Movie Review: Kushti – The Movie Lacks Muscle

Posted by admin on May 16th, 2010 | 0 comments

Kushti sounds like an interesting premise as we get to see the dwarfish Rajpal Yadav wrestling with the giant wrestler Khali. But sadly, the movie disappoints. Here is why:

Story of Kushti: To start with,couldn’t they come out with a more imaginative for a village? Anyway, in the village of Deewana, there are two wrestling camps that are headed by Om Puri and Sharat Saxena. The bitter rivals are always taunting each other, each of the camps having a battery of muscular wrestlers ready to slug it out in the ‘akhada’. For the fair part of the movie, all you get to see in oversized, bare bodied men with oily barrel chest in tiny khachas , rolling in the mud and trying to pin the other down.

Though it is not a Priyadarshan film, the mood is the saeme with actors like Asrani , Manoj Joshi and other extras. Asrani plays a vile money-lender while Manoj Joshi is the local neta who does a take off on Laloo Prasad Yadav. A postmaster (Rajpal Yadav) lands in the village after six years and falls in love with Sharat Saxena’s daughter and yes, it is a one-sided thing. Since she loves Salman Khan, Rajpal Yadav starts writing love letters, as if he was the movie-star. To add to the confusion, the personal love letters of the rivals are exchanged leading to comedy of errorsk. A new postmaster comes up on the scene, now; determined to upstage Rajpal. Somwhere down the line, we come to know Om Puri is a womanizer as well. Anyway after the confusion, fighting and side-tracks, Rajpal agrees to fight for his love. Under Om Puri’s guidance, he trains to become a wrestler. Finally Khali appears, as the competitor to fight against him however, he turns to be a friendly giant. So what happens to the much thought of Khali-Rajpal fight? Well without revealing much, the end is far from pleasing.

What’s good about Kushti

Rajpal Yadav is the only saving grace of the film.

What’s not so good about Kushti

The fact that Khali, Dalip Singh Rana , comes in the last 15 minutes of the film is sure to make the audience feel cheated. Though the concept may have looked good, the script and the screenplay are disappointing. Khali doesn’t do anything exciting in the film, you can rather watch him doing far more in his element in the WWE matches.

The performances of Kushti are dismal, there is excess dialogues and bad acting. The director is average and the comic points are sad. Rajpal Yadav’s flame in the film, Nargis does not get it right. Om Puri and Sharat take it easy and give predictable performances. Asrani and Rajpal Yadav are the only two guys who impress.

Conclusion: Watch WWE matches and give Kushti amiss, if you wish to.