Critics’ Verdict: Diljit Is Winsome in a Cliche-Ridden ‘Soorma’

Find out what critics think about ‘Soorma’.

Film: Soorma
Director: Shaad Ali
Cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Angad Bedi, Taapsee Pannu amongst others

Read excerpts from reviews of Soorma:

Diljit Dosanjh and Taapsee Pannu are sincere...The screenplay remains tepid and drags. The characters just seem to be going through the motions. The songs come in every few minutes and steal the sense of urgency necessary in a sports flick. Dosanjh’s onscreen brother, played by Angad Bedi, is impressive but has a limited role. As for others, only Vijay Raaz stands out as a coach with an enviable chutzpah and also the best lines.The film ends with real footage of Sandeep Singh receiving his much deserved Arjuna Award. What should have been a rousing denouement is just a retelling of events in the most obvious and uninspiring fashion.

Stutee Ghosh, The Quint

...just when it needed to give us an inside view of Sandeep Singh’s life, it inexplicably decides to become an aloof observer. Since I did not know about this remarkable man before watching this film (sorry, sports buff, but that is the truth), I am glad I did. But it is a pity that Ali and his team manage to draw us into the pages of his world only up to a point but mess up the most important chapter. Diljit Dosanjh and Angad Bedi are always worth watching, but the film should have been a lot more than what it ends up being.

Anna MM Vetticad, Firstpost

Far from being an inspiring or awe-inducing figure, Sandeep Singh has been portrayed as a unidimensional sketch who is a trifle monotonous at times. It’s a waste of Dosanjh’s capabilities, though he tries earnestly to breathe life into his character. Handicapped by Bollywood stereotypes and annoying clichés, he struggles with the slow pace and poor screenwriting of the film.

Lakshana N Palat, India Today 

Soorma is as desultory as a goalless draw, which, as any hockey fan will tell you, is a near impossibility. This film achieves the impossible: it turns an inspirational real-life champion who wrested back the India colours after a long layoff into a hollow Bollywood hero who never comes out of the torpor that the screenplay foists upon him.Sandeep Singh, as envisioned by Shaad Ali, is as dynamic as a stenciled, unidimensional sketch. Lead actor Diljit Dosanjh does his very best to inject life into the character. Hobbled by Bollywood cliches that seem out of place in a sports biopic, he is left stranded in the midst of dreary moves and manoeuvres.

Saibal Chatterjee, NDTV

The casting of Diljit Dosanjh, the immensely likable Punjabi actor and singer, ensures that we get a solid measure of Sandeep Singh’s personality...Soorma cannot always escape the cliches associated with the sports biopic genre, including a rousing background score, the inclusion of emotion-heavy songs, occasionally corny lines, some subtle digs at hockey rival Pakistan in the match sequences, and a cardboard villain in the hockey federation.

Nandini Ramnath, Scroll