The entire media world is going bonkers this week with the
Game of Thrones premier (Winter is Coming) and the release of the
Avengers: Endgame (Spring is coming).
Meanwhile, an excellent film has been released, which will
be appreciated by even casual readers of this space. That film has as its subject a cricket
player, the best player of a lifetime, who tries to stage a comeback at an age
when most players have given up completely.
"Jersey" is a newly released sports drama, which is taking the
world's screens by storm. Even in the
United States, where cricket, foreign films, and foreign language films
generally all have a hard time succeeding, the film has had widespread
release.
Although a few scenes of the film, especially at the
beginning, are in English, the film is generally in the Telugu language. Telugu is a language primarily spoken in east
central India, whose stellar male lead, it would seem, is also lead in this
film.
That would be Nani, who appears in the film as a washed up
government employee, who was suspended after rightly pointing out corruption in
his workplace. He is unable to return to
work because he is unwilling to pay off
bribes to the right officials. He spends
his day smoking, drinking, and watching cricket with his posse, betting rent
and electricity money from his wife on these activities. He has not played cricket since his mid
twenties, when he left the sport upon marriage to Catholic wife, whose family he wants to
impress. The film traces his attempt at
a comeback despite scoffing objections from nearly all of those who hear of
it. His team is Hyderabad, well known to
readers of this space. Tall, dark, and handsome Harish Kalyan adds an assist playing Nani's adult son.
The film includes a lot of cricket action, the likes of
which are never seen on the big screen. The visual imagery is quite well done with
good shots of various scenes throughout the movie. There
are twenty minutes or so of popular music over collaged emotional shots to move
the action forward.
The music is good
and the effect not too tedious. Telugu
is not unpleasant to listen to and it is peppered with English words and
phrases anyway. The actors freely switch
from one to the other, keeping the conversation lively. At two hours thirty seven minutes, it does
take some commitment of time, but the well written film helps the time to pass
quickly. The beautifully shot cricket
scenes fit the big screen so well.
If you have some time this weekend, and are lucky enough to have
"Jersey" at a nearby cinema, don't hesitate to buy a ticket. Seeing it on the big screen, with subtitles unobtrusive at the bottom for when they are needed, is definitely worth it. Let us
know what you think.
3.5/4
3.5/4
