You have a loving and supporting family. You are surrounded by sunshine and joy and life is wonderful. You are an upcoming cricketer. Your batting skills are the talk among the selectors. After years of hard work, you have been finally selected to play for India in England. There is a celebratory party for the occasion. On your way home your car meets with an accident. You are gravely injured and are rushed to the hospital. You are unconscious. The doctors treating you have no other option than to amputate your right arm. When you gain consciousness and realise the loss of the most important part of your body, what do you do? "What happens when everything's taken away from you in a span of few minutes? How do you feel?
Devastated obviously. This is the end of the world. You have no desire to live. You detest the fact that people are looking at you with pity. You question – Why me? This is the condition of the protagonist, Anina, when Paddy enters her life. Actually, Paddy has entered her life earlier – as a critic whose value Anina did not understand at that time. But now he enters her life as a motivation, as an inspiration. After the initial wallowing in self pity, Anina takes charge of her life and makes the most of what she has.
There is a beautiful song written by Swanand Kirkire and sung by Mika Sing that goes – There is 1 Sun, 1 Moon, 1 Earth and 1 Sky. And look at yourself. You are 1 of a kind as well. Everyone wants to be unique, 1 in a million. You ARE 1 in a million. In Hindi the words sound more poetic. And I have just done a literal translation! The song is Taqdeer se takra – if you want to hear it.
There is one scene which discusses and confuses faith and superstition. That, for me, could have been dealt more intelligently. The end is dramatic and predictable with the Indian movies’ penchant for happy endings.
I liked Abhishek Bachchan. I think he played the brutally impolite, ill-mannered Paddy with honesty and vulnerability. Paddy’s life has been summed up in one sentence - I dreamt of playing for India one day and I played for India only for a day. In one of the film reviews, I read this reference. Meryl Streep’s introduction in the ‘Only Murders’ series as an actress who was never successful, sums up Paddy’s character. “All in pursuit of a moment in the spotlight, where you hope someone might see you and say, “where have you been”. What if those magic words never come and it's only rejection, over and over again?” It takes courage for an actor to play a character that speaks his truth.
Saima Kher as Anina, Angad Bedi as her boyfriend, Shabana Azmi as her statistic loving grandmother, Ivanka Das as Rasika, and the actors who played Anina’s dad and brothers, all stand out for the sensitive portrayal of their well written characters.
The film is inspired by the story of Károly Takács, the late Hungarian right-hand shooter who won two Olympic gold medals with his left hand after his other hand was seriously injured.
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