Did ‘Saina’ on Amazon Prime Video do Justice to Saina Nehwal’s life story?

July 30, 2021December 29, 2021 Aalokbarsha Bose Bollywood, movie review

The two-hour fifteen-minute film on one of the country’s best sportsperson- Saina Nehwal begins by giving us a brief of the reason why she ended up loving the sport that later on gave her fame and success on an international level.

Usha Rani, Saina’s mother(portrayed by the talented Meghna Malik), had taken the lead in shaping her into a champion and the first Indian woman to reach the top of the badminton rankings. Usha Rani coerces, cajoles, and even threatens her daughter into mastering the sport, foreshadowing the young girl’s subsequent interaction with a far more powerful taskmaster.

The film follows its subject from her early interest in the game to her transfer from Haryana to Hyderabad, when she meets the coach who will transform her life, and finally to the competition where she will win her place as the world’s number one. It’s an inspirational trip that includes some financial struggle and a lot of emotional heartaches.

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Saina Movie Review

The film goes on to outline Saina’s relationship with her mentors who helped her polish her skill and make it big. It also hints at her warm relationship with her father and a more positive reinforcement- basis only relationship with her mother. We also see her romantic relationship with her long-time best friend Kashyap, played by Eshan Naqvi.

A huge highlight of the film and a huge gain for the audience is watching Manav Kaul play the character of Rajan sir, a fictional character who contributes to Saina’s victory and is a source of inspiration for her. Film critiques assume this fictional character to be coach Pullela Gopichand, who mentored Saina when she was still a budding star in the field.

The supporting actors have played a huge role in making the movie worth a watch- Naishas Kaur Bhatoye, who plays younger Saina, outshines the rest with her phenomenal performance.

Saina is the sort of biopic that demonstrates a laudable devotion to pleasing the audience by ensuring that they leave the theatre happy or with their chests swelled with pride.

It’s also the type of picture that eloquently demonstrates the drawbacks of producing a biography — in mainstream Indian cinema — that appears myopic and lacks a single overriding feeling that ties the whole thing together. At the risk of appearing honest, not a single moment, much alone taking them home, generates any type of emotion in you.

The director, Amole Gupte, who worked on Taare Zameen Par (2007) and directed the meditative Stanley Ka Dabba in 2011, provides Saina a linear story that is bookended in some ways by a press conference.

The editing of the film has been efficiently done by Deepa Bhatia. Saina is a potentially inspiring film, if only for the well-produced bouts in which Chopra’s participation in the game is aided by Piyush Shah’s outstanding camerawork and Manas Choudhury’s sound design.

The recurring theme in the film continues to be enthusiasm, determination, the spirit of a sportsperson, and dedication towards one’s sport. The film navigates the struggles and effort that goes into becoming an international-level badminton player and being placed as the best. It also highlights the importance of loving and supportive friendships and family. ]

A huge part of the film goes into establishing the main character’s general etiquette and style of speaking and her headstrong behavior in the latter part of the film. Overall, it gets clear right away that the story needs to slow down a little and the narrative is too quick to have an emotional impact on the audience in general.

You’re disappointed for most of the 135-minute film, wondering why the scenes aren’t working for you or whether you’ve gotten too immune to familiar feelings.

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The match minutes are exciting enough all alone, so Gupte’s choice to incorporate soaked melodies and a general foundation soundtrack is bewildering. Although there is no banner waving in the film, the diverting music detracts from the effect of the game on a colossal screen. In case there were any helpful exercises gained from the losses in the middle of the victories, they were excluded from the film.

A portion of Saina’s additional interesting fans is decreased by the single-minded monomaniacal obligation to diagramming her expert significance. The film honors the player who put Indian badminton on the world guide, yet the embodiment of her splendor doesn’t leave the jug.

So, this was Saina movie review. Hope you we cleared your dilemma that whether you should watch or skip it. Stay tuned to BuzzArenas for more such genuine Bollywood and Hollywood movie reviews.