Jhund Movie Review: An Outstanding Sports Drama Of The Have-Nots

There is a pink-and-white wall, with iron fencing in most sections. It also has a gate, which is locked and is being governed to bar people from the adjacent slum to cross over to the other side where the wealthy and educated families dwell. That picture, metaphorically, portrays the zone that this film is venturing into. It is underlined further with the closing images of the film, where an airplane is witnessed flying right above the hutments of a slum area of Mumbai.

Jhund by Nagraj Popatrao Manjule is not an outright sports biopic, although it follows the usual beats of an efficient sports drama. The movie is a narrative on what we as a whole society can do to help the have-nots evaluate their plus points and cross the barrier to leap onto the other, brighter side. Amitabh’s Vijay Borade talks adequately about it in an important part of the film, set in the bylanes of Nagpur, shot wonderfully. The camera effectively romances the landscape of the city, especially the jhopadpatti where most part of the film is filmed.

Even though the proceedings in this film start at a modest pace, they pick upwind in no time. Vijay Borade is on the apex of retirement from his job as a sports professor in college, but in no feel to hang his boots yet. He is motivated enough to conduct education classes for adults in his house for the locals at fully his own expense. The opposition from his son, who is aiming for education abroad, is clear but understated. When kids in a neighboring slum catch the attention of Vijay while playing football with a plastic barrel, he starts to coach them in the game, which draws their attention away from their life which is filled with crime and drug addiction. But how far does this thing really go? Do they all really give up their life in the dark alleys of addiction and crime? Do some of them or all of them get the opportunity to leap onto the other side? All these are answered in this film. 

In this Jhund movie review, it is important to talk about the Big B of Bollywood. Words are seldom not enough to illustrate how wonderfully Amitabh Bachchan aces the roles he selected to play. This time, he is a retired sports professor who, despite obstacles and financial drawbacks, invests himself and all his hard-earned money to save and nurture kids from the slums of Nagpur. Here again, he has complete and perfect command on each scene where he appears, never overshadowing his complete team of players, always adding more power to them. What also gets the attention of the audience is the confidence with which over a dozen kids and young adults, like Ankush (also Don/Ankush in the film) perform.