By:
Taran
Adarsh,
IndiaFM
Friday,
June
22,
2007
It's
an
arduous
task
to
make
a
film
with
kids.
And
much
more
difficult
to
inject
a
sport
[read,
cricket]
in
the
plotline.
2007
has
witnessed
two
films
with
cricket
as
the
backdrop
-
Hattrick
and
Say
Salaam
India.
In
Chain
Kulii
Ki
Main
Kulii,
two
tracks
run
concurrently
--
an
orphan's
desire
to
have
parents
and
his
passion
for
cricket.
Made
with
noble
intentions
and
with
the
motive
of
making
a
film
that
would
appeal
to
kids
from
6
to
60,
Chain
Kulii
Ki
Main
Kulii
doesn't
really
measure
up
to
the
expectations
of
either
adults
or
kids.
That's
because
the
film
appeals
in
bits
and
spurts.
The
sequences
on
the
pitch
succeed
in
arousing
the
required
emotions,
but
the
emotional
angle
in
the
story
[between
Rahul
Bose
and
his
estranged
father
Nasser
Abdullah]
appears
fake.
Also,
the
romance
between
Rahul
and
Meera
Vasudevan
is
half-baked.
In
fact,
forced
in
the
narrative.
In
a
nutshell,
Chain
Kulii
Ki
Main
Kulii
isn't
great
cinema.
Conversely,
it's
not
a
below-the-mark
movie-going
experience
either.
It
floats
somewhere
in
between.
Chain
Kulii
Ki
Main
Kulii
is
a
journey
of
a
13-year-old
an
orphan
boy
Karan
[Zain
Khan],
who
lives
in
a
dilapidated
orphanage
owned
by
a
stern,
uncouth
warden,
John
Kakkad
[Rajesh
Khera].
Karan
has
two
dreams,
one
is
to
have
parents
and
the
other
is
to
be
a
big
cricketer.
His
inspiration
is
Kapil
Dev
since
he
has
been
brought
up
on
the
motivating
stories
of
India's
World
Cup
win
by
the
orphanage
caretaker,
Bholu
Dada
[Susheel
Parasher].
Karan's
best
buddy
in
the
orphanage
is
Daboo
[Deeptiman
Chaudhary],
who
often
lends
his
gentle
ears
to
the
aspirations
which
Karan
lives
on.
His
dreams
take
a
turn
when
one
day,
he
lays
his
hands
on
an
old
cricket
bat
which
Karan
is
convinced
is
the
bat
that
Kapil
Dev
used
to
win
the
World
Cup,
and
for
him
the
bat
becomes
a
magic
bat.
One
day,
by
the
stroke
of
luck,
the
coach
of
the
Indian
cricket
team
[Vijay
Crishna]
spots
Karan
and
is
highly
impressed
by
his
batting
skills.
This
happens
at
a
time
when
the
Indian
cricket
team
is
going
through
a
rough
patch.
Karan
is
inducted
into
the
team
as
the
opening
batsman
along
with
the
captain,
Varun
[Rahul
Bose].
Karan
soon
becomes
the
nation's
heartthrob.
Only
one
person
hates
him,
Raghav
[Raj
Bhansali],
the
orphanage
bully,
who
feels
that
if
Karan
did
not
have
the
magic
bat,
he
would
have
never
made
it
to
the
cricket
team.
Raghav
now
wants
the
magic
bat
at
any
cost.
At
the
final
one-day
match
between
India
and
Pakistan,
events
spiral
out
of
control
and
Karan's
magic
bat
is
destroyed.
Karan
is
a
nervous
wreck,
but
Varun
makes
him
realize
that
faith
in
oneself
counts
beyond
anything
else.
Jay
Shewakramani's
story
has
the
potential
to
strike
a
chord
with
moviegoers
of
all
ages,
but
the
screenplay
[Nupur
Asthana]
vacillates
between
convincing
and
least
convincing.
In
an
effort
to
please
the
kids
as
also
grown-ups,
the
film
drifts
away
from
the
core
issue.
Debutante
Kituu
Salooja's
direction
is
simple
and
a
few
moments
are
deftly
executed,
especially
those
in
the
orphanage.
But,
as
mentioned
at
the
outset,
the
film
works
in
bits
and
spurts,
not
in
totality.
Salim-Sulaiman's
music
is
plain
ordinary.
The
title
track
in
the
end
credits
is
eye-catching.
Cinematography
[Promod
Kumar
H.
Pradhan]
is
functional.
Rahul
Bose
takes
a
backseat
since
the
focus
is
on
Zain
Khan,
who's
supremely
confident
all
through.
Ditto
for
the
other
kid,
Raj
Bhansali.
Vijay
Crishna
is
effective.
Rajesh
Khera's
performance
is
impressive.
But
his
shabby
get-up
resembles
that
of
a
male
witch,
not
an
orphanage
warden.
Meera
Vasudevan
gets
no
scope.
Deeptiman
Chaudhary
is
cute.
On
the
whole,
Chain
Kulii
Ki
Main
Kulii
is
an
ordinary
fare
that
might
attract
kids
in
its
opening
weekend.
But
the
three
tough
oppositions
next
week
will
marginalize
it
completely.
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