A new release in India... WORLD CUPP 2011 (REVIEWS)

Review: World Cupp 2011 is torture
MovieWorld Cupp 2011
DirectorRavi Kapoor
CastRavi Kapoor, Manisha Chetterjee, Ehsaan Khan, Zakir Hussain, Suresh Oberoi, Vineet Sharma, Prem Chopra


Halfway through, you wonder whether to sob or smile. World Cupp 2011 is a torture for sure; but as the saying goes -`it’s so bad, it’s good’. You also wonder how such films get funded, guessing that it’s probably the debut hero’s family that has supported the film. Turns out this film on cricket is a one-man show. The leading man himself is the one responsible for producing, directing and writing this picture. So there, that explains plenty.
Ravi Kapoor plays Ravi Indulkar, captain of the Indian cricket team. A rising star on the sports horizon, he and his unscrupulous teammates throw away a match for a hefty fee from the betting mafia. They get caught by a reporter and are banned for four years. They sooon get drunk that night and take refuge in a relative’s place. Indulkar’s parents who are constantly glued to the TV couch are shocked in the melodramatic manner of Hindi movies. Mom sheds tears and Dad going redder than a tomato, suffers a heart attack. The son is thrown out of the house for being a gaddar (traitor). The girlfriend, a pretty actress drowned under an avalanche of pink make-up, too shows him the tough love. He mopes some more; pretty much the standard expression throughout the film.
We now move four years later when the ban is to end. Mom is still sobbing and dad is still bedridden. The kid brother looks exactly the same age. Coincidences happen at every turn. The nincompoops arrive at the same party as the ex-girlfriend and the team coach. So he picks up a guitar and first serenades the girl, now resembling a sparkling chandelier, singing something like `My heart says to me, baby’.
He then moves on to the other table where he disturbs the coach’s dinner and asks for another chance to play for the country. The coach agrees and all the five players are reinstated back. We then see some silly shots of the team training as the background score hollers, `we are the future; we are the pride’. In the next match the team loses, and this time without even trying. The dad who was bedridden pops it, the mum goes hysterical. The girlfriend becomes the team’s physiotherapist - told you it was funny!
Now comes World Cupp 2011 (their spelling). The media interviews people like `sarkar’ (an actor wearing a robe and beads) and we see `D’, a top don manipulating the order to letting Pakistan win. Meanwhile, some more fun happens on the side; Indulkar decides to become an honest player and gives a sermon about patriotism to the gold-laden local dealer. Then his girlfriend gets kidnapped.
There seems to be no attempt to make a good picture here. The writing is massively clumsy and the direction doesn’t convince or immerse you for a second. Acting is uniformly bad, barring performances by the senior actors. Music is forgettable. The makers just seem to want to capitalise on former successes like Lagaan and Jannat, and sail through. But the fact remains that for every sports film success, there have been plenty of failures. The audience isn’t about to go watch a below-par film just because it talks of their favourite sport. Not worth your time.
Verdict: One star...?????