PLOT
Shiv Shastri, an enthusiastic admirer of Rocky Balboa who established the local Rocky Boxing Club retires and makes a permanent move to the US to live with his son’s family. He fights with culture shock and alienation there, embarks on a trip to Philadelphia with a cleaner he befriends, he makes the decision to live rather than just exist.
REVIEW
The movie by writer-director Ajay Venugopalan demonstrates that a boxing-themed movie can be interesting even if the main character is an elderly banker with a prostate condition. When teaching his grandson values, Shiv Shastri is motivated by Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky film series. Shiv travels to Philadelphia to aid Elsa Zacharia in escaping her abusive employers and to celebrate the 13th birthday of her granddaughter.
Shiv and Elsa had several adventures while living with Cinnamon Singh, a would-be Punjabi singer, including fending off a group of bikers, visiting a strip club, passing as Cinnamon’s parents, and getting into trouble with the law. As he befriends the family’s pug, Casper, whom he affectionately calls Capsule, and engages in humorous dialogues with the dog through the latter’s amusing thought bubbles, the viewer will remain thrilled and in splits throughout the film’s 132-minute running period.
Shiv Shastri Balboa is portrayed by Anupam Kher with remarkable grace and speech delivery, encouraging his grandsons to act responsibly. On point is also Anupam’s imitation of Stallone a few times. The chemistry between him and Neena is excellent. She portrays a bungling grandma who drinks beer and vodka while daydreaming of leaving her eight-year grind of supporting his avaricious daughter and son-in-law in India. The trio is completed by Sharib Hashmi, who stands tall next to the two seasoned performers.
Jugal Hansraj, who plays the NRI son, strikes a likeable tone with his mild American accent. Joshua Ausley and Binendra Menon did the cinematography for this movie, and Praveen Prabhakar did the editing. Alokananda Dasgupta and Utkarsh Umesh Dhotekar created the soundtrack and background score for the movie.
The film has subtle hints to racism, culture shock, alienation, and what it means for the third generation to grow up in an escalating intolerance. But none of these detracts from the main topic of Shiv Shastri and Elsa embarking on an accidental trip; they are all presented simply as facts.
Rating – Two out of five stars.
You must visit the theaters if you’re seeking a film with your family. Ajayan Venugopalan is the film’s director. AT Films made this movie with Kishore Varieth as the producer. Neena Gupta and Anupam Kher play the lead roles, and Nargis Fakhri, Jugal Hansraj, Sharib Hashmi, and numerous others play supporting roles. On February 10, 2023, it was presented in theaters. From April 2023, the movie will be available on popular OTT platforms.
