Alappuzha Gymkhana Review - Simplistic yet an Entertaining Sports Flick!

Ashwin Ram

Alappuzha Gymkhana is a sports comedy flick starring Naslen in the lead role. The film is directed by Khalid Rahman of Thallumaala fame.

Premise:

Naslen and a bunch of his friends after failing in the 12th standard public examinations decide to join a boxing club, so that they can get trained and participate in the district matches to get a college seat in Sports Quota. The happenings in the tournament forms the rest.

Writing/ Direction:

There have been hundreds of sports genre films and they mostly follow the template of the rise, fall, fight and win of the central character. Hats-off to director Khalid Rahman for making a story with people trying to become boxers in order to educate themselves with sports quota. However the rest of the film is formulaic until the pre-climax. The training portions are fun, with the amateur boys getting to know the sport, starting from searching on Google ‘What is Boxing?’. The film slowly moves to the next big step close to the interval which is the tournament. The second half was a bit dry for starters, but picks up speed after the games begin. The boxing matches are presented interestingly with every fighter from Alappuzha carrying a different style. The buildups before every match is the main highlight and offers a lot of witty moments. The underlying women's boxing angle is also likeable. Although the film is mostly engaging with minimal just depth, there is nothing exceptional in the screenplay to be the driving factor. But the finale settles for the flaws, a cracker of a pre-climax street fight with enough reasoning and the ending is confidently written, which even answers to be a solid arc for the characters in the movie. Naslen’s flirty track is sure to put a smile on the viewers’ faces, but can’t deny the fact that they felt distant from the flow.

Performances:

Naslen is a little beefed up compared to Premalu and so he suits the role very well. All the boys had equal scope to offer big, their boxing matches are even in screen time, they all have done well both on and off the ring. Must mention their boxing skills and it’s like a rapid switch button. The coach character was a major highlight and very lively, especially towards the end when he was humane while reacting to the situations. Natural presence by the newbie girls and their fighting is professional.

Technicalities:

Just like the previous outing of Khalid Rahman, this one is also technically sound. However the presentation style is calm and composed here without any complications. Superb music, all the songs are so breezy to listen to. Background score smoothly flows through situations without being loud or anything. Neat work by the cinematographer, mainly the camera movement and a variety of angles during the boxing matches gave a lively experience. The overall runtime is under control, packing it within 135 minutes, but some repetitive and lengthy action portions could have scissored a bit. Topical stunt choreography, delivers what is exactly required for the screenwriting.

Bottomline

A sigh of relief amidst all the serious and motivating sports outings. An engaging one with all the boys finding their winning ways with humour and boxing techniques. The one-side romance angle and a few repetitive ideas are the drawbacks.

Rating - 3/ 5