''Tiki-Taka'', previously titled as ''Khelechi Ajgubi'', is a 2020 Indian ZEE5 original Bengali language

sports drama A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the spor ...

situational

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

film directed and produced by

Parambrata Chattopadhyay Parambrata Chattopadhyay (born 27 June 1980) is an Indian actor and director. Parambrata started his career with Bengali television and films. He has acted as the fictional character Topshe from Feluda under Sandip Ray's direction. He made his ...

. The film stars African national Emona Enabulu in the main lead role while director Parambrata Chattopadhyay,

Ritabhari Chakraborty Ritabhari Chakraborty is an Indian Bengali film actress. She is a prominent name in the Indian television and film industry. Chakraborty earned commercial success in Bengali with the romantic Thriller ''Shesh Theke Shuru'' (2019) and ''Brahma J ...

and

Saswata Chatterjee Saswata Chatterjee (born 19 December 1970) is an Indian actor of television and films based in Kolkata. Born to actor Subhendu Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee began his career with a Hindi serial directed by Saibal Mitra, based on Samaresh Maju ...

play supporting roles in the film. The film was set on the backdrop of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

and other parts of North-East India. The film was premiered via

ZEE5 ZEE5 is an Indian subscription video on-demand and over-the-top streaming service, run by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on Web, Androi ...

on 11 September 2020 and opened to positive reviews.

Plot

The storyline of the film revolves around the Senegalese national Khelechi Ajgubi (Emona Enabulu) who has landed in India to fulfill his aspirations of pursuing his career as a professional footballer before falling trap into a

comedy of errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. It ...

Cast

* Emona Enabulu as Kelechi Ajgubi *

as Raju, taxi-driver *

as Bonny *

as PK * Bruno Venchuro *

Kharaj Mukherjee Kharaj Mukherjee or Kharaj Mukhopadhyay (born 7 July 1963) is an Indian actor. He completed his early education from St. Lawrence High School, Kolkata He made his debut in Bengali film with the film ''Hulusthul'' in 1980. In the last 32 years, ...

Surangana Bandyopadhyay Surangana Bandyopadhyay (Bengali: সুরঙ্গনা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়; born 18 November 1997) is an Indian actress and singer who primarily known for Bengali films and web series. Early life and education Sh ...

as special appearance *

Riddhi Sen Riddhi Sen is an Indian film actor who predominantly works in Bengali films. He is a regular actor of the theatre group Swapnasandhani and is an alumnus of South Point school, Kolkata. In 2010, he received a special talent award from his schoo ...

as special appearance

Production

The film production originally launched in Bengali language and the film was initially tentatively titled as ''Khelechi Ajgubi''. The

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

of the film began in March 2018, keeping in mind about the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

. The directorial venture was announced by actor Parambrata Chattopadhyay who also made his debut as a producer through this project. The film title was later changed to ''Tiki-Taka'' which is a technique popularly used in the sport of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. The film was dubbed in Hindi during the

COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in India On the evening of 24 March 2020, the Government of India ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21days, limiting movement of the entire 1.38billion (138 crore) population of India as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It wa ...

. Senegalese actor Emona Enabulu was roped into play the male lead role. The portions of the film were predominantly shot in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Release

The film was supposed to have its theatrical release in 2020 but was called off due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

and filmmakers intended to release it via OTT platform. ZEE5 bought the digital distribution rights of the film and was released on the platform on 11 September 2020.

Reception

After release, ''Tiki Taka'' received positive reviews from critics, with praises for the plot, light-hearted comedy and individual performances. ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' gave a rating of 4 out of 5 and stated "The laughs are non-stop and the film is light and funny, this one will definitely strike a chord with football fanatics!" Upam Buzarbaruah of ''

Times Of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

'' wrote "Tiki Taka is a nice watch. It boasts of some decent performances. While Parambrata and Emona rule the screen with their chemistry, Ritabhari also delivers her role quite nicely. The rest of the cast, however, have too short a screen presence for us to judge their performances" ''

The Quint ''The Quint'' is an English and Hindi language Indian general news and opinion website founded by Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapur after their exit from Network18. The publication's journalists have won three Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Aw ...

'' wrote "Tiki-Taka is a fast-paced, entertaining watch and also an ode to Kolkata’s obsession with soccer"

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=tt8289664
Tiki-Taka
on

Bengali-language Indian films 2020s sports comedy-drama films 2020 multilingual films 2020s Hindi-language films 2020s Bengali-language films 2020 direct-to-video films 2020 comedy-drama films 2020 films Indian association football films Indian sports comedy-drama films Indian multilingual films ZEE5 original films Films shot in Kolkata Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic