Toofaan
| Toofaan | |
|---|---|
 Official release poster | |
| Directed by | Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra |
| Written by | Anjum Rajabali Vijay Maurya Farhan Akhtar (story idea) |
| Produced by | Ritesh Sidhwani Farhan Akhtar Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Vijay Raaz |
| Cinematography | Jay Oza |
| Edited by | Meghna Manchanda Sen |
| Music by | Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Dub Sharma Samuel-Akanksha Daniel Lozinski |
Production companies | ROMP Pictures Excel Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Amazon Prime Video |
Release date |
|
Running time | 162 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
Toofaan (transl. Storm) is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language sports drama film directed and produced by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, produced by Ritesh Sidhwani under Excel Entertainment and ROMP Pictures and starring producer Farhan Akhtar as a national level boxer alongside Mrunal Thakur and Paresh Rawal in the lead roles.[2] The film premiered on 16 July 2021 on Amazon Prime Video.[1][3] The film received mixed reviews from film critics, who praised Akhtar's performance but criticized the film for its screenplay and predictable plot.[4][5][6]
Plot
Aziz Ali (Farhan Akhtar) is an orphaned extortionist in Dongri who beats up shopkeepers for money. He gets into a fight and goes to a hospital, where the doctor, Ananya Prabhu (Mrunal Thakur) criticizes him for being an extortionist and orders him out. One day, at a local boxing school, Ali comes across a video of Muhammad Ali and decides to start boxing.
He goes to Coach Narayan "Nana" Prabhu's (Paresh Rawal) boxing school but is defeated in a match because of his lack of technique. When he visits the hospital again, Ananya is kinder when she learns that he was taking care of and buying gifts for orphaned children, but later on, sees him rough up a person on the street. When he confronts her, she asks him if he wants to be a boxer or a gangster.
He decides to come back to Nana's boxing school after quitting his extortionist role and begins to train.
Eventually, he gets his boxing license, and starts winning matches, and is dubbed "Toofaan" by Nana. He also begins to form a romantic relationship with Ananya, and Nana angrily berates him when he finds out, thinking that Aziz is conning his daughter Ananya. He is also angry that Aziz is in a relationship with a Hindu as he is a Muslim. Nana also disowns Ananya and asks her to leave his house. Aziz and Ananya start looking for a place but find it difficult to live for two religious differences. The only house that they can stay in requires Aziz to return to his gangster role for his old boss, which he refuses. Instead, Ananya goes to a girls' hostel.
At his next boxing match, someone offers Aziz a large sum of money to lose, which he does, but then is uncovered, and receives a five-year boxing ban. After reconciling with Ananya, they marry, and sometime later, have a child, whom they name Myra. However, Nana stops speaking to Ananya, and does not want to meet the baby. Five years later, Aziz is an unfit father to Myra who receives his reinstatement boxing letter, but he trashes it because he does not want to return to boxing. After telling Ananya that he doesn't want to restart boxing, she goes behind him and gets his new boxing license.
On the way back, at the train station, there is a stampede at the crosswalk, and Ananya dies. Seeing his boxing license, Aziz decides to restart boxing and get back in shape to fulfill Ananya's dream. Meanwhile, Nana begins to spend more time with Myra after Ananya's death. Aziz gets back in shape and wins a few matches, but in one match, the judge, Darmesh Patil (Darshan Kumar) is a former state champion who Aziz defeated earlier and pays the referee to let the other boxer win, who performs a series of under-the-belt illegal punches and wins, as the referee doesn't call it out.
Later, Nana meets up with Patil and secretly records Patil telling the story, who is fired from the boxing federation. Aziz then has a chance to fight again, but it facing Prithvi Singh (Gaganpreet Sharma), who is a famous boxer who sends his opponents to the hospital before the second round can begin. At first, Azis begins to lose, but Nana comes back to coach him and tells him to fight the match for Ananya, and Aziz wins.
Cast
- Farhan Akhtar as Boxer Aziz "Toofan" Ali / Ajju Bhai
- Paresh Rawal as Coach Narayan "Nana" Prabhu
- Mrunal Thakur as Dr. Ananya Prabhu Ali
- Hussain Dalal as Munna
- Supriya Pathak as Sister D'Souza
- Mohan Agashe as Bala Kaka
- Milind Pathak as Inspector Ramakant Shinde
- Imran Rashid as Mohsin
- Deven Khote as Merchant Sir
- Arhan Chowdary as Parvez
- Jatin Sapru as Commentator 1 at State Championship
- RJ Anmol as Commentator 2 at State Championship
- Akashdeep Sabir as Nirbhay Mallick
- Gauri Phulka as Myra Ali / Tuk Tuk
- Sahil Patel as Postman Shankar Sayaji Thakur
- Gaganpreet Sharma as Boxer Prithvi Singh
- Darshan Kumar as Dharmesh Patil (special appearance)
- Vijay Raaz as Jaffar Bhai (special appearance)
- Sonali Kulkarni as Sumati Prabhu (special appearance)
- Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra as IBF Secretary Anup Verma (special appearance)
Production
Filming commenced in Dongri on 26 August 2019 and was completed in March 2020.[7] Darshan Kumar who plays the role of boxer Dharmesh Patil was trained by Hollywood actor Will Smith's trainer Darrell Foster.[8] Boxer Neeraj Goyat , who is himself a professional boxer trained Farhan Akhtar for his role and also acted in the movie.[9]
Release
Earlier the movie screening was announced to be released on 2 October 2020, which coincided with Gandhi Jayanti.[10] However, it got advanced to 18 September 2020, which later on was indefinitely delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic in India. On March 10, 2021 Amazon Prime Video announced that the film would be released on their platform on May 21, but was later postponed after India faced a massive 2nd wave of COVID-19.[11] Finally, the film premiered on 16 July 2021 on Amazon Prime Video.[1]
Reception
Upon release, Toofaan received negative reviews from the film critics, who praised Akhtar's performance but criticized the screenplay and the predictable plot of the film.[4][5][6] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 53% based on 15 reviews and an average rating of 4.8/10.[12]
Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express gave Toofan a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote, "Toofaan is your underprivileged-underdog-to-boxing-champion tale whose arc is utterly predictable, but what makes this film such an enjoyable watch is the way it has been written and performed. You know exactly where it will go, but the journey pops with smart feints and jabs, and ends with a satisfying punch".[13] Gautaman Bhaskaran from News 18 wrote "Farhan Akhtar is exceptional first as the Dongri 'Dada' and later as a mellowed lover, but unfortunately, the film clutters its canvas with too many issues".[14] Anna M. M. Vetticad from the Firstpost gave Toofan a rating of 2.75/5 and described the film as "A promising – and long – tale of boxing, Islamophobia and love fizzles out in its third hour".[15]
Soundtrack
| Toofaan | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Dub Sharma, Samuel–Akanksha and Daniel Lozinski | |
| Released | 2 July 2021[16] |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Length | 32:39 |
| Language | Hindi |
| Label | Zee Music Company |
| Official audio | |
| Toofaan - Full Album on YouTube | |
The music for the film is composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Dub Sharma, Samuel–Akanksha and Daniel Lozinski while the lyrics are written by Javed Akhtar, D'Evil and Manoj Kumar Nath.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Toofaan" (Title Track) | Javed Akhtar | Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy | Siddharth Mahadevan | 4:39 |
| 2. | "Todun Taak" | D'Evil | Dub Sharma | D'Evil | 3:07 |
| 3. | "Star Hai Tu" | Javed Akhtar | Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy | Himani Kapoor, Siddharth Mahadevan, Divya Kumar | 4:34 |
| 4. | "Jo Tum Aa Gaye Ho" | Javed Akhtar, Manoj Kumar Nath | Samuel–Akanksha | Arijit Singh | 3:59 |
| 5. | "Purvaiya" | Javed Akhtar | Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy | Shankar Mahadevan | 4:38 |
| 6. | "Ananya" | Javed Akhtar | Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy | Arijit Singh | 3:52 |
| 7. | "Dekh Toofaan Aaya Hai" | D'Evil | Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy | D'Evil | 2:34 |
| 8. | "Ganpati Vandana" | Traditional | Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy | Meenal Jain, Vedanti Satyajit Prabhu | 3:07 |
| 9. | "Gehre Andhere" | Javed Akhtar | Daniel Lozinski | Vishal Dadlani | 2:09 |
| Total length: | 32:39 | ||||
References
- ^ a b c "Farhan Akhtar starrer Toofan to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on July 16". Bollywood Hungama. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ "TOOFAN: Farhan Akhtar and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra kick-start the shoot on Janmashtami". Bollywood Hungama. 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- ^ Desk, India com Entertainment (16 July 2021). "Toofan Leaked Online, Full HD Available For Free Download Online on Tamilrockers And Other Torrent Sites". India News, Breaking News | India.com. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ a b "Toofaan review: Farhan Akhtar starrer gets mixed response, some calling it "inspirational" while others "predictable"". 16 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Toofaan Movie Reviews - Critics". 17 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Toofaan movie review: Shah Rukh Khan reviews Farhan Akhtar's film; Twitter gives its verdict". International Business Times. 17 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "'The calm before the storm': Farhan Akhtar and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Toofan begins shooting". Times Now. 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- ^ "Darshan Kumaar on Boxing Face-off With Farhan Akhtar in Toofan: I Felt Dazed, Couldn't Open My Mouth". News18. 17 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "Boxer Neeraj Goyat: Farhan Akhtar has gone extreme limits to do justice to 'Toofan'". Olympics.com. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "Toofan first look: Farhan Akhtar transforms into champion boxer for Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's sports drama". Firstpost. 30 September 2019.
- ^ "Farhan Akhtar starrer Toofaan set to release on Amazon Prime Video on May 21 postponed amid COVID-19 crisis". Bollywood Hungama. 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
- ^ "TOOFAAN (2021)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ "Toofaan movie review: Farhan Akhtar movie pops with smart jabs, ends with a satisfying punch". The Indian Express. 17 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "Toofan Movie Review: Farhan Akhtar is Exceptional As Boxer Aziz Ali But The Film is Not". News18. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "Toofaan movie review: A promising – and long – tale of boxing, Islamophobia and love fizzles out in its third hour-Entertainment News , Firstpost". Firstpost. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "Toofaan – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Jiosaavn. 2 July 2021.
External links
- Toofaan at IMDb
- Toofaan at Bollywood Hungama