Gold
*ing: Akshay Kumar, Mouni Roy, Kunal Kapoor, Amit Sadh, Vineet Kumar Singh, Sunny Kaushal, Jatin Sarna, Nikita Dutta
Rated: 8.5/10
Those who want to know the impact of playing the National Anthem in cinema halls should go and see the movie Gold. This is probably the only movie in many years where the makers didn’t have to write: Please stand up for the National Anthem — to have everyone watching the film to stand on their accord in respect of the flag and the country. To see this is enough to fill one with pride and give goose bumps.
And there is a reason for this. The film through a game — read Hockey that brought India many accolades in hay days (1928 to 1956) and wining six Gold at the Olympics — talks about an issue that is very close to every Indian — beating England in their own land right after India’s Independence in 1947. Unka desh mein, unhi ke public ke samne, unka king ke aage unko hareyegaa is in for a few whistles and claps.
Directed by Reema Kagti and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, the makers have capitalised on the subject by releasing it on August 15 and how; the movie has already grossed Rs 33 crore in three days.
As for the story, fans of hockey don’t need to know India’s rise and six consecutive Gold wins. The uninitiated into the game will find the story that unfolds (fictional) of what transpired between 1936 and 1948.
However, one can’t ignore some parts that are a leaf from reality like Dhyan Chand refusing the Nazi salute. In Gold it is Kunal Kapoor. But these are a few.
Gold is a winner because it sits brilliantly on Akshay Kumar’s shoulders who plays a Bengali. Not that there is anything that makes him one. Everything screams Punjabi. But he makes up for this through his acting — a dogged perseverance of a man obsessed with winning a gold in hockey under the free Indian flag.
— Shalini Saksena