SYNOPSICS
Iqbal (2005) is a Hindi movie. Nagesh Kukunoor has directed this movie. Shreyas Talpade,Naseeruddin Shah,Shweta Basu Prasad,Yatin Karyekar are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2005. Iqbal (2005) is considered one of the best Drama,Sport movie in India and around the world.
India - a Nation obsessed with cricket - and it is not very often one comes across anyone who loathes cricket as much as farmer Anwar Khan, who feels that it is a waste of time watching some grown men playing, not only getting paid, but costing the nation millions of lost work hours. His family, especially his wife, Saida, does not quite agree with him. As a matter of fact, she broke water when watching a cricket match with a TV set perched on a branch of a tree with almost the entire village in attendance. This is how Iqbal was born, followed by the birth of his sister, Khadija. Iqbal, though deaf and dumb, shared his mother's and sister's passion for cricket, he would tend to the buffaloes, who though all female, had been named after male cricketers, including Kapil Dev. While tending to them, he would stop and watch youngsters being trained by the renowned Guruji. When Guruji finds out about Iqbal's interest in the game, he recruits him, but lets him go when a dispute flares up ...
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Iqbal (2005) Reviews
Take a bow Nagesh Kukunoor
Everybody wants to see the underdog triumph. But what we Don't want to see in the process is unnecessary over-the-top pity/sympathy created for the underdog. Nagesh Kukunoor understands this. He gives us the kind of cinema which is entertaining, simple and intelligent. The plot itself is simple but it's always difficult to keep it simple and yet entertain. "Iqbal" achieves this. The moment we see Iqbal(played wonderfully by Shreyas Talpade) with his rag-tag "kit bag" slung over his shoulders,carrying it like it was his most prized possession and steaming in bare feet with that look in his eyes, we want him to win. We want him to knock the socks out of the opponent (batsmen, wheeler-dealer coaches and anyone who's in his way), we want to see the world recognize him. That's what "iqbal" does to you. Iqbal's journey ( I wouldn't call it a struggle because the triumph was in his journey) takes us into his village with its rustic dusty backgrounds, buffaloes named after cricketers and a drunk ex-almost-was Naseeruddin Shah, not to mention his family. Shreyas Talpade holds his own against Naseer who seems as though he just woke up drunk in a haystack and carried on from there without knowing there was a film crew around him. Shweta Prasad as Iqbal's sister is just gifted, she brings a maturity to her character which is beyond her age, outstanding. The cricket part is handled very effectively and doesn't look amateurish.The dirt behind the selection process, you-help-me-i'll-help you situations is shown well although Kukunoor solves it simply as well. It might just be a tad more complicated than that in the real Indian cricket world. Nagesh Kukunoor seems to be growing as a film maker with each movie. His "Teen Deewarein" was splendid and Iqbal is a step further in the right direction. He has handled the potentially could-have-been-overdone story to a nicety and manages to bring out the emotions without the usual " look at me, i'm all pitiable and lovable" stuff. Iqbal isn't pitiable, but he sure is lovable.
A great feel good movie
This is all about chasing your dreams, no matter what the obstacles. The movie is funny in a subtle way and the acting is brilliant. It is rare that such gems come out of the Indian Film industry. Overall a refresher amongst the crap which normally plays in theaters. The story involves a young deaf and dumb boy who is crazy about cricket, and how he hides behind buffaloes to watch a coaching camp and learn bowling. Eventually he finds a teacher in a failed cricketer(played by Nassiruding shah) who leaves his drinking habit and makes it his personal battle to place Iqbal in the Indian cricket team.This movie also touches upon the corruption in the selection system and commercialization of cricket.
Must watch movie!!
Iqbal is not exactly a award-winning work but it is definitely very well-made with the typical Nagesh Kukunoor stamp on it. After Hyderabad Blues, Bollywood Calling and Rockford this is the fourth movie from Kukunoor that I have watched and appreciated. Kukunoor has the knack of picking up the simplest possible theme and turning them into beautifully narrated stories studded with mundane incidents interwoven into a coherent theme. The key is the treatment of the story which Kukunoor executes in a truly unique style. The focus is never on the message; in-fact one can hardly draw a message from any of his movies. Instead what comes out of his movies is the joy one can draw from insignificant everyday events, the little pleasures of life. They seem to emanate the aroma of life often transporting you back into your past, reminding you of the childhood dreams, adolescent crushes, and the dilemmas of youth. The protagonist in each of his movies is an individual on the path of some sort of self-discovery. While Hyderabad Blues saw a NRI returning to his roots in India only to get more confused, in Bollywood Calling a Hollywood actor finds the strength to fight cancer while working for a B-grade Hindi movie. Rockford went into the psychology of a boy who is getting exposed to the vagaries presented by the transformation from childhood to youth. Iqbal is a similar tale though much larger than this. It talks about an ordinary young man, someone who is simply unexceptional in the normal sense except for his talent and undying passion for sports. That this game happens to be cricket is not important; the movie would have remained the same had it been built around some other sport. Though with cricket being at the center stage, the movie is more likely to attract the Indian audience. Another twist thrown in is that the main character, Iqbal (played by Shreyas Talpade), is deaf and dumb. This does not contribute much to the storyline except increase the complexity a bit. But it does sharpen the contrast between the underdog and the privileged. Secondly, while giving out the message that "impossible is possible", the 'impossible' is much more accentuated. It also challenges our preconceived notions regarding the physically handicapped people. Lastly it also adds some drollery in the storyline. Here I must stress that though from the face of it the movie appears a heavy, gloomy portray of the struggle of an underprivileged,this is far from true. The plot, the characters and the ending have a very unconventional touch and in the end it leaves one with a positive feeling. The story is about a young man Iqbal living in a village with his parents and a younger sister. Iqbal is deaf and dumb but he has inherited the determination and resolve of his father. He has also inherited something from his mother- a deep love for cricket. And this is not just empty craze. Not having been able to get good education and being forced to work with his father as a farmer, he has somehow been able to give vent to his love for the game by practicing it all alone, with buffaloes as the only audience!! His only learning has happened through eaves-dropping on the coaching sessions at the nets run by an esteemed coach (Girish Karnad), with the lessons translated by his sister into sign language. The routine continues till one day Iqbal's sister gets bored of the 'translator's job' and approaches the coach with the request of taking his brother in his academy. The coach holds an entrance test of sorts and is impressed with the young man's raw energy. This starts the grooming process for Iqbal as he starts to learn the art of fast bowling in the academy along with several other students. But as it turns out, Iqbal has an ego-clash with a fellow-student who was the son of an influential person and was thrown out of the academy. Hope turned into despair and Iqbal slowly started giving up the dreams of playing cricket. And then one day he discovered another guru (played by Naseeruddin Shah), a drunkard who at one time had been a promising player whose career never took off all because of the dirty politics played by his coach, the same person from whose academy Iqbal was ousted. He is the only ray of hope to Iqbal who insists on learning the game from him despite refusal. The coach finally relents even though he is not sure what to expect out of all this trouble. But the subsequent experience takes both of them to a challenging journey where one has to face the resistance put up by his oppressive father who is totally opposed to his son's involvement in the game and the other has a mini-battle of sorts with his habit of drinking and also has to fight with the baggage of his own dismal past. In the end after a dramatic turn of events Iqbal manages to get selected to the national cricket team, in the event beating his jealous opponent of the academy and the trickery of his former coach. The film ends at this point and I must admit that this is one of the most well-timed endings I have seen lately. The film has lot of memorable scenes and dialogs, my favorite one being when, during a conversation with the alcoholic coach, Iqbal's mother says nonchalantly that if her son is not selected for the Indian team then "I will kill you". The background score is good though not brilliant. The cast of the film seems to fit the bill perfectly. Shweta Prasad, who plays Iqbal's younger sister, is an amazing child actress. I have earlier seen her as playing the roles of diametrically opposite twins in another Hindi movie Makdi. Naseeruddin Shah and Girish Karnad are brilliant as are Prateeksha Londkar (Iqbal's mother) and Yatin Karyekar (the father). All in all a wonderful film.
Funny and inspiring Fairy tale
Iqbal is all about a young village lad in northern India, who eats,sleeps and thinks cricket. His only goal in life is to play for the Indian team. A few obstacles in his path, he is deaf and dumb.. He is poor and cannot afford standard training. His father is not ready to let his son ruin his life in pursuit of a day dream. He does have a few strengths. He can bowl real fast, and has great support from his mother and sister. There is also a village drunkard (ex-bowler for the state team) who will be coaching him. The story here is about how he fights all odds. While the story sounds very normal and often repeated, it is the taking of the movie that is brilliant. The cinematography is very simple. The rural village setting reminded me of the village where I grew up. The dialogues are witty and realistic without any dose of melodrama/sobs/tears. They seem to be inspired by "The Alchemist". The background score and the song are cool, and flow with the movie. There is no self-pity or "I-am-disabled-sohelp-me" kind of emotion. In fact, his disability ceases to be a factor within 10 minutes of the movie. The movie is very inspiring and entertaining. The acting is first rate. Nagesh Kukunoor (director) makes a good movie about cricket and great movie about "How not to give up what you like?".
exactly what the abundance of word of mouth asserts - the best movie of this year.
Watched Iqbal yesterday. Yes, this movie is exactly what the abundance of word of mouth on it asserts - the best movie of this year. I don't think this is a great movie, it's just that it is so rare to see a film that works in Bollywood, which does not come from a masala genre, that works simply as a straightforward story - that this film looks all the better compared to the awful field it competes with. Iqbal brings a smile to the face and a tear to the eye and a lump to the throat and a racing of the heartbeat in slight twist and sweet turn and more than makes up for the time and money it takes to invest in watching a film - much more than that. Nagesh Kukunoor's minimalist narration (enhanced by rousing music by the creative genius duo of Salim Sulaiman) that we saw in his earlier films is here perfect - the rustic ambiance of the film seems to pervade the storytelling too. The film reminded me of Million Dollar Baby and Shwaas at times - MDB, because of the minimalism & struggle against odds; Shwaas, because of the sweetness of the tale. Lovely, lovely film.