Watching the same basic story in a brand new film that you have seen dozens of times can still be extremely satisfying. It takes you back to a time when similar stories would leave you feeling satisfied after you walked out of the theatre. Of course, the biggest thing is that the new version should be well made. That is what Kabir Khan’s Chandu Champion is: a formula film (a term that is in no way meant to be derogatory), with stellar performances from Kartik Aaryan and Vijay Raj.

Its story, about an underdog athlete who gets his chance on the world stage, has been told hundreds of times before. It would be a cliché to describe it from start to finish. But Chandu Champion is not about the story, it is about the hero. Murlikant Petkar, a war hero turned Paralympic champion, is a name very few Indians have heard of, including me.

Inspired by KD Jadhav, the first athlete from independent India to win an individual medal at the Olympics, a young Murali walks around with a dream of one day winning an Olympic gold medal around his neck. But he is ridiculed for having such a dream. Defying all odds, this little boy grows up, in a way that will take you back to 80s Bollywood when the lead hero grew up running on railway tracks. And this is the point where you start getting immersed in the film. Yes, it takes a while to get there.

Chandu Champion Trailer with Kartik Aaryan

Khan follows all the tropes of underdog sports films. There’s an athlete who no one takes seriously. He marches into a bout with heavy odds against him, but then surprises everyone by making it a real fight. It takes time for his dreams to become reality, as winning quickly wouldn’t be dramatically satisfying. Along the way, the athlete has distractions from a coach and a girl, and he’s surrounded by other characters whose journey eventually becomes about him.

The first few minutes of the film remind us of Murlikant’s childhood, spent in Sangli, Maharashtra. It reminds us of Milkha Singh’s childhood, as shown by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra in the beginning of his 2011 film ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’. But it doesn’t end there. When you see his rigorous training for boxing and swimming, you get a glimpse of Farhan Akhtar to some extent. Even the song ‘Satyanas’ reminds us of the song ‘Havan Karenge’ with its humour.

But Chandu Champion is made famous by the sincerity of its actors and director. Khan’s (who has also co-written the film) camera shows how much he loves his film’s subject. He stays away from any kind of exaggeration. ‘Will die for the country’ Dialoguebaazi, wailing and singing and dancing are common tools used by Hindi filmmakers to add bells and whistles to cinema halls. Rather, he has kept it simple. Without crossing any artistic limits, he has presented a mostly credible film, except for a few glitches, the biggest of which is a peon convincing government babus to send Petkar to the Paralympics.

In all the best sense of the word, this film is made by someone who has a passion for sports films, as we saw in his last directorial venture 83. And though he sticks to the template of a sports drama, Khan has done a good job in it. He also tries to show the poor treatment meted out to athletes, especially para-athletes, by government bodies and the ignorance most Indians have towards para-athletes.

“I am not Chandu, I am a champion,” Kartik Aaryan says in the film. Through the dialogue, it seems he is sending a message to his critics who could not see the actor beyond his Sonus, Guddu and Gogo. Kartik shows that he is capable of being a tough but gentle, dedicated and honest athlete as well as a goofy lover on screen. The actor must be applauded for his versatility and conviction to do well whatever comes his way, a quality that is lacking in his contemporaries.

But when you put him alongside Vijay Raj, who plays his coach, an actor who looks the same everywhere, you realise the difference between a character and a real character. Raj’s acting prowess lies in how much more palpable and believable he makes his characters. He cries so naturally at Petkar’s victory in the climax that if you are as sentimental as I am, you might get teary-eyed too.

Talking about performances, actors like Brijendra Kala, Rajpal Yadav and Bhuvan Arora, who appear briefly, also look comfortable and leave an impact.

Having said that, there are times when things don’t fall in place. Chandu Champion has some problems. We never see the climax of Murlikant’s final fight at the International Services Sports Competition in Tokyo in 1964. A few characters come in, creating scope to delve deeper into Murlikant Petkar’s life beyond sports, but then leave abruptly. There are some gaps in the story where it seems Khan has conveniently skipped parts of Petkar’s life. Was he in a hurry or was it not possible to cover the important moments of Petkar’s life in two hours? Only Khan can answer this.

As mentioned above, being formulaic is not a problem, at least for me, as long as the film gets the right treatment and remains entertaining. What makes Chandu Champion worth watching is that Khan truly believes in his story and turns it into a feel-good film. It is about heroism and recognising your potential, trying your best despite adversity and sticking to your dream. It not only sounds clichéd but also trite and yet it engages us on a human level.

So, even when we know who will have the Paralympic/Olympic medal around his neck, the pre-climax scenes prepare us for it so thoroughly, emotionally, that when it plays out, we are excited for it. There is no over-dramatisation, national anthem playing in the background like we saw in Mary Kom or Dangal. And for that, we appreciate the makers for keeping it about the subject and not indulging in chauvinism.