Kaun Pravin Tambe?, based on the extraordinary journey of Pravin Tambe’s cricketing career is now available to stream on Disney+ Hotstar. Despite Shreyas Talpade’s nuanced performance, the biopic is a forgettable experience. Directed by Jayprsad Desai, the film neglects the inspiring core tale of Tambe and instead gets rumbled up in the cliches. The movie fails to arise a stimulating response due to its wayward narrative diverting from the central composition.
Kaun Pravin Tambe? Cast:
Shreyas Talpade essays the titular role of 40-year-old Pravin Tambe with utmost brilliance and proves his mettle as a serious actor in the film industry. His portrayal of Tambe will undoubtedly bring back memories from his underrated fictional cricketing drama Iqbal. Parambrata Chatterjee’s portrayal of Rajat Sanyal is near perfect and successfully makes the viewer hate the character. Anjali Patil, cast in the role of Tambe’s wife, Vaishali, makes efficient use of whatever little screen time she had in the movie.
Kaun Pravin Tambe? Storyline:
The film is an anecdote of Pravin Tambe’s journey to make his debut for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League at the age of 41 without possessing any prior experience in professional cricket. The film begins with Rahul Dravid making remarks about Tambe’s ability and passion on the cricket field without any assistance to support his cause. Immediately the narrative shifts to Rajat Sanyal, the sports journalist who always chided Tambe and rated him even below the standards of domestic cricket.
The storyline focuses on Tambe who always had dreamt about playing Ranji trophy for Mumbai. Tambe began his cricketing journey with Orient Shipping team, a place where he met Coach Pradakar played by Ashish Vidyarthi. Pradakar advises Tambe to bowl leg-spin instead of the medium pace that he used to bowl. Tambe however hesitated to make alternations to his bowling style due to being in the contention for probable players of the Mumbai Ranji team. Nevertheless, things take turns for the worse and Tambe never gets the chance to represent Mumbai in Ranji and becomes the breadwinner for his family.
While working day jobs to support his family, Tambe continues to hone his skills in leg-spin with Coach Pardakar in the hopes of playing professional cricket in future. Things align for Tambe when his ex clubmate Abey Kuruvilla invites him as a player at DY Patil Sports Academy where he ultimately gets scouted by Rajasthan Royals to represent them in the IPL.
Kaun Pravin Tambe? Review:
The two-hour-long movie is so sluggish that despite brilliant performances from the cast the movie feels like wasting time with unnecessary events. Desai in his directorial Hindi debut includes all the cliches associated with sports drama that drain out the energy from this slow-paced biopic. The film tries to use Talpade’s humour to keep the audience engaged but diverts from the real issue at hand.
The movies make Tambe’s extraordinary journey feel ordinary with its easygoing portrayal of obstacles in his life. The protagonist’s story fails to leave a lasting impression on people’s minds and feels that the emotions required to uplift such an inspiring journey are missing in it.
Just for the sake of having a negative appearance in the movie, it feels that Desai has tried too hard to mould Parambrata’s portrayal of Rajat Sanyal as a sports journalist who is a villain in Tambe’s story. It seems that Rajat has nothing to worry about except badmouthing Tambe and fantasising about new ways to criticise him.
The cricketing scenes in the film are also nothing to boast of as it appears that someone from the stands had recorded them. The mediocre filmography and film’s baffling approach to downplaying the struggle and hard work of Tambe certainly marks that the movie has failed to explore the eponymous journey of Pravin Tambe in its full flavour.
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