Cast: Mayur Patole, Manoj Bajpayee

Rating: 4/5

Over the last decade, Bollywood has seen many successful releases based on sports, and joining the same league is Soumendra Padhi’s latest release Budhia: Born to Run.

The film starts with the visuals of the divine Puri in Bhubaneswar and  audience is introduced to five year old Budhia Singh (Mayur Patole), who is put on sale by his poor mother, for a mere Rs. 650. Biranchi Das (Manoj Bajpayee), a judo coach who runs his classes for orphaned children gets to know about Budhia Singh being sold off to a merchant and rescues Budhia Singh. He convinces the child's mother to let Budhia stay with him in return for a job that he gets her. Soon, Das finds out that the Budhia is god-gifted, with a talent to run persistently. On knowing this he starts coaching Budhia, with a sharp aspiration of creating a world record. The news of the child’s talent reaches the media which makes Budhia famous and pride of the city. On the other hand Das’ involvement in Budhia’s training becomes so intense that he unintentionally starts overlooking his own family.

Within few months, Budhia and Das’ dedication reaches heights with non-stop achievements and the records which bother the Child Welfare Board committee members. They stoop down and try to bring down both Das’ and Budhia reputation. This is followed by a series of incidents leading to several accusations on Das, which include child exploitation, Budhia’s ban, national unrest and others. The rest of the film is all about how the child athlete and his coach fight for the career and dream to win at the reputed 2016 Olympics.

Debutant director and writer Soumendra Padhi’s screenplay and vision have added a lot to the film. The story based on real life incidents is very simple, realistic and convincing. There are very few child artists who make a mark with their character. One more actor added to the list is Mayur Patole, who also makes a debut with this film. The power of his character and performance is so strong that it is easy to forget that Mayur is an actor and not Budhia himself. While the first half of the film adds pace to the film by showing Budhia and Das’ training and dreams, the second half does wonders. There are many scenes such as their training at the Puri beach, the dawn of the Puri marathon, Budhia’s separation from Das and many more, which are very well captured and the makers deserve an appreciation for the same.

As an audience, there are many scenes where one is bound to feel bad for Budhia, especially during the puri marathon. There will be moments where one may criticise Das for being mean to the child. The seasoned, eminent actor Manoj Bajpayee is fabulous throughout the film. Just like all his other characters, the actor has been highly successful and convincing as Das. He lends a solid support as Das and delivers yet another unforgettable act coach in his career. The chemistry between the two is adorable and heart wrenching. Their chemistry is something that needs to be seen in order to be believed. On the other hand, the other actors, who are seen in some parts of the film have also delivered their roles decently, with justice.

The music of the film isn’t remarkable but doesn’t affect the feel of the film. Some parts of the film has amazing background score and adds to the moments. Cinematography is outstanding and Manoj Kumar Khatoi, the cinematographer, deserves a pat on his back for his exceptional job throughout the film.

Overall, the movie is thoroughly entertaining, but due to the ‘not-so-popular’ star cast, it may not attract the mass. While it will certainly get acclaimed critically, it might face some difficulty at the box office. This weekend,  I urge you to watch something inspirational and support athletes like Budhia, who are exceptionally talented but are lost amidst the common, due to many reasons, the popular one being the country’s political system.