Watch reviewSudhanshu’s sports drama, Love-All, has a great cast and is one of the best that I have seen in this genre.
Yes, the only minus point I found was its predictability. We know how the film will end. But before that, let us see what the story is all about.
K.K. Menon’s Siddharth is a badminton prodigy, but given the kind of politics we see in India, he finds himself out of the race as a teenager. An accident — initiated by a powerful politician who is bent on seeing his candidate win the all-India semi-finals – renders Siddharth incapable of ever getting back on the court. He grows us as a disillusioned, disgruntled man, with an innocuous job in Bhopal. He also separates from his sweetheart, Soma (Swastika Mukherjee).
Years later, married to Jaya (Shriswara Dubey), he gets a son, Aaditya (Ark Jain), and the bitter early experience forces the father to keep the lad away from any kind of sporting activity. When Aaditya gets a school admission, one of the rules states he must play one sport to qualify. Siddharth goes to the extent of asking his wife to think of another school. But she does not and enrols her son in badminton!
The plot weaves its way through Aaditya’s disappointment, Siddharth’s anger and Jaya’s helplessness to finally come to some kind of understanding. The father realises his mistake, and Love-All is all about what finally comes around. There are a couple of very exciting matches on the way played between Aaditya and the Bhopal champion, Shourya Pratap (Kabir Varma).
The movie shines for the kind of performances Menon and Mukherjee give us. His arc is fantastic, and the way he turns around from a bitter soul into one of joy seeing his son triumph on the court is a pleasure to watch. Although Dubey commands a greater screen time than Mukherjee, it is the latter who makes a powerful impact as a school teacher, who knocks some sense into Menon’s Siddharth. She makes him realise that his son must get a chance to play and win.
An enjoyable watch and will hit cinemas on September 1.
