Released Date : May 31, 2023
Avg. User's Rating : 3.5/5
Story: Chidiyakhana tells the story of Suraj, a teenager from Bihar, who moves to Mumbai and navigates the challenges of the city.
Review: Almost a decade after Dil Dosti Etc (2007) and Ishaq (2013), director Manish Tiwari's latest offering Chidiyakhana is the story of a young man, who makes a mark by following his passion and tenacity towards football. The tone of this 114-minute film is light, and the dialogues are pedestrian but funny in parts.
The story follows Suraj (Hrithik Sahore), a Bihari boy who directly addresses the camera and shares his life's adventures. Suraj's relocation to Mumbai with his mother Viva (Rajeswari Sachdev) exposes him to school gangs that prevent him from pursuing his passion, football. Further, his world is turned upside down when he discovers that he cannot play football as the ground's lease has expired and the government has given it to builders. Predictably, he took on the challenge of saving the field for the children and snagged a win.
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While the first hour of this film is a time lapse, the second half loses steam due to its repetitive narrative style. Also, you know from the beginning that this new boy in town will be shunned at first but will soon be welcomed by everyone at his school and at Chaul. Part of the story intertwines sports with other subplots related to Beaver's past, Suraj's competition in gangs, particularly Babu (Jayesh Kardak), a football player-turned-local gangster, Pratap (Prasanth Narayanan), who assists and even trains Suraj. - Feels ordinary and adds a little dimension to the film.
Hrithik Sahore perfectly suits the demeanor of his character Suraj, who is naive and quite the centre-forward in both life and football. Avneet Kaur as Suraj's crush, Milly, brings a breath of fresh air to the film. Rajeshwari Sachdev gives a decent performance as Suraj's mother, though her character's past could have been explored more effectively. Prashant Narayanan's positive role as Pratap Bhai is a surprising and welcome change. The rest of the cast also contribute to moving the narrative forward.
Director Manish Tiwari, who shares the writing credit, also presents a simple story that realizes animals among humans with a twisted angle on the protagonists, perhaps to justify the film's title, Zoo. However, this twist does not bring anything new or interesting to the screen for the audience.
