Review: 'Stand By' has nothing new to offer

Cast: Aadinath Kothare, Sachin Khedekar, Dalip Tahil, Avtar Gill, Nagesh Bhonsle, Siddharth Kher, Surendra Pal, Manish Choudhary

Director: Sanjay Surkar

The film is like a typical sports film but minus the rush or excitement that a game usually gives you. 'Stand By' although has good performances but has nothing new to offer.

The film basically revolves around football and the politics behind the game. The story begins with Rahul Narvekar (Aadinath Kothare) playing football with his father Damodar Narvekar (Sachin Khedekar). Since childhood, Rahul has grown up with the dream to be a footballer for India one day. He practiced every day and was the best in his team. His friends understood his passion and shared it too. His best friend Shekhar Verma (Siddharth Kher) was the captain of the Maharashtra team. Besides being rich, Shekhar was also the angry and arrogant one. He was a decent player but far from being the best. His father, Jayprakash Verma (Dalip Tahil) was one of the main sponsors of Indian Football Association and he used his position to the best of his ability.

After winning the State championship, a team was shortlisted to play the world cup. While Rahul made it, Shekhar was taken as a standby. This did not go down well with him or his father. Using his political connections and money they try to buy him a position within the team but failed. After using a gazillion tactics, he finally resorted to injuring Rahul, and when that did not work they finally targeted his family.

Over the years there have been several sports based films, Lagaan, Chak De India, Iqbal, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, etc. Be it cricket or football, every game gives you an adrenalin rush which was totally missing in Stand By. Director Sanjay Surkar explored the politics behind team selection, a topic that has been done to death in one way or another in almost all the sports based movies. Certain portions of the film seems inspired from 'Chak De India'. However, one is grateful, that the director did not linger too much on the romantic angle of the film.

The first half of the film drags on unnecessarily, while the second half manages to pick up a little pace. But the climax is comical and a big letdown. Couldn't songs which seem more like a stage performance be kept as the background score, rather than waste 5 minutes on metaphorically depicting the theme? Secondly, is it really essential to have an item number in a sports film?

In spite of having such a poor screenplay, the actors have given a good performance. New comer Aadinath Kothare does a good job and seems effortless but should try a better script next time. One film old Siddharth Kher who was last seen in ‘Teen Patti’ does a decent job but has the potential to do better. Veteran like Sachin Khedekar is undoubtedly fabulous, Dalip Tahil is typical, and the female lead Reema Worah should stick to South films. Manish Chaudhary was very good as the Indian football coach.

All in all, ‘Stand By’ has good performances but a very weak and predictable story and script. If a lot of unnecessary parts are cut out, the film could be shorter and maybe watchable. But I’d suggest against it.

Rating: 1.5/5