Re Raya review: Makes a mockery of the sports genre

Sports based movies are slowly becoming an overdose in Hindi, as well as Marathi cinema. After Bedhadak (2018) and Gotya (2018) in recent months, there is Re Raya by actor-turned-director Milind Shinde. This is yet another attempt unintentionally making a mockery of the genre by being poor in all aspects.

The film is about a champion athelete Aadesh Bhosale (Bhushan Pradhan) who fights all odds, including poverty and politics, to become a national champion. However, he fails to win the Shiv Chhatrapati Puraskar, a dream he has nurtured. Dejected, he returns to his village not sure of what to do in life.

In the village, he notices three boys belonging to the lowest strata of society. He recognises their natural talent for running, long jump and archery. Aadesh’s new goal is to train them, make them champions and ensure they win the Shiv Chhatrapati Puraskar.

Among the many negative points of the film, the most glaring one is the basic plot itself. Bhosale is a star sportsman who has achieved various feats at the national level. He also gets media coverage regularly. Yet, he goes into severe depression, quits his career and returns to his village just because he does not win the Shiv Chhatrapati Puraskar.

This move seems forced. The character appears to be under 30, and retirement seems like a stupid decision. Are they trying to imply that the glory achieved at the national level doesn’t hold any value in front of the prize? This is problematic also because he aspires for the kids to win the Shiv Chhatrapati Puraskar instead of gold medals at the national level.

Funnily, later on, the focus is shifted to whether the three kids would do Maharashtra proud at the national level and the Shiv Chhatrapati Puraskar madness is forgotten. You can’t make out if they actually win it in the end because we are told about it through a text slide (so much for it being a visual medium) which disappears within a couple of seconds.

By the way, there is hardly any character establishment and development for the three kids. They appear just as a means of fulfilling Bhosale’s desires. The character of his girlfriend and his best friend too appear more like caricatures.

Sometime during the film, we are told that Bhosale’s character has a clot in his brain and his condition is serious. He also becomes a victim of an accident. However, these sub-plots too are forgotten and have nothing to do with the main story.

A large part of the second half is spent going through badly presented sequences of all three sports. After a point, it starts becoming too repetitive and irrelevant.

On the contrary, Bhosale’s journey from a nobody to a national star is not explored at all. We are also not told how he moves into a posh home in Mumbai later on. His source of income too is unknown. Above everything else, he even takes a loan to groom the three kids.

The camerawork is decent at times, but the editing lacks proper linking of scenes. From Mangesh Dhakade’s music, the romantic tracks just add to the runtime, while the loud title track becomes irritating.

Bhushan Pradhan looks like a runner, but struggles in the majority portions where he takes on a coach's job. He is unimpressive in scenes with high tension, a problem partly to be blamed on the ineffective dialogues.

The three kids try their best in their respective sports. But as their characters lack depth, they don’t get much of a chance. Sanskruti Balgude’s character is present for the heck of it. It looks like the character was placed only so she could be angry to draw attention. Uday Tikekar is the best of the lot in comparison to others.

Overall, Re Raya can be watched only for its unintentional hilarity.