Ghoomer Review

Anina (Saiyami Kher), a promising young cricketer, gets selected for the Indian team, but days before her first game, she is in a freak accident. She wakes up in the hospital to find that her arm has been amputated. Feeling shattered, she feels her life is no longer worth living. But then, Paddy "Sir" (Abhishek Bachchan) stumbles into her house, reeking of alcohol, promising her that she will be part of the team again. Not as a batsman, but as a bowler - a one-handed specialty bowler.

Ghoomer fits snugly into director-writer R Balki's slate of feel-good films such as English Vinglish, Pad Man and Mission Mangal, where the underdog runs the gauntlet and prevails. Anina and Paddy are a compelling duo: the middle-aged alcoholic man who once bowled for India before being sidelined due to injury, and the young girl he wants to save from withering away as he did.

With lots of tough love and a few unconventional coaching methods, Paddy gets Anina on the pitch again. There is a rousing montage of Anina hacking away at overgrowth behind Paddy's house to set up a practice pitch (she does this with such careless zeal that I thought she might accidentally chop off her own leg). And one of Paddy's memorable gimmicks is to spread buffalo dung along the pitch to coach Anina to bowl without soiling the ball.

However, aside from the occasional charming scene, Ghoomer is a straightforwardly-told sports comeback drama further ill-served by its heavy-handed background score. It rushes over crucial details to reach its finale. Are we to believe that a batsman can re-skill herself so quickly into a world-class bowler? And a non-dominant-hand bowler, no less? Other times, the details ring hollow. Paddy's persona as a loquacious alcoholic is clichéd. And the manner in which Anina loses her hand is embarrassingly unimaginative.

Paddy and Anina may be charming characters on paper, but the real heart and humour of Ghoomer come from the odd side characters. Like Paddy's "adopted sister" and caretaker Rasika, a trans man played by the scene-stealing Ivanka Das. And Shabana Azmi, who plays Anina's quietly competent cricket-nerd grandmother, and adds gravitas to the wayward scenes.

As for the protagonists, Abhishek Bachchan doesn't always paint the most sympathetic or convincing picture as a drunk. The high point of his character arc is a long and lumbering monologue about his guilt and regrets, but it is so self-indulgent and uncalled-for that we never empathise with him.

The hazel-eyed stunner, Saiyami Kher, with her strong physique and chiseled jawline, is perfect for scenes that demand physicality. However, she is lost when a scene requires nuance or emotion. Balki appears to account for this deficiency by shrouding her face in her most emotionally charged moments. When she first realizes she has lost her arm, she is in an oxygen mask. When she breaks down and contemplates suicide, she is in a dark room, her face away from the camera.

What saves Ghoomer from being a total washout is the game of cricket itself. Specifically, a nearly 30-minute sequence that is indistinguishable from a highlight reel of a nail-biting cricket match. Amitach Bachchan makes a surprise entry as a commentator. Watching the wickets fall, and the crowds erupt in cheer, you almost forget the loose storytelling that led up to this point. For now is the time to get inspired. The time for Cricket. Time for the "ghoomer" - a bowling manoeuvre that Paddy discovers and teaches Anina.

By pulling this rabbit out of the hat, Balki just about saves the film from obscurity. Even though the movie doesn't have the zippiness of the women's hockey drama Chak De! India (2007) or the emotional resonance of Iqbal (2005) in which a deaf-mute bowler vies for a spot on the Indian team, Ghoomer just about scrapes through. The surge of cricket mania in the second half carries you through to the end - if you are not asleep by then, that is.