{"id":1911,"date":"2016-05-09T14:33:50","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T09:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/mukkabaaz-movie-review-anurag-kashyap-boxing-sports\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T19:49:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:19:40","slug":"mukkabaaz-movie-review-anurag-kashyap-boxing-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=1911","title":{"rendered":"Mukkabaaz and the Many Punches Indian Sportsmen Get"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span><\/p><\/div>

n the second half of Anurag Kashyap\u2019s ambitiously audacious <\/span>Mukkabaaz<\/span><\/i>, Shravan Singh (a flawless Vineet Kumar Singh), a lower-caste boxer from Bareilly arrives for the District Boxing Championships with his coach (Ravi Kishan) in tow. It\u2019s a defining moment for Shravan, who has been denied a chance to represent the state for the last two years due to his <\/span>caste<\/span><\/a>, despite being proved the best boxer in <\/span>Uttar Pradesh<\/span><\/a>. It doesn\u2019t help that Shravan is also at loggerheads with Bhagwan Das Mishra (a menacing Jimmy Shergill), the man who runs the federation like his personal fiefdom and who is adamant to ruin Shravan\u2019s career even before it begins. <\/span>\n\nBut before Shravan gets the chance to prove himself, he and the audience are treated to a curious sight: The ground that where the championship was supposed to take place has been taken over by the sports minister who is hosting a wedding there. Trumpets are blown, where punches should have been thrown. Left with no other choice, the competing boxers and coaches set out to construct a makeshift ring. <\/span>\n\nThis little scene in <\/span>Mukkabaaz<\/span><\/i> is emblematic of the larger rut in the Indian<\/span> sporting system<\/span><\/a>, where corruption, <\/span>nepotism<\/span><\/a>, and negligence reign supreme. It\u2019s a scene that\u2019s so eerily real that it might have been simultaneously unfolding in any dusty Indian town. For sportsmen in India not only have to overcome widespread bias, regional politics, and the frustrating bureaucracy, but also the very system that was built to help them. To be a sportsman in India, talent is never enough.<\/span>\n\nA few minutes after the competition starts, the boxers are instructed to stop the match midway and stand in respect for \u201cministerji\u201d who has decided to take time out of the wedding and grace the event with his esteemed presence. He gives a comic address that heaps praise on Uttar Pradesh being the state of Dhyan Chand, Mohammad Kaif, and Muhammad Ali. It takes him a moment to realise his inaccuracy, which he corrects by proclaiming that Muhammad Ali is actually from Kerala. It\u2019s a clever and hilariously true portrait of a country where sports ministers are gloriously clueless about the intricacies of sport, the funds required to further the cause (which in most cases hardly reach the athlete), and the round-the-year attention that every budding sportsmen deserves. <\/span>\n\n\"Mukkabaaz\"\n

\n

Anurag Kashyap\u2019s Mukkabaaz is a resounding ode to those numerous fighters populating India, the ones who are too tired or marred by bad luck to even make it to the big stage.<\/p>

Image credit: Phantom Films, Colour Yellow Productions<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nInstead, they choose to wake up only during the Olympics or to announce a lofty reward, demanding results from athletes whenever it suits them without investing in them. There\u2019s a reason why India, the most populous country in the world boasts of such a dismal tally at every international sporting event. The fault, clearly, does not lie in our <\/span>sports stars<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>\n\nIn India, a sportsman\u2019s struggle for respect, legitimacy, support, and even monetary benefits is fraught with so many insurmountable challenges that most aspiring athletes treat excelling at sports as a mere prop to land a government job. It\u2019s like what Shravan\u2019s father tells him during one of the many altercations that the two have, \u201cDhyan Chand hockey khel ke ghar nahi chala paya. Tum mukkabaazi karke chalaoge?\u201d It\u2019s a frighteningly real comment on the apathy that we reserve for our athletes once the medals have come home. After their time in the limelight, they\u2019re left to fend for themselves, relegated to a life of poverty and disrespect. <\/span>\n\n

Mukkabaaz is no mere \u201csports film\u201d, where an underdog protagonist rises against an established opponent and is then afforded a happy ending.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nMukkabaaz<\/span><\/i> then is no mere \u201csports film\u201d, where an underdog protagonist rises against an established opponent and is then afforded a happy ending. It is instead a proper \u201cIndian sports film\u201d where the protagonist has to slug it out against poverty, casteism, nepotism, politics, egos, and even saffronisation before even thinking of their sport. Even before they become athletes, they have to be. But as <\/span>Mukkabaa<\/span><\/i>z highlights, everytime we demand a fighter spirit from a sportsman and force him to sacrifice, we lose an athlete. Representing a country, or a state, or a district becomes a lonely, individual pursuit. <\/span>\n\nKashyap\u2019s <\/span>Mukkabaaz<\/span><\/i> is a resounding ode to those numerous fighters populating India, the ones who are too tired or marred by bad luck to even make it to the big stage. As is the case with Shravan in the film, his talent and passion can help him become a \u201cmukkabaaz\u201d (brawler), but never a \u201cmukkebaaz\u201d (boxer). And there\u2019s no greater tragedy than that.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anurag Kashyap\u2019s Mukkabaaz is a resounding ode to the numerous fighters populating Indian sport, the ones who are too tired or marred by bad luck to even make it to the big stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":1914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nMukkabaaz and the Many Punches Indian Sportsmen Get<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anurag Kashyap\u2019s Mukkabaaz is a resounding ode to the numerous fighters populating Indian sport, the ones who are too tired or marred by bad luck to even make it to the big stage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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