Cricket has always been a fundamental part of both India's culture and also a keen passion for this reviewer. So when the opportunity to watch a movie that features the game arose, then that was something i was never going to pass up.
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Veera (Rani Mukherjee) is an anomaly in her village. A fiercely proud Punjabi with dreams of playing Cricket for India. With no women's team in her village, she shows off her skills by embarrassing any male challengers and she is first seen humiliating a cricketer for his condescending attitude. For the past 8 years, Vicky (Anup Kher) has seen his local Indian team defeated by his friend Lucky (Dalip Tahil) and his Pakistan team in the annual Anam Cup, a match designed to promote harmony and celebrate the two countries independence. After the latest defeat, Vicky feigns a heart attack to bring his son Rohan (Shahid Kapoor) over from England to Captain his team. Veera attempts to try out for the side but is prevented from doing so by the guard on the ground. Disguising herself as Veer Pratap Singh, she is able to enter and become a member of the team. A series of mishaps occur as Rohan's friend from London falls in love with the disguised Veera, whilst she develops feelings for Rohan. As the matchday moves ever closer, the danger of the truth emerging becomes ever more likely.
The standard Bollywood elements are all in place. Bright colourful musical numbers with a couple of very catchy ones that are easy on the ear. Familial issues, especially the friction between father and son with an inevitable reconciliation and of course, some heavy emotional speeches about duty and love. This is all part of the fun though, and when done well as is here then you have an enjoyable picture.
The movie is carried by a wonderful performance by Rani Mukherjee. Indeed it is impossible to imagine another contemporary Bollywood actress in the part. Her natural comic timing enables her to immediately engage the audience and lacks a lot of the overblown mannerisms that sometimes distract in other comedies. She has a naturalness that convinces even with the story telling stretching believability. Her final speech is, despite the melodrama, a very powerful moment and furthers her reputation for playing strong female characters. Her leading man looks the part as a top level cricketer and whilst his actions don't necessarily make sense, as are plot contrivances, the chemistry is undeniably there. The supporting cast play their parts broadly and to the most part engagingly.
“Dil Bole Hadipa” is an interesting movie to watch in relation to India's love of cricket as the passion for the game exudes throughout. Early on we see Veers and her makeshift shrine to her idols and a reference to the Cricket World cup of 1983 which was when the one day game took off. The change of rules in the Aman cup reflect the shift to 20/20 and whilst the theme is about breaking borders and friendship the competitive desire of beating the other lurks below the surface. Whilst Lucky and Vicky are undeniably good friends there is a friction that comes for defeat with Lucky clearly embracing his teams superiority. With gamesmanship seeping in before the conclusion although again this is more for dramatic effect.
One element that is never fully developed is the lack of a women's game in the movies world. It's mentioned several times that Veera should play with women and not with men and her response is that there is no such team. There is a casual sexism to many of the male parts as they cannot understand or accept being beaten by a woman. This aspect reaches its absurd apex when Veer is revealed as Veera and there is an accusation of cheating. Whilst the character of Veera is an embodiment of equality and ultimately triumphant (not a spoiler as it's a feel good movie after all!) – it's something that could have possibly been explored further.
To the uninitiated, Bollywood comedies are sometimes a little difficult to click too as can be very broad in humour with very over the top performances (Johnny Lever for example). Here, whilst still broadly played, we have an underdog story that is enjoyable and entertaining even for those that don't like cricket!
