''Striker'' is a 2010 Indian
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 ...
-language
action drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...
written, directed and produced by
Chandan Arora
Chandan Arora is an Indian film editor and director in Bollywood, most known for his films, '' Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh'' (2005) and '' Striker'' (2010). He also won the Filmfare Award for Best Editing for ''Company'' in 2003.
Chandan Arora star ...
. It stars
Siddharth,
Usha Jadhav
Usha Jadhav is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Marathi and Hindi language films. She is best known for her role in the 2012 Marathi film ''Dhag'' for which she won National Film Award for Best Actress at the 60th National Film Awa ...
, and
Padmapriya
Padmapriya (born Padmalochani; died 16 November 1997) was an Indian actress who worked in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films.
Her first movie was in Telugu, ''Adapillala Tandri'' (1974). In Kannada, she debuted with '' Bangarada Gudi' ...
in the lead roles, while
Aditya Pancholi
Aditya Pancholi (born 4 January 1965) is an Indian actor, producer and playback singer working in Hindi cinema.
Acting career
1985–87: Television movies and serials
He was signed for a few television video films produced by Hiba, which ...
,
Ankur Vikal
Ankur Vikal is an Indian theatre and film actor.
Career
He graduated from the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi in 2000, after studying Architecture at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He has acted with the Motley Theatre Grou ...
,
Anupam Kher,
Seema Biswas
Seema Biswas (born 14 January 1965) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and the theatre. She gained prominence after playing the role of Phoolan Devi in Shekhar Kapur's film '' Bandit Queen'' (1994), for which she won the National Fil ...
, and
Anup Soni
Anup Soni (born 30 January 1975) is an Indian actor and anchor. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Soni began his career with roles in television serials such as '' Sea Hawks'' and '' Saaya''. He then took a break from television ...
, among others, play supporting roles. The film had a theatrical release in cinemas throughout India on 5 February 2010. It also premiered on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
the same day, thus becoming the first ever Indian film to premiere on YouTube internationally on the same day as its domestic theatrical release.
Plot
Born into a poor family, Suryakant Sarang grows up with few luxuries. Poor health keeps him away from school often, and that is when his elder brother, Chandrakant, introduces him to
carrom
Carrom is a tabletop game of Indian origin in which players flick discs, attempting to knock them to the corners of the board. The game is very popular in the Indian subcontinent, and is known by various names in different languages. In Sou ...
. Winning the Junior Carrom Championship at 12 is not enough to keep Surya's fire for the sport burning through adolescence. Hopes for a job in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
replace the passion for carrom as Surya grows into a young man. Duped by a bogus overseas employment agency, Surya loses all his hard-earned money he had saved for going to Dubai. Surya is forced to cross paths with Jaleel. Since the 70's when the settlements in the ghetto began, Jaleel had acquired a strong hold in the area. He had his hands in every illicit activity since then. Feeding on the weaknesses of people, Jaleel was the self-proclaimed king of Malwani. Reintroduced to carrom by his childhood friend Zaid, this time to the carrom
hustling
Hustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling (or gambling for higher than current stakes) with the hustler, as a form of both a confidence tri ...
scene, Surya starts playing again. Being cheated of his hard-earned money by the same man who had caused misery for many families, Surya decides to take on Jaleel on his turf. His patience and cool attitude are his biggest strengths, but life has its own ways of testing it.
Cast
*
Siddharth as Suryakant Sarang
*
Usha Jadhav
Usha Jadhav is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Marathi and Hindi language films. She is best known for her role in the 2012 Marathi film ''Dhag'' for which she won National Film Award for Best Actress at the 60th National Film Awa ...
as Rajni
*
Padmapriya
Padmapriya (born Padmalochani; died 16 November 1997) was an Indian actress who worked in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films.
Her first movie was in Telugu, ''Adapillala Tandri'' (1974). In Kannada, she debuted with '' Bangarada Gudi' ...
as Madhu
*
Aditya Pancholi
Aditya Pancholi (born 4 January 1965) is an Indian actor, producer and playback singer working in Hindi cinema.
Acting career
1985–87: Television movies and serials
He was signed for a few television video films produced by Hiba, which ...
as Jaleel (local crime boss)
*
Ankur Vikal
Ankur Vikal is an Indian theatre and film actor.
Career
He graduated from the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi in 2000, after studying Architecture at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He has acted with the Motley Theatre Grou ...
as Zaid
*
Anupam Kher as Inspector Farooque
*
Seema Biswas
Seema Biswas (born 14 January 1965) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and the theatre. She gained prominence after playing the role of Phoolan Devi in Shekhar Kapur's film '' Bandit Queen'' (1994), for which she won the National Fil ...
as Surya's mother
*
Anup Soni
Anup Soni (born 30 January 1975) is an Indian actor and anchor. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Soni began his career with roles in television serials such as '' Sea Hawks'' and '' Saaya''. He then took a break from television ...
as Chandrakant Sarang
*
Vidya Malvade
Vidya Malvade (born 2 March 1973) is an Indian actress.
Early life
Malvade was born on 2 March 1973 in Maharashtra, India. She has 2 younger sisters.
Career
Vidya started her career as an air hostess. She then began modelling and was chosen b ...
as Devi Sarang
*
Nicolette Bird
Nicolette Bird is an Indian actress and model who has had roles in the Bollywood films ''Rock On!!'', released in 2008, and '' Striker'', released in early 2010. As a model, she has appeared in television commercials and magazine advertisement ...
as Noorie
*
Bhavya Gandhi
Bhavya Gandhi (born 20 June 1997) is an Indian actor who mainly works in Hindi YouTube and Gujarati films. He made his acting debut with and is best known for his role of Tipendra Jethalal Gada a.k.a. Tapu in the Indian sitcom Taarak Mehta Ka O ...
as young Suryakant
Soundtrack
The soundtrack album of ''Striker'' consists of 8 songs composed by various artists such as
Vishal Bhardwaj
Vishal Bhardwaj (born 4 August 1965) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, music composer and playback singer. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema, and is the recipient of seven National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award.
Bha ...
, noted Tamil composer
Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja or Abdul Haliq (born 31 August 1979) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer-songwriter. He mainly scores music for Tamil films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Wes ...
in his Bollywood debut,
Amit Trivedi
Amit Trivedi (born 8 April 1979) is an Indian music director, singer and a lyricist who works primarily in Hindi films. After working as a theatre and jingle composer and composing for non-film albums, he debuted as a film composer in the 2008 ...
, rapper
Blaaze
Lakshmi Narasimha Vijaya Rajagopala Sheshadri Sharma Rajesh Raman (born 15 October 1975), professionally known as Blaaze (), is an Indian Tamil language playback singer and rapper in Indian cinema who specializes in writing and performing rap m ...
, Shailendra Barve and lyricist-singer
Swanand Kirkire
Swanand Kirkire (Marathi: स्वानंद किरकिरे) (born 29 April 1972) is an Indian lyricist, playback singer, writer, assistant director, actor and dialogue writer, both in television with Marathi and Hindi films.
Kirkire wo ...
, whilst lyrics are penned by Nitin Raikwar, Blaaze, Prashant Ingole,
Jeetendra Joshi
Jitendra Joshi is an Indian actor and reality show host who predominantly works in Marathi cinema. He is well known for his lead role as Sant Tukaram Maharaj in the 2012 marathi movie Tukaram. He starred as constable Katekar in the hit Netflix ...
,
Swanand Kirkire
Swanand Kirkire (Marathi: स्वानंद किरकिरे) (born 29 April 1972) is an Indian lyricist, playback singer, writer, assistant director, actor and dialogue writer, both in television with Marathi and Hindi films.
Kirkire wo ...
and
Gulzar
Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...
. Shri was the music producer and composed the original soundtrack. The album was released on 12 January 2010.
Release
Sukanya Varma of ''Rediff'' gave the film a rating of three out of five stars and opined that "An interesting film with a lot on its mind, ''Striker'' isn't comfort cinema but I will recommend it anyway". A critic from ''The Times of India'' gave the film the same rating and wrote that "Don't believe the lacklustre promos. The film has more meat -- and meaning -- than it promises". Sanjukta Sharma of ''Livemint'' gave the film a positive review and stated that "''Striker'' is one of the good films of the year so far. It is not a breezy film or a candyfloss entertainer, but it’s surely an example of committed and adept film-making. There’s never enough of it".
References
External links
*
''Striker''at
Sulekha
Sulekha is a digital platform for local service businesses in India, matching 20+ million consumers with 50,000 service professionals across 200 categories in about 40 cities. Sulekha focuses on expert services clustered around Home, Life and Self ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Striker
2010 films
2010s Hindi-language films
2010 action drama films
2010 crime drama films
Indian action drama films
Indian crime drama films
Viacom18 Studios films
Films scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Films scored by Vishal Bhardwaj
Films scored by Amit Trivedi
Films scored by Swanand Kirkire
Films scored by Blaaze