The question is not always of men-women equality, rather the lack of it, sometimes the dubiety remains within us which Panga intends to explore.

Directed by- Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari

Produced by- Fox Star Studios

Written by- Nikhil Mehrotra, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari

Starring- Kangana Ranaut, Jassi Gill, Richa Chadda, Neena Gupta

Plot of Panga

Set in Bhopal, Jaya Nigam, played by Kangana Ranaut, an ex-captain of Indian Kabaddi team is nudged by her seven-to-be-precise-year-old that if Serena Williams can make a comeback after childbirth, why can’t she. So the now forgotten, once successful Kabaddi player sets on a journey to regain her vocation by taking Panga.

Analysis

The film intends to project the greatest strength in the world; a woman’s resurgence while dealing with constant guilt to be away from her child. A woman who is obsessed with her career gives it all up happily when it is required. She is financially independent, kind, funny, compassionate, and has a fragile, sweet relationship with her son Adi and husband Prashant played by Jassie Gill.

Though, in one dialogue she says “Mujhe bohot khushi milti hain jab main tumhe aur Adi ko dekhti hu, par jab apne aap ko dekhti hu …”. Amidst what can be rightly called a perfectly happy family, somewhere she still thinks that she could have been something that is somewhere left behind by all the domestic responsibility.

Co-written and directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, the quintessence has been captured beautifully and also unusual for a sports drama. But, the formula lies in both the story and the execution.

Right from the start, the effort to dress up a mundane everyday household by elements such as kicks, and mother’s sweet rebuke appears contrived. And one leads to the other, from the pace to dialogues to screenplay everything starts falling apart and turns this what could otherwise have been an excellent film into a dull and tedious tale.

It is so slow that in the middle of a meaningful conversation if you doze off, probably you won’t miss anything waking up after ten minutes.

What is even more disenchanting is with a story and backstory, this esoteric, the rudiments are the same predictable ones which the audiences have seen a gazillion times already.

However, unlike other such conventional stories of the same genre, this family is devoid of the dissuasion factor, it is the Jaya who holds back and later pushes her boundary.

Also, Neena Gupta deserves more substantial roles than just appearing in a film with some orchestrated dialogues.

I leave you with the trailer of this movie, see if you find the motivation to catch this while it lasts.