''Breakaway'' is a 2011 Canadian
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
-
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Robert Lieberman
Robert Lieberman (born July 16, 1947) is an American motion picture and television director.
Personal life
Lieberman was married from June 27, 1990 to June 7, 2001 to actress Marilu Henner; the divorced couple has two children, Nicholas Morga ...
, and produced by
Akshay Kumar
Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian-born naturalised Canadian Quote: "(Former prime minister Stephen) Harper campaigned in 2011 alongside one of Modi's biggest celebrity backer ...
and
Paul Gross
Paul Michael Gross OC (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, director, writer, producer, and musician born in Calgary, Alberta.
Gross is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the popular Canadian television series ''Due So ...
. The film stars Vinay Virmani in his debut performance opposite
Camilla Belle, with
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...
,
Russell Peters
Russell Dominic Peters (born September 29, 1970) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, and producer. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and won a Gemini Award in 2008. In 2013, he was number three on ''Forbes'' list of the world's highe ...
and
Anupam Kher in pivotal roles. It also features
Akshay Kumar
Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian-born naturalised Canadian Quote: "(Former prime minister Stephen) Harper campaigned in 2011 alongside one of Modi's biggest celebrity backer ...
,
Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals
* A male duck
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name
* Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* ...
and
Ludacris
Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive.
Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...
in cameo roles.
The film was released on 23 September 2011 and received negative reviews, failing to sell tickets in the Indian market. It was released in three languages (
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
and
Punjabi) and later dubbed into Hindi as ''Speedy Singhs''.
The story of the film is set in Brampton. It is filmed in Toronto.
Plot
Rajveer Singh (Vinay Virmani) is a college dropout who spends his spare time playing hockey with his friends. He and his father, Darvesh (
Anupam Kher), both work at Darvesh's younger brother's trucking company, where Darvesh encourages Rajveer to take on more responsibility in order to one day take over the company. Rajveer is Sikh, but cut his hair after being bullied by kids as a child (which he personally regrets). This and his lack of commitment to the trucking company is a point of contention between him and his father.
During a pick up game, Rajveer tries out for the Hammerheads (a league team) but despite being the best player on the ice, the coach gives him the cold shoulder. Feeling slighted, Rajveer decides to create a league team with his friends.
Darvesh disapproves of the idea and forbids Rajveer from playing any more hockey, but Rajveer continues to play with his friends secretly, saying he's working more routes at the trucking company. He and his team eventually name themselves the "Speedy Singhs" and capture the attention of the hockey rink owner, Dan Winters (
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...
) who agrees to coach them. They need a sponsor and recruit Rajveer's uncle Sammy (
Gurpreet Ghuggi
Gurpreet Singh Waraich (born 19 July 1971), commonly known as Gurpreet Ghuggi, is an Indian actor, comedian and politician. He is known for his works in Punjabi and Hindi films. Ghuggi began his career by acting in theatre in the early 1990s, ...
) who keeps Rajveer's hockey playing a secret. While playing, Rajveer also starts dating Dan's younger sister, Melissa (
Camilla Belle).
Darvesh later figures out that Rajveer has been playing hockey and when a night out celebrating with the team ends poorly, Darvesh kicks Rajveer out of the house after an argument. Frustrated, Rajveer also ends up arguing with Dan, and quits the team. Though the Speedy Singhs make it to the finals against the Hammerheads without Rajveer, Melissa reveals that the Speedy Singhs must wear helmets, which they cannot do unless they remove their turbans. Inspired by the story of why Sikh men wear turbans, Rajveer obtains special helmets that will accommodate the team's turbans and pays for the legal fees to allow them. He apologizes to Dan and the Speedy Singhs for his selfishness and they accept him back.
The day of the finals coincides with Rajveer's cousin Reena (
Noureen DeWulf
Noureen DeWulf ( née Ahmed) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles in ''West Bank Story'' (2005), ''Ghosts of Girlfriends Past'' (2009), and '' The Back-up Plan'' (2010). She also starred as Lacey on the sitco ...
), and her fiancé, Sonu's (
Russell Peters
Russell Dominic Peters (born September 29, 1970) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, and producer. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and won a Gemini Award in 2008. In 2013, he was number three on ''Forbes'' list of the world's highe ...
) wedding. When Sonu thanks all the guests, he brings up how the Speedy Singhs have become a source of pride for the community and encourages everyone to attend the finals. Rajveer tries once again to express his passion for hockey to Darvesh, but he refuses to attend. The Speedy Singhs do well until the Hammerheads tie at the end of the third period, forcing overtime. Darvesh, after listening to the close game on the radio at the temple, arrives at the arena to show his support. Spurred by his father's arrival, Rajveer makes the winning goal and hugs Darvesh in the rink.
Cast
Special appearances (in alphabetical order);
Soundtrack
The head of Columbia Records India,
Sandeep Chowta
Sandeep Chowta is an Indian music director who primarily works in Bollywood and Telugu cinema. He is also the head of Columbia Records in India. He has also sung some of his songs.
In 2003, he produced an anti substance abuse documentary, titl ...
composed the music for ''Breakaway''. Including special features by
RDB,
Jassi Sidhu
Jassi Sidhu (born 1978, Birmingham, United Kingdom) is a Bhangra singer and the former lead singer of bhangra band B21. He split from the group, declaring that they would "never, ever reconcile" and that "(B21 was) nothing more than a glorifi ...
,
Rishi Rich Productions,
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
, J.Hind,
Ludacris
Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive.
Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...
,
Sukshinder Shinda
Sukshinder Shinda (born Sukshinder Pal Singh Bhullar, Punjabi: ਸੁਖਸ਼ਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਭੁੱਲਰ) is a British-Indian playback singer-songwriter and bhangra Record producer from Handsworth in Birmingham, England. Since ...
,
Jazzy B
Jaswinder Singh Bains (born 1 April 1975), better known by his stage name Jazzy B is an Indo-Canadian Punjabi singer and songwriter.
Early life and career
Jazzy B was born in Nawanshahr, Punjab, India. When he was five years old, his family m ...
and
Malkit Singh
Malkit Singh, MBE ( pa, ਮਲਕੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ) (Malkit Singh Boparai; born c. 1963) is an England-based Punjabi bhangra singer. Born in Hussainpur and raised in Nakodar, he moved to Birmingham in 1984. Singh was the first Punjabi singer ...
.
Track listing
Reception
International
''Breakaway'' received negative reviews from critics upon release.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reports a 20% approval rating, based on five reviews.
Hindi
The film was dubbed into Hindi and retitled as ''Speedy Singhs'', but opened to mostly negative reviews from Indian critics.
Taran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media.
Career
Taran Adarsh started his journalism career at the age of 15 with ''Trade Gui ...
from
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000.
The website provides ...
rated it as 1.5 out of 5 and said "''Speedy Singhs'' fails to deliver!"
Komal Nahta
Komal Nahta (born 30 April 1964) is an Indian film trade analyst. Nahta is the publisher of "Film Information" and also a television show host. He is an anchor of the trade show ETC Bollywood Business on the Bollywood TV channels ETC and Zee Cinem ...
gave it 1 out of 5 stars and claimed "If you want to watch a disaster version of ''
Chak De! India
''Chak De! India'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language sports drama film directed by Shimit Amin and produced by Aditya Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films, with a script written by Jaideep Sahni. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan as Kabir Kh ...
'', definitely watch ''Speedy Singhs''!"
At the box office, the film opened poorly and subsequently failed to pick up over the weekend. The film then faced a further drop throughout the next few days worldwide and was declared a "disaster" by
Box Office India
Box Office India is an Indian film website. Its traffic ranking in India is 83,665 . A new Box Office India website went live on 20 January 2014.
About
Box Office India was launched on 10 June 2003. Its uses Whois privacy to anonymize its owne ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Akshay Kumar
2011 films
Films scored by Bohemia
2011 multilingual films
Canadian multilingual films
Canadian sports comedy films
Indian-Canadian films
Canadian ice hockey films
Hari Om Entertainment films
Viacom18 Studios films
Punjabi-language Indian films
2010s Punjabi-language films
Films about Sikhism
2010s sports comedy films
Films directed by Robert Lieberman
Films about immigration in Canada
2011 comedy films
Indian sports comedy films
Indian ice hockey films
2010s English-language films
2010s Hindi-language films