Clarion call Producers: UTV Spotboy Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia Writers: Sanjay Chouhan,Tigmanshu Dhulia Cast: Irrfan,Mahie Gill,Brijendra Kala, Rajendra Gupta,Vipin Sharma,Imran Hasnee Tigmanshu Dhulias core expertise is gripping crime themes,and pulsating drama is a given in his brand of cinema. Thankfully,we do not get unpalatable language like cusswords and Dhulia never makes his films dark for the sake of it. On the contrary,he laces his films with a lot of dry humour and barbed wit. Paan Singh Tomar,even if a biopic of steeplechase champion and ex-armyman Paan Singh Tomar,has all the characteristics of the directors earlier works. We also get to see his supreme comfort level with both the locales and idiom of his story and its principal characters. The action is high in voltage and one can understand why Dhulia was enamoured by this real-life saga all of 15 years ago when he first decided to film it some day. The story of why Tomar turns criminal is amazingly like so many fictional Hindi films that we have watched since decades,but very disturbingly,it is real,not reel! The films first half is nothing short of brilliant,and at interval point we just want the film to resume. The film succeeds in being a clarion call to the nations conscience about the need to nurture our sports champions,many of whom as shown in the end titles,died penniless or are living in abject misery. The dialogues and the laconic humour that is maintained throughout are the highlights of the film and the narrative format of Paan Singh (Irrfan) telling most of his saga in flashback to a journalist (Brijendra Kala) gets us some superb insights into Tomars psyche. When asked how he turned a daku (dacoit),Tomar replies,Hum baaghi (rebel) hain,daku to Parliament mein baithe hain! Irrfan of course is fantastic,so are Mahie Gill as his wife and the actors shown as his kids,and Rajendra Gupta as his guru. Brijendra is outstanding as the nervous scribe. Technically upbeat,the film has a great background score by Sandeep Chowta Projects. Ironically,the only weak area of the film is the fact that it is a real story. Dhulias films are known for rapidly-rising dramatic graphs and crackerjack endings with twists. With little material in the second hour vis-a-vis the first,it drags to a tame climax. Never mind,though. The message gets home. Rating: One star each for the direction,dialogues and cast,and a half star for the consistent ironic humour. rajiv.vijayakar@expressindia.com
