Jitendra Kumar starrer 바카라˜Love Goals바카라™ on Netflix was previously called 바카라˜Jaadugar바카라™. The film is a coming-of-age story of a wannabe magician who is also a footballer with the golden penalty kick. Is it worth your time? Read the full movie review to find out.
Sameer Saxena
Jitendra Kumar, Arushi Sharma, Jaaved Jaaferi, Dhruv Thukral, Manoj Joshi
In a small football-loving town of Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh, a small-time magician, Magic Meenu (played by Jitendra Kumar) who has no athletic skill must win a football trophy to marry his love interest (Arushi Sharma) but the problem is his team that hasn바카라™t won a game in the last couple of years. Will Meenu be able to take his team to the final? Will Meenu be able to get his love interest? Will the love interest바카라™s father cause disruption to the couple바카라™s plans? Well, you바카라™ll have to watch it to find out.
Unpredictable Climax
The unpredictability of what going to happen in the climax is what makes this story worth a watch. Director Sameer Saxena has managed to give the audience what they were not expecting at all. In a sports film you바카라™re always rooting for the lead actor to end up victorious, but hardly does one end up coming up with a story where the lead character has much more to do than just win on the ground. There are a million other things running through his mind which could be related to his family, his girlfriend, his marriage, his kids, etc. Keeping all those things intact in his mind, he has to perform on the ground, and that바카라™s an aspect of a sportsperson's life that 바카라˜Love Goals바카라™ has managed to bring to the screens.
Another great part about the writing of 바카라˜Love Goals바카라™ is the inclusivity. In a small town like Neemuch, the football team has female players playing alongside the men and there are no issues with that. Her husband even reveals that he has no qualms about being second fiddle at home. That바카라™s the kind of progressive mindset Biswapati Sarkar바카라™s writing brings forth. To add to that, a lower caste boy ends up becoming the star player of the team, and there is no fuss about his caste or creed and everyone is just happy that he is such a great player. The inclusivity of such characters onscreen makes you want to watch it happen even in real life with such ease.
Among the actors, Jaaved Jaaferi comes up with a killer performance. One look at him and no one would say that the man is almost 60 years of age. He looks fit as a fiddle. Another good thing about his character is that he stammers. Jaaved Jaaferi is known for his voice among the youth. Whether it바카라™s 바카라˜Takeshi바카라™s Castle바카라™ or 바카라˜Lava Ka Dhaava바카라™, Jaaferi is known to come up with quirky voices and talk non-stop. Not for once would you imagine a diametrically opposite spectrum where he stammers and finds it difficult to talk. That was a surprise that no one saw coming.
Manoj Joshi, as the senior magician, has also come up with a great performance. Not only does he play superbly with his facial expressions as the magician, but when he takes the magician바카라™s garb off and is a regular dad, he brings forth great simplicity and relatability to even a mundane father's character.
Soumik Mukherjee바카라™s cinematography is commendable as he brings the small town alive onscreen. Whether it바카라™s the outdoor scene of the football ground or it바카라™s the indoor scenes of the characters바카라™ homes, the essence of being set in a small town comes out very nicely through Mukherjee바카라™s lens.
Dev Rao Jadhav바카라™s editing also needs to be lauded considering he has managed to make a 166-minute-long movie never drag even a little bit in the middle. Despite it being a sports film and also having magicians doing tricks, the editing is smooth and there are barely any jump cuts throughout.
The music and background score by Nilotpal Bora is also decent. The song 바카라˜Shabash바카라™ is definitely going to stay on with you after the movie바카라™s climax. Also, the BGM manages to fill the voids in the long scenes perfectly without letting the audience feel bored.
Jitendra Kumar Is Becoming Too Repetitive
Jitendra Kumar has a very nonchalant way in which he brings forth all his characters onscreen. This character, Meenu, is also very relatable but there is no new dimension to the character. He still speaks and looks like any of his previous characters. Abhishek Tripathi in 바카라˜Panchayat바카라™ or Jeetu Bhaiya in 바카라˜Kota Factory바카라™ or Aman Tripathi in 바카라˜Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan바카라™ 바카라“ while the stories of all of them were vastly different, there is hardly much of a difference in Kumar바카라™s body language and mannerisms in any of those and that continues even in 바카라˜Love Goals바카라™. It바카라™s high time he moves out of his comfort zone of playing the cute and innocent boy-next-door character and starts doing something vastly different. He has become so stereotyped that every time he is on the screen you바카라™re unconsciously waiting for him to either do or say something funny.
This confusion has also dug its nails in the writing of the lead character by Biswapati Sarkar. The character played by Kumar is confused. On one hand, he is trying to be a magician, but then he also is trying to help his uncle with the town football tournament as their substitute. He is doing magic shows but when needed to prove his love, he even suddenly becomes the best footballer in the town with the golden penalty kick. To add to all of this, he falls in love madly at the drop of a hat. The writing of his character has made a mockery of coming-of-age roles.
Arushi Sharma made an impressive debut with 바카라˜Love Aaj Kal바카라™ but in 바카라˜Love Goals바카라™ she barely has much to do. There is not a single scene which can be called her break-out scene. Whether it바카라™s her boyfriend or her father, she is always in the shadow of the other characters. To add to that the chemistry between her and Jitendra Kumar doesn바카라™t really come out that well. Their pairing looks too forced.
바카라˜Love Goals바카라™ is indeed a sweet and cute film. However, the coming-of-age is on too many different levels. That creates confusion in the audience바카라™s perception of the lead character. Despite that the unpredictability and inclusivity in the writing of the film are brilliant. This can, at best, be a decent One-Time Watch. I am going with 3 stars.