Movies about sports usually have a doubled audience. The regular movie watchers and sports lovers. Thus, it is crucial to keep the Victory movie high quality and quite specific, otherwise, it is very hard to win the hearts of the people on the other side of the screen.
While some sports are more favored and popular than others, each and every one of them has a specific audience. Cricket is actually one of the most underrated globally. It is not as popular as baseball or any other sport, but requires a lot of energy, dedication and has quite a specific audience as well.
There are some very outstanding movies dedicated specifically to cricket, which are Lagaan and Iqbal. It is indeed hard to overcome those movies in popularity and to make them at least as emotional and professional as the ones mentioned above are. Though, back in 2009, Victory was released. While it might not be a definite Victory in the race of the best cricket movies, it is definitely a watchable and interesting one. Lagaan, was exceptionally good, bringing thousands of people to the stadiums instead of the theaters, though Victory brought the audience for the whole two hours and a half.
The movie plot
The key point for the Victory movie is that the roles are not played by actors, but rather by professional cricket players. Thus, if in any other case the actors need to learn about the sports and about the specifics of the role, in this very case, the players had to learn acting and had to be natural on the screen, just like they are on the stadium.
The job was not easy, and overall the movie is good, yet a bit overstretched. It would have been way better and interesting if instead of two hours and a half the movie was one hour shorter. Especially the first hour and a half with all of the music and drama are quite odd.
The whole Victory movie revolved around a cricket player, who has his highs and lows in life. The arrogance, greed, and lust almost cost him his life and all the pleasures, but he manages to overcome his demons and become the hero of the story. Victory may not be a true-life account of any one person, but you can’t help but draw parallels with people who led wildlife off the field. Also, any sports-based film works if it arouses the right emotions and Victory does so towards the final moments.
Some other interesting real-life actions in the movie are connected with cricket and its audience. Those are very excited people who have the urge to bet on their favorite players and who always need action in their lives. The worse a cricket player’s career gets, the better and easier it is to predict the outcome of the match. The punters who are constantly observing every single thing which could affect the player and his or her gameplay, usually make the right predictions, and once the players stop placing bets on the player, it usually does not say a lot about the career of the player.
Betting on cricket is not only common to the Indian people but also popular in many Western European countries, such as Norway. The interest in this specific sport was brought to the Norwegian people by the British colonists. Originally, cricket found big popularity in England and then spread its roots to many European countries, including Norway. One more reason why cricket is popular in Norway is the dynamic nature of the game, this leaves the fans always hyped and excited for the upcoming games. Many Norwegians bet on cricket as well. This is why cricket players locally, are always very attentively checking their betting charts, in order to check their relativity to the audience. Some more detailed information about betting on cricket in Norway is available if you check NorskCasino.Online, where you can find recent statistics and perhaps even make your predictions.
Vijay Shekhawat and his story
There are some movies that tell the story of the team or the main characters are together, though this is not the case and the movie is specifically dedicated to one single player, who is Vijay Shekhawat, who is played by Hurman S. Baweja. He hails from Jaisalmer. Soon, he becomes India’s latest world-class batting sensation and is catapulted to superstardom.
Though like many other celebrities, he gets starstruck and the glitter and fame make his head spin around. This leads to the downhill of his career, loss of focus, and miserable losses at the game. Though, the positive side is that he recognizes his mistakes and is ready to correct them, once he is thrown out of the Indian cricket team. Simultaneously, his father suffers a paralytic stroke.
Vijay wants to gain his fathers’ blessing once again and wants to make him proud rather than ashamed. This is when he gets to play in the finals of the Champion’s Trophy against Australia, where he plays a stellar role in enabling India to win the Trophy.
Summary
Some high hopes, as well as some risky steps, were made for the movie. The producer, Ajitpal Mangat chose the difficult way of having cricketers to play the roles instead of the professional actors. The movie shooting was difficult as well as expensive because of the expenses of the game.
The first 30 minutes of the enterprise makes you break into a yawn, frankly. Also, the film is stretched in the second hour for no reason and could’ve done with some tight editing. The songs in this hour are a big deterrent. Initial moments are a bit vague, but everything changes when Hurman can not digest success and gets on the wrong path. There are some good moments but not too many of them.
Anu Malik’s music is listless. Barring ‘Balla Utha’ and ‘Money Money’, the remaining songs are of the fast-forward type. The cinematography is excellent. Overall, the movie is definitely on the average rate and there are some things that could definitely be better, including the timing of the movie.