Toofaan | Not A Movie Review by Movie Insert | Farhan Akhtar, Mrunal Thakur | MOVIE INSERT

 

 You know how we’ve been saying “trailers meinpoori film dikha detey hain, mazaa nahi aata” So this one also felt like, okay so weknow what iknd of movie is going to be. But oh man, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehracaught me by surprise. Hey guys, my name is Sucharita. This is Film Companion,you're watching Not A Movie Review and right now I'm not goingto be reviewing Toofaan. Set in Mumbai, Toofaan begins asthe story of street ka gunda Aziz Ali,  fearfully known as Ajju Bhai, who onlyknows the phoda-phodi life. An orphan raised by a local gangster,he’s made the street-fighter look work for him. During this peet-paat, one day a local gyminstructor sees a talent for boxing, he refers him to a coach, and Ajju also finds love, and his life now has purpose. But, this is not La La Land, wherepipe-dreams actually do come true. This is Mumbai city, jahaan an impoverished,Muslim man, with a criminal record has more hurdles to cross,than meet the eye. Similarly, in Toofaan, which was marketedto us as a sports movie, there is way more, just beneath the surface. To understand the commentary the film is attempting,let's look at who's written it. Actor Farhan Akhtar has been credited for“story idea”, maaney germination. Then it went to writersAnjum Rajabali and Vijay Maurya. Credited here with story and screenplay, AnjumRajabali has written many Prakash Jha films - Satyagraha, Chakravyuh, Aarakshan, Raajneeti. Go a little further back in his filmography,you’ll find Pukar, Ghulam. Maaney solid stories tackling extremely India specific social disbalances, where characters emerge from the story,and not the other way around. Toofaan too, is less about Ajju Bhai, or evencoach Nana Prabhu, or the sport of boxing, but it is more about the world these charactersinhabit, and have to make their way through. Vijay Maurya, hmmm. On one hand, he writes crackling dialogue forGully Boy. He's a very gifted, talented actor also. But his last writing job was forSalman Khan in and as Radhe. Here, he gets additional screenplay and dialogue credit, which checks out. Some of the lines given to Hussain Dalal,as the side-kick and hype-man Munna, are just top-notch. My favorite is him leaving a small clinic,and surreptitiously telling the next patient, “Sambhaalna, yeh log kidney churaate hain”. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehrathen works with his writers,  and shows us a conflict I didn’t see coming. But when it does arrive, it makes absolute sense, and it's impressive that the film goes where it does,without giving too much away right now. Farhan Akhtar is bloody hardworking. What he perhaps lacks in a natural, real,lived experience to bring to Dongri’s Aziz Ali,  he more than makes upfor it with sheer diligence. His performance is convincing, stirring anda far cry from anything he’s done before. Even if you compare it with the Milkha Singh movie,similar training montages, shedding blood and sweat for a sport, sure.But that’s where the similarity ends. Like I said, Toofaan is less about the sport,and more about the common man Ajju, who could be anyone. The trailer had us all confused. Mrunal Thakur, simply put, is delightful. Effortless and breezy, her Ananya is a greatsubversion of the manic pixie dream girl trope. Yes, she goes to public placesand laughs with strangers, she loves the sunset,she rides a cute little scooty, but she’s also a doctor withstrong morals and drive, and she's taught herselfto be unafraid of powerful men,  sadak par gundeand ghar mein pitaaji alike. Perhaps the best casting though,might just be Paresh Rawal as Islamophobic boxing coach Nana Prabhu. A bigot, indoctrinated into believing his religionis above all else, even the sport he coaches, slowly learns that he too hasa price to pay, an incoming reckoning. While his arc might tad simplistic,the resolution is borderline predictable, but it is a moral grey area mainstream Hindi cinemahas stayed away from, these last few years. When does conviction turn to fanaticism, and canone ever come back from unsubstantiated blind hate, propelled by religion, in a country wherehe enjoys and hence takes for granted the privilege to assert his value systems,while many others are vilified for the same. Frankly, it’s important to hear a character likeNana Prabhu talk about the so-called ‘Love Jihad’ - a crass name given to inter-faith marriages. Boxing is a lonely sport, there’s no teammateto score points with you. Coach, nutritionists, doctors, etc. aside. Toofaan’s Ajju Bhai is as alone and untetheredin real-life, as he is in the boxing ring, where at least he’s allowed toexpress his anger and frustrations with the many unfair handsdealt to him since birth. In real-life, that expression isn’t permitted. Farhan Akhtar and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehrahugely succeed in focusing on Ajju’s loneliness. When he’s banned from boxing for 5 years,as you've seen in the trailer, he becomes a taxi-driver,another solitary and dull profession. All Ajju wants is community, and cruelly, every timehe tries to build himself a family of any sort, that community shoves him farther. It's very effective. Toofaan though, can be blamed for sometimesoversimplifying complicated conflicts. In an attempt to make the film worthy of itsstar cast and to reach a wider audience perhaps, there’s a lip sync song, one too many trainingmontages, thodi jarring dialogue-baazi, predictable wire-tapping & CCTV footage plot-points,  scenes venturing way over-the-topto establish a gangster with a heart of gold, there's some unnecessary emphasison some characters, you'll see, who come and go without consequence. But, Toofaan works as a sum of its parts. Jay Oza’s cinematography,Abhilasha Sharma’s costume design, D’evil and Dub Sharma’s banger ‘Todun Tak’, Rajat Poddar’s production design. My favorite is those Coca-Cola localcafé wala fridges Ajju keeps in his home, probably stolen from a local café. And the acting performances - these all thingscome together to make Toofaan an enjoyable, even insightful watching experience. So, on a scale of 1 to 10, Toofaan is… 100% yehi push chahiye tha mujhepost-pandemic workout shuru karne ke liye. Chalo CultFit, vaccine lagwaakar, please. Catch the film on Amazon Prime Video this weekend. And subscribe to Film Companion, now only.