In a nation where sports is not a reliable career profession (except for maybe cricket to a certain extent), we have been blessed with numerous sporting icons. These include Dhyan Chand, Sachin, Paes, Anand, Mary Kom etc to name a few. Their brilliance & mastery over the game has inspired thousands which includes the film industry as well. In the last decade we have seen many biopics being made & the latest to be added to that list is Amole Gupte's "Saina". The exploits of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee Saina Nehwal is well documented thanks to the hyper active media. So were the makers able to do justice to the biopic of the only Indian female badminton player to have attained the World no.1 ranking??? Ironically, they were rather careless as there is a scene where a newspaper clip is shown as 'Sania winning U13 title' & even the first look poster seemed like a tennis serve rather than hitting a shuttle.
Saina (Naishaa Kaur / Parineeti Chopra) was introduced to the world of badminton by her mother, Usha Rani (Meghna Malik) who was an impressive player herself in her younger days. She wanted to make sure that Saina attained the heights of the game that she dreamt about & motivated as well as pushed her daughter to the hilt. If mother was the fire, then her father Harvir Singh (Subhrajyoti Barat) was the gentle breeze who supported her in the best way possible that his humble means could afford. Soon enough, Saina started to make headlines in the junior level & joins the academy of Sarvadhamaan Rajan (Manav Kaul) to graduate to the next level. It was never going to be easy for an Indian to break into the world stage that was ruled by the Chinese & Rajan seemed to be the answer for that. But will Saina be able to adhere the strict regimen of her coach???
Amole Gupte credentials as a director was established in his debut project itself "Stanley ka Dabba" which was an enjoyable experience. In "Saina", he was taking on a subject that had inspired many & hence the audience are keen to know about the ups & downs that the protagonist went through. Unfortunately, Amole fails to do that & what we get is an extremely superficial story that most of us already know if you are a sports lover. It was also surprising as to why they chose a false name for the coach when it is evident that it is Gopichand. By the way, it was distracting to see the size of the mole vary from frame to frame. On the technical side, Piyush Shah's visuals were fine & the manner in which the games were choreographed deserves praise.
The first choice for the role of the protagonist was Shraddha Kapoor & it seemed like a very good choice. But due to health related issues, she had to back out & it was eventually taken up by Parineeti Chopra. The latter has done justice to the role especially in the game sequences. Manav Kaul was spot on, Meghna Malik impressed in the first half while she got sidelined subsequently, Eshan Naqvi as Kashyap was reduced to nothing more than a pretty face while the rest were ok as well.
Verdict: As a biopic, I dont think Amole has been able to provide a comprehensive picture about Saina. It was just a compilation of a few tournaments that she won & doesnt give us any glimpse as to how she dealt with setbacks like injury, issues with Gopichand etc. In short, you can give it a try without expecting that you will come to know something new about the Champ!!!
Rating: 2.5/5
Regards...Ben
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