscurity in Jaisalmer, gets to play for the Ranji Trophy, is selected for the National team, piles up one successful inning after another and is swayed by the fame and money that accompany his success.

The film spends too little time on Harman's rise and this comes in the way of us connecting with the character. His dad's(Anupam Kher) ambitions and disappointments are showcased a lot better. Harman's actions during his career's ups and downs are all completely predictable and the film follows the template of similarly-themed movies to the letter. The cricket scenes are staged well with a few cricketers(like Jayasurya and Brett Lee) making cameos. But Harman's plays are completely unrealistic as he apparently hits only 4s and 6s when playing well and gets out with no runs on the board when out of form. Considering its a feel-good movie, the unnecessarily sentimental epilogue feels distasteful.