The much awaited or shall we say much anticipated movie this time of the year after a dud called Radhe. The trailer of Toofaan seemed fabulous and hard-hitting but the actual movie was a disappointment. This movie now streaming on Amazon is about national integration. Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Parsi only a Sikh and a Buddhist missing from the main religious diversity that India is.
Jokes apart, one would have expected it to be a sports film ala Bhaag Milkha Bhaag what with the same team of director, producer and actor teaming up again. Namely Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra with the directorial baton (who even regales us with his two bit August presence as some national boxing official), Excel Studios as the producer and Farhan Akhtar as the hard working actor. There is no doubt that Farhan has but in his sweat and blood to look every inch a boxer at his age.
Though Toofaan is a feel good flick but nothing in the league of Bhaag or Dangal or even Panga for that matter. Many side shows, though limited in screen time, do dominate the narrative, about the usual Hindu-Muslim issue which is tried to be a bit differently portrayed.
A well placed girl falling for a orphaned road rowdy who metamorphosis into a suave boxer then a businessman, a bum chum, then the usual Parsi gentleman who is a well wisher and of course our good old D’Souza aunty to complete the national integration circle then the stereotype father revolting to the very idea of love, even calling it Love Jihad, then the usual track of the motherless child and last but not the least the hero is not fighting for his honor nor for medal or fame but for his dead wife.
Why would Farhan have to put all these clichés in (did he have CAA in his mind when the story was conceptualized) when it could very well have been more of a sports film with some back story rather than this mash-up. All the preparation of his to become a boxer are done in two songs in a span of say at most six months in the first instance and then three in the second.
The movie tries to entice you with endearments rather than focus on the sport or the build up, which could have made it look awesome. There have been a few Hindi movies on boxing like Mithun’s Boxer, with the last one being Mukkabaaz from Anurag Kashyap stable which had an infinitely better story then this clichéd one.
Again I reiterate that Farhan has put in his guts to build, deconstruct and build his boxer body again but looks too urbane to play a roadside rowdy first up so that’s about it on him. Mrinal Thakur does what every heroine does to a Hindi movie, add the emotional quotient and decorative value. Even Darshan Kumar is wasted in a thankless role.
The saving grace though being Paresh Raval, the veteran Mohan Agashe, subdued but did look the part. The music is nothing to write home about. All in all a feel good but run-of-the-mill Bollywood film. A song starts playing in my mind after seeing this one… remember the AB superhero- sorry super dud of the same name Toofan which had the following lyrics: Aaya aaya Toofaan, bhaagaa, bhaagaa shaitaan’…..who is shaitaan I wonder.
– Review by PAWAN GUPTA
Cast of Toofaan:
Farhan Akhtar as Aziz Ali (Toofan)
Paresh Rawal as Coach Nana Prabhu
Mrunal Thakur as Dr Ananya Prabhu
Sonali Kulkarni as Nana Prabhu’s wife
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra as IBF Secretary
Vijay Raaz as Jaffar Bhai
Mohan Agashe as Bala Kaka
Hussain Dalal as Munna
Gauri Phulka as Myra
Darshan Kumar as Dharmesh Patil
Supriya Pathak as Sister D’Souza
Milind Pathak as Inspector Shinde
Imran Rashid as Mohsin
Arhan Chowdary as Parvez
Credits of Toofaan:
Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Written by Anjum Rajabali, Vijay Maurya, Farhan Akhtar
Produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Cinematography – Jay Oza
Edited by Meghna Manchanda Sen
Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Dub Sharma, Samuel-Akanksha, Daniel Lozinski
Production companies – ROMP Pictures, Excel Entertainment
Streaming on and Distributed by Amazon Prime Video