Movie Review: Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii

A stroke of magic 3/5
Pratim D. Gupta

Team India has lost its first two matches in the five-match ODI series at home against Pakistan, and is dreading a humiliating series loss. The coach (an Indian!), is out on a drive when his car’s windscreen is smashed by a powerful stroke from the bat of a street kid. The 13-year-old orphan, who has never been near a real cricket field and tries the abdominal guard on as a helmet, is promptly inducted into the team for the third match and goes on to butcher the big broad pacemen in green. He scores 170 not out and helps India win!
Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii is a fairytale that works. So let’s chak de the real men in blue for now. CK2MK does not need parallels with the game to stand tall. Because even though it may come across as a cricket movie, it’s much more than that. It is a small little gem about self-discovery, about companionship, about growing up. And most importantly, it is a children’s film for everyone.
Karan (Zain Khan) is just another hapless kid in Hitler’s (Rajesh Khera) orphanage. With a torn and tattered T-shirt held together by a safety pin, he dreams of playing cricket but Raghav Bhai (Raj Bhansali), the mastaan in the group, has other ideas. So all Karan can do is listen to the story of Kapil Dev’s unbeaten 175 against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells over and over again before going into dream cricket mode.
And then he discovers the magic bat — with a KD83 inscribed near the handle — which can smash any delivery out of the park. The next thing he knows, he is padding up with Team India captain Varun (Rahul Bose) and smashing Pakistan’s pace battery around.
Varun, of course, has his hands full with problems beyond the pitch. His father (Nasser Abdullah) left his mother and him when he was just 16. And while his mother and his fiancee (Meera Vasudevan) are ready to accept his return, Varun’s wounds are still fresh. Time for Karan to spin some magic and help his opening partner.
Where debutante director Kituu Salooja scores is in the way she brings the two different storylines together and yet not let the movie lose its spark. It slips effortlessly from the cricket field to the more serious terrain of life effortlessly and see-saws between humour and heartbreak without a hitch. The kids make her job easier with almost all the orphanage boys being complete naturals. But Zain Khan as Karan is the find of the season and a favourite for all Best Debutant awards.
Rahul Bose is so much more at ease in films like these. If he learnt to play the drum for Jhankaar Beats, here he gets the willow to talk. It’s a treat watching Rahul do a Sourav Ganguly and play some glorious drives. In fact, he plays the hook and the pull far better than the Prince of Calcoota. Meera Vasudevan lights up the few frames she appears in. Why doesn’t she do/get more work? The music (Salim-Sulaiman) could have been better, with the title track not inspiring enough, and Sunday sounding like the Baaton Baaton Mein song Na bole tum na maine kuch kaha.
Yes, CK2MK starts off too much like Iqbal and with Kapil Dev making a special appearance, the hangover is apparent. But then just like Iqbal, CK2MK is a winner and Saregama should go the Mukta Searchlight way and push the small movie as big as it can. For the magic lies not in the bat but in the movie.