Chandu Champion Review: Kartik Aaryan Lives Murlikant Petkar’s Life In All Honesty, Supporting Cast Is Exceptional!
Kartik Aaryan's Chandu Champion is inspired by the real-life story of Murlikant Petkar. Directed by Kabir Khan, the film is going to release on June 14. Here's our detailed review.
4 / 5
Biographies are hard to do justice to through films. However, few directors in the film industry can be trusted with this job. With the same expectations, I watched the Kabir Khan film Chandu Champion on India’s first gold medallist winner in the Paralympic games in 1972, Murlikant Petkar. Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, the film stars Kartik Aaryan in the lead role and it is also one of his most-anticipated films this year. The 2 hours 30 min long film tells the powerful, unbelievable and inspiring story of Murlikant Petkar, a man with an untameable spirit who always dreamt of what others would define as “Impossible”. Chandu Champion’s storytelling and supporting cast consisting of Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, Shreyas Talpade and Aniruddh Dave deserve our attention. From the good to the underwhelming aspects, here’s a detailed review of Kartik Aaryan starrer Chandu Champion.
Plot
Chandu Champion’s plot is inspired by the real-life story of Padma Shri winner Murlikant Petkar, a man from the small village of Sangli in Maharashtra. Kartik Aaryan plays the role of Murlikant Petkar in Chandu Champion and Aniruddh Dave is seen in the role of his elder brother Jaggnath Petkar. The movie starts with Petkar’s early childhood in Sangli and his dream of earning India a gold medal in the Olympics. In the first half, Chandu Champion focuses on how people always made fun of Petkar’s dream and laughed at him whenever he spoke about it, nevertheless, he always proved them wrong. The film shows the major highlights from Murlikant’s life like how he started his career as a Jawan in the Indian Army’s EME department in Secunderabad, and his contribution to the 1965 attack by Pakistan that made him handicapped after surviving nine bullet wounds, and his journey to the Paralympics held in Germany’s Heidelberg where he won his first gold medal for India in swimming. Vijay Raaz is seen in the role of the protagonist’s trainer Ali Sir, who he meets at EME Secundrabad and their journey as Guru and his student is a major sub-plot in the film. As unbelievable as the story sounds, it is true! In 2 hours and 30 minutes, Chandu Champion tries to pack in all the major events from Petkar’s life.
Performances
Since it is a biography, performance is of core importance in deciding whether you want to watch the film or not. And, TBH the entire cast has done a fab job in making this story their own, and living the characters they played!
Kartik Aaryan:
To begin with, the protagonist of the film Kartik Aaryan played three stages of Murlikant Petkar’s life- teenage, adult and old. Kudos to the actor for undertaking the challenging task of going through a physical transformation in the film in all three phases because it distinctly made the character look convincing throughout. Kartik Aaryan was outstanding in the second half of the film. There were moments where it felt like the actor absorbed Petkar’s life philosophies as his own. This made his expressions in certain scenes look very natural, you know, the moment when actors are not acting! However, due to the prosthetics that Kartik had when he played Petkar’s old self, it somewhere restricted the actor’s ability to express emotions well. In the first half of Chandu Champion, Kartik Aaryan did justice in displaying the naive, underconfident yet brave character of the protagonist’s younger version but somewhere it did look caricaturist to me. The actor also picked up the accent quite well.
Vijay Raaz as Ali Sir is a fictional character added to the film. However, some actors can never go wrong in delivering an outstanding performance on the big screen. I am at a loss of words for Vijay Raaz’s performance in Chandu Champion. I was in awe of the actor’s fine portrayal of the character who was a strict trainer yet had a soft corner for Petkar (Kartik Aaryan) because he saw himself in him. The maturity and understanding needed to play this role could only come from an exceptional artist like Vijay Raaz. His chemistry with Kartik Aaryan was organic, especially the hard-hitting emotional moments when both of them shared their deepest insecurities.
Aniruddh Dave as Jaggnath Petkar did not leave the opportunity to shine in every scene that he played in Chandu Champion. The emotionally attached brother who can’t oversee realities while making a decision but also is the biggest cheerleader for his younger brother, even if it is from a distance is how I would define Dave’s character. He makes you understand the genuine concerns of Jaggnath Petkar that led him to make the decision that he took in life, and Anirudh Dave is the perfect fit to do justice to this complex role.
Rajpal Yadav appears post-interval as Topaz, a ward boy who takes care of Petkar in the hospital. It’s just a bliss to see him on the big screen. He is a natural star who effortlessly overpowers other actors in any scene, no matter how big or small the role is. Rajpal Yadav as Topaz is adorable, he made me smile and cry as well!
Shreyas Talpade is a quirky police officer who lacks knowledge but has deep empathy towards people is quite a delight.
The actors who played Murlikant Petkar’s mother and father’s role in the film are exceptional. They are proof of how to leave a strong impact on the audience even with limited screen time. Bhagyashree played a journalist in Chandu Champion and she delivered a noteworthy performance.
Storytelling
It’s another important aspect of a biography, and Kabir Khan’s film does not disappoint in this category as well. The flow of the film was quite engaging. There were moments when the story lagged, however, it did not make a huge difference because the film managed to keep me attentive throughout. It does not follow a linear format of storytelling, and constantly shifts between past and present. Since a lot of focus was given to making the storytelling simple yet compelling, the strong message that the film is expected to give through Petkar’s life comes across quite well. The fact that one should never stop dreaming and chasing it is made to look very convincing because a person has lived such an impossible life in reality.
Kabir Khan’s Direction also needs to be given the due credit. Well, to tell a story inspired by real life needs great conviction and honesty, and both are evident in this Kabir Khan film.
What Could’ve Been Avoided And Didn’t Work?
Firstly, the addition of a song in the first half titled Satyanaas just felt unnecessary in the movie. To a lot of extent, it reminded me of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’s song ‘Havan Karenge’. However, unlike the latter, ‘Satyanaas’ is not impressive at all, also the lyrics and choreography in the song are questionable.
The background score was not as hard-hitting as needed. We can’t deny the importance of BGM scores in such inspiring real-life stories and therefore the expectations were high. However, I did not find myself vibing much to the BGM!
The scenes that had VFX, especially during the 1965 war scene were quite underwhelming and looked like not much attention was given to make it look convincing. As I mentioned earlier, the prosthetic used to make Kartik Aaryan look old is not impressive too, and these little aspects add to the negative factors in Chandu Champion. The second half of the movie is much better than the first in terms of the performance by Kartik Aaryan, and even storytelling.
Verdict
Kabir Khan’s Chandu Champion will hit the theatres on June 14. It is a film that needs to be watched to understand that no dream is impossible if you want it badly, and the living breathing example of Murlikant Petkar’s life story is the flag-bearer of this philosophy. Kartik Aaryan is honest in his performance and his hard work comes out well in the movie. I cannot stress enough how much I liked Vijay Raaz and Rajpal Yadav’s performance in the film. So if you’re looking for a wholesome watch at the movies, Chandu Champion is for you!
First Published: June 13, 2024 5:39 PM
