Paan Singh Tomar (film)

''Paan Singh Tomar'' is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language biographical film about the eponymous athlete who was a soldier in the Indian Army and won a gold medal at the Indian National Games, but was forced to become a rebel against the system. The film is directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia and produced by UTV Motion Pictures. Irrfan Khan plays the title role, with Mahie Gill, Vipin Sharma and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the supporting cast.

Made on a shoestring budget of , ''Paan Singh Tomar'' premiered at the 2010 British Film Institute London Film Festival. The film was released domestically on 2March 2012 to critical acclaim and emerged as an average at the box-office, with a domestic net of . The film won the Best Feature Film and Best Actor in the 60th National Film Awards 2012.

Plot

A reporter interviews Paan Singh Tomar (Irrfan Khan), a dacoit who is in the news for killing nine people of a community. Answering questions about himself, the story goes in a flashback from the year 1950. Paan Singh works in the Army while his wife and mother live in Morena. He surprises his seniors in the Army with his athletic skills. Though he was not interested in sports, he joined the sports division because there were no limits on their diet. Picked for the 5000 meters race's training, he was persuaded to run for the 3000 metres steeplechase by his coach. He participates in the Indian National Games and wins the gold medal in the steeplechase event 7 years in a row. In 1958, he participates in the Asian Games at Tokyo, but couldn't win because of his inability to adjust to the track spikes only given to him in the final event. He felt frustrated when he was not allowed to go to the borders to fight in the 1962 and 1965 wars because sportsmen were not allowed to fight in them. In 1967, he participated in the International Military Games and wins the gold medal in the steeplechase.

One day his brother comes to visit him from his village and tells him about some of their property being usurped by Bhanwar Singh, a relative. Paan Singh decides to retire from the Army and leaves for his village to settle his family disputes, despite being offered a position as a coach in the army. Upon arriving home, he tries to resolve the issue with Bhanwar Singh. He even seeks help from the District Collector and local police station, but no help was forthcoming. His son is then beaten up badly by Bhanwar Singh and his goons. To keep him safe Paan Singh orders his son to join the army and asks him to stay away from the dispute. Eventually, Bhanwar Singh and his goons try to kill Paan Singh and his family. Most of his family manages to escape but his mother is brutally murdered. Paan Singh decides to avenge his mother's death. He becomes a '' baaghi'' who wreaks havoc in the Chambal Valley. He forms a gang of people some of whom are his relatives and are in conflict with Bhanwar Singh.

Pann Singh then goes into the business of extorting and kidnapping wealthy businessmen in the area to accumulate money and an arsenal for his people so that they can become a proper gang. After making all the necessary arrangements for arms and ammunition for gang members, he arranges a major attack on Bhanwar Singh, who has police protection. Bhanwar Singh gets killed by Paan Singh Tomar after a brief chase.

As an act of revenge for his brother's death, he kills nine villagers, who had become police informers and had informed the police about his hideout. This event causes a furor in the nation, administration, and also among the other gangs of dacoits who urge him to surrender so that the manhunt by the police would be called off but he refuses.

The interview with the reporter ends here and is published in the newspaper, causing a sensation. The police continue their search for Paan Singh Tomar, who, as a result of which, decides to lie low for a while. He meets his family and his coach from the army who requests him to surrender. Paan Singh refuses to surrender on the principle that while he was a sportsman holding a national record, nobody stood with him when he was facing problems, and the moment he decided to stand up for himself, he was branded a rebel and everyone wants him arrested. When the gang reconvenes after a month's hiatus, one of the members, Gopi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), who had turned into a police informer betrays the gang by leading the police to their hideout. A shootout ensues where all members of the gang, including Paan Singh, are killed by Yashwant Singh Ghuraiya, a police officer.

Cast

* Irrfan Khan as Paan Singh Tomar
* Mahie Gill as Indira
* Vipin Sharma as Major Masand
* Imran Hasnee as Matadeen Singh Tomar
* Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Gopi
* Zakir Hussain as Inspector Rathore
* Jahangir Khan as Bhanwar Singh (Daddaa)
* Sitaram Panchal as Ramcharan
* Rajendra Gupta as H.S. Randhawa (Sports Coach)
* Swapnil Kotriwar as Hanumant (Paan Singh's Elder Son)
* Brijendra Kala as Journalist
* Rajiv Gupta as Corrupt Cop
* Ravi Sah as Paan's nephew Balram
* Paras Arora

Production

Director Tigmanshu Dhulia first learned about Tomar while working on the set of ''Bandit Queen'' in Chambal. Intrigued that Tomar was largely forgotten despite holding several records, he resolved to make a film about his life. Dhulia researched the film's background for two years, interviewing Tomar's surviving family members and visiting his native village in Bhind.

Dhulia wanted to make the film after fully researching Tomar. But that would need a lot of money. This caused Dhulia to work on it for 10 years.

The film was shot in the ravines of Chambal, in Dholpur and in the actual barracks Tomar lived in at Roorkee. To prepare for his role, Irrfan Khan trained rigorously with steeplechase coaches, even breaking his ankle at one point during the filming. He called the experience "the most physically and mentally demanding film of my career".

The film has also been shot in the uphills of one of the oldest army cantonments in India, Roorkee Cantonment. The Dramatics Team of the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee also helped in several scenes shot in the cantonment.

Soundtrack

The music was composed and arranged by Abhishek Ray. Since the film was a biopic locked in both time and geography, the original soundtrack and songs are strictly relevant to that. Abhishek Ray used different tribal instruments and folk voices pertaining to the hinterland of central India and fused them with larger-than-life symphonic orchestrations to capture the true essence of this poignant biopic set in the rugged Chambal ravines. The music of this epic film stands out for its authenticity, originality, and the perfect blend of central Indian folk with western classical influences.

Release

Critical reception

''Paan Singh Tomar'' achieved universal critical acclaim among the critics. According to review aggregator ReviewGang, professional critics have given the film a rating of 7.5 out of 10. The core plot of the movie had resemblance with the 1972 Kannada movie ''Sipayi Ramu''.

Rajeev Masand of IBN awarded the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, praising Khan's performance and said "Directed competently by Dhulia, who's familiar and comfortable even with the dusty terrain, ''Paan Singh Tomar'' is made with great attention to detail and paints an honest, realistic picture of an India few of us can claim to know."

Avijit Ghosh of ''The Times of India'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and said "Sportsmen and outlaws inhabit two different universes. One shines amidst the bright lights of glory, and the other haunts the ravines of notoriety. But in director Tigmanshu Dhulia's biopic, ''Paan Singh Tomar'', the two worlds collide. And the result is a rather exquisite blend of drama, humour and tragedy; altogether eminently enjoyable good cinema".

Aseem Chhabra for Rediff.com gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and said "The tragedy of ''Paan Singh Tomar'' and Irrfan Khan's execution of the role are both compelling."

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and said "''Paan Singh Tomar'' shatters the standard rules of this genre. Besides, the film makes you cognizant that serious cinema can be uniformly delightful, like any other enthralling entertainer."

Blessy Chettiar of DNA rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and said, "Gritty and power-packed, ''Paan Singh Tomar'' is a tribute to the unsung heroes of sports in India. Dhulia's direction and Irrfan's integrity will make tamong the best movies of recent times.". Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and said "''Paan Singh Tomar'' is a completely gripping, near-flawless film, with such few dodgy parts as to be negligible.".

''The New York Times'' praised the film and especially Khan's performance, saying "Without romanticizing ''Paan Singh Tomar'', he shows his basic honesty and gives him real depth. As an actor Mr. Khan rarely does the expected. You can’t take your eyes off him.". Mathures Paul of The Statesman gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "''Paan Singh Tomar'' is a skillfully narrated tale of one man who rises against the odd." Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap praised this movie and said "What a powerful film, powerful character, go watch the film. Turn it into what no-one believed it could be.".

On 18 March 2013, Irrfan Khan received the Best Actor Award for 'Paan Singh Tomar' at the 60th Indian National Film Awards. The award citation reads, "A unique delineation of a transformation of an international sportsperson to a dacoit. A difficult role very convincingly played. A well-calibrated performance that was masked by remarkably subtle underplay."

Box office collection

''Paan Singh Tomar'' grossed nett in week one. The movie managed to gross nett in week two. The movie collected in its third week and was declared a semi-hit by Box Office India.

Awards and nominations

Winner

References

External links

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{{Tigmanshu Dhulia

Indian biographical films
Films scored by Abhishek Ray
2010s Hindi-language films
2010 films
Films shot in Uttarakhand
Running films
Indian action films
Indian sports films
Biographical action films
Action films based on actual events
Drama films based on actual events
Sports films based on actual events
Biographical films about sportspeople
Cultural depictions of track and field athletes
Cultural depictions of robbers
Cultural depictions of Indian men
Best Feature Film National Film Award winners
Films shot in Madhya Pradesh
UTV Motion Pictures films
Films featuring a Best Actor National Award-winning performance
Films directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia
Films set in Uttar Pradesh
Films set in Madhya Pradesh
India at the Asian Games
Steeplechase at the Asian Games
Athletics at the 1958 Asian Games
Sino-Indian War films
Films based on Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts