Creative Quotient:
Writer duo Jaya-Aparajita work on a one-line story giving it a flat, linear treatment. But naturally they base it in a verdant Punjabi hamlet with wheat fields rippling gently in the breeze. At the Wagah border two friends Vikramjit Kapoor (Anupam Kher) from Amritsar and Liyaqat Ali Khan (Dalip Tahil) from Lahore organise a cricket match between their teams for the Aman Cup. Immigration in this idyllic world is so easy that Liyaqat Khan can join his friend for Baisakhi festivities across the border! Anyways, it has become a practise with Vikramjit’s team to lose out to Liyaqat’s men year after year. A crestfallen Vikramjit resorts to calling his son, Rohan (Shahid Kapoor) to rescue the situation. Rohan incidentally lives with his mother (Poonam Dhillon) in UK and plays for an English county team.

Rohan selects his team and during the selections when local cricketer Veera(Rani) is turned away because she’s a girl, she cross-dresses as Veer, a young Sikh lad and makes it to the team on merit. There is the sex siren, Miss Chandigarh Sonia (Sherlyn Chopra) who dons bikini tops and visits the practice matches to woo the handsome captain. Alas! the skipper is already sold out on the spicy Veera (from the local drama troupe) whom he fondly refers to as ‘buffalo girl’.

Of course, romance develops and Rohan keeps confiding in Veera’s ‘brother’ Veer about his tender feelings without ever realising the truth. Of course, Rani hits the winning shot in the final match and Amritsar team triumphs over Lahore! In her winning speech Rani raises a poignant query on why a female cricketer isn’t allowed to play in the national team alongside the best players of the country, which remains unresolved even in the film. The gender-bias continues.

But this isn’t a sports film at all, it qualifies as a romantic drama at best. Therefore it lacks that aspirational spirit of Chak De! India and Lagaan. The script lacks the dramatic twists that could have kept the viewer guessing. Debutant director Anurag Singh fails to generate the requisite excitement in his narrative and his treatment of this uni-directional script is rather retro.

Technical Expertise:
To his credit, director Anurag Singh does manage to work in some gassamer moments of romance between Veera and Rohan. Noteworthy is the rather cute scene where Rohan confides in Veer about asking Veera for a romantic date and Veer nearly swoons. The typical Yash Raj date where the heroine is invited to a special canoped and lit up romantic setting for a candlelight dinner is very much on.

Of the actors, Rani gives her all to her double-role: while her rustic Babli act has a deja vu feel, her Veer avatar with patka is endearing. She plays her role like a seasoned player - with great ease and flair. Shahid is also absolutely adorable as the stern captain who goes sweet on the local belle. Anupam Kher is appropriate in his fatherly part but Dalip Tahil’s Pathan act is very superficial and contrived. Sherlyn Chopra and Rakhi Sawant are relegated to being extras in the film and no regrets about that at all!

The film is technically astounding. Director of photography Sudeep Chatterjee keeps his frames enticing and Julius Packiam’s background music adds punch to the narrative. Ritesh Soni’s edit is clear and crisp. Pritam’s music isn’t exactly a winner this time, barring the title-song that plays out with rolling titles towards the end. It’s not a film you will want to stretch to catch up with.