Speedy Singhs – Movie Review

Speedy Singh follows the path of cross cultural drama films that have been experimented in the past – Akshay Kumar starrer Patiala House and Gurinder Chadha's Bend it Like Beckham and John-Bipasha starrer Goal among others. Speedy Singhs, directed by Robert Lieberman and produced by Akshay Kumar and Ajay Virmani along with other co-producers is an attempt to connect with the Indian diaspora community. Speedy Singhs was earlier titled Breakaway.

Story:

Rajveer (Vinay Virmani) is a young man with dreams of making a career in the sport of ice hockey. Though he is extremely talented and possess the drive required to be an accomplished player, Rajveer faces several hurdles.

Meanwhile, his father Darvesh Singh is a staunch Sardar and wants his son to manage his transport company. Rajveer, in the desire to fit in the society that he lives in cuts off his hair in spite of being a Sikh, much to the anger and fury of his father.

Fed up of trying to find a foothold in the game of ice hockey, Rajveer decides to create an all Sikh ice hockey team without the knowledge of his father. Rajveer finds a coach to train the team (Rob Lowe) and also gets his uncle Sammy's (Gurpreet Ghuggi) trucking company to finance the team Speedy Singhs. Camilla Belle (Melissa Winters) adorns the role of the coach's sister and plays the love interest of Vinay Virmani's character.

What works and what does not:

Speedy Singhs boasts of a plot which had the ability to touch the hearts of the Indian diaspora.

However, many Bollywood films with sports as background has been done in the past – Chak De India, Patiala House and Goal. Speedy Singhs borrows a lot from the mentioned films. In fact, it would have worked well if the makers had given more of a thought into the plot.

Poor characterisation by script writers, Vinay Virmani, Noel Barker, Jeffrey Schechter and Matt Simmons limits the potential of the film.

Moreover, the drama is dull and doesn't quite strike a chord or generate the required euphoria even when Speedy Singhs win the tournament towards the end.

Music by Sandeep Chowta is commendable. Though the songs 'Shera Di Kaum' and 'Aaja Veh' are nice and hummable, it seems like they were forced into the narrative.

Performances

The performance of Vinay Virmani is good considering that it's his first film. Camilla Belle who plays Vinay's love interest in Speedy Singhs is brilliant. Russell Peters is funny at times though his character isn't developed enough. Anupam Kher does his part well as usual. Rob Lowe is efficient and so is Gurpreet Ghuggi. Noureen DeWulf and Sakina Jaffrey are good. As for Akshay Kumar, he makes an insignificant special appearance in the film.

Overall, Speedy Singhs is strictly 'okay' and is unlikely to make a great impact at the box office.

Producer: Akshay Kumar, Ajay Virmani

Co-Producer: Russell Peters, Pauline Dhillon, Paul Gross, Clayton Peters

Director: Robert Lieberman

Cast: Vinay Virmani, Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Darvesh Singh, Camilla Belle, Gurpreet Guggi,
Russell Peters, Noureen Dewulf, Reena Sakina Jaffrey, Rob Lowe

Music: Sandeep Chowta