It’s
too
bad
Viijay
69
does
not
let
the
viewer
feel
Anupam
Kher’s
despair
or
his
triumph. The
most
forgettable
‘zero
to
hero’
films
at
least
managed
that
much,
notes
Deepa
Gahlot.
Last
year’s
Nyad
was
the
real-life
story
of
long-distance
swimmer,
Diana
Nyad,
who,
at
age
64,
fulfilled
her
dream
of
swimming
across
the
Straits
of
Florida,
a
110-mile
journey
in
shark
and
jellyfish
infested
waters.
She
says
at
the
end,
‘Never
give
up’
and
‘You’re
never
too
old
to
chase
your
dreams.’
The
key
word
here
is
‘dream’
—
the
champion
swimmer
had
attempted
and
failed,
at
age
28,
to
complete
that
swim
which
was
considered
a
milestone
in
a
competitive
swimmer’s
career.
When
Akshay
Roy,
writer
and
director
of
Vijay
69,
picks
up
the
germ
of
the
idea
to
make
his
film,
it
is
simply
about
an
elderly
man,
who
is
stung
that
his
best
friend
could
not
list
any
achievements
in
a
eulogy
at
his
funeral,
when
he
was
feared
dead.
Right
from
the
phoniness
of
this
incident,
the
film
tries
to
push
every
button
but
fails
to
engage
the
viewer
in
the
struggle
of
the
protagonist.
Vijay
Mathew
(Anupam
Kher)
does
not
come
home
one
night,
and
the
very
next
morning,
his
family
and
friends
organise
an
elaborate
funeral,
at
which
his
buddy
Fali
(Chunky
Panday:
bad
wig,
worse
accent)
cannot
remember
any
accomplishments.
That’s
not
the
point
of
an
eulogy,
in
any
case,
but
the
character
is
Catholic
just
to
have
that
scene.
To
make
him
‘different’,
Vijay
is
foul-mouthed
and
comes
up
with
cusswords
like
‘isabgol
ke
rasgulle‘,
along
with
the
usual
profanities.
The
widowed
69-year-old
retired
school
swimming
coach
lives
in
a
large
bungalow
in
what
looks
like
a
Parsi
colony
in
Mumbai.
His
sole
achievement
was
winning
a
bronze
medal
in
a
state
swimming
championship
years
ago.
On
a
whim,
he
decides
to
participate,
not
in
a
swimming
event,
which
would
be
credible,
but
a
triathlon,
when
he
has
no
prior
history
or
current
interest
in
athletics.
The
plot
moves
exactly
as
expected.
His
senior
citizen
friends
laugh
at
him,
his
daughter
shrieks
in
indignation,
the
triathlon
association
rejects
his
application
for
obvious
reasons.
But
as
it
happens
only
in
the
movies,
every
time
a
door
is
slammed,
somebody
from
the
past
just
happens
to
walk
in
to
open
it.
There
are
the
standard
training
sequences,
in
which
Vijay
huffs
and
puffs
and
falls
down
several
times,
without
even
a
bruise
to
show
for
it.
The
villain
is
a
neighbour
(Dharmendra
Gohil)
with
a
grudge,
who
does
not
want
the
spotlight
stolen
from
his
son
Aditya
(Mihir
Ahuja),
who
is
also
in
the
event
as
the
youngest
ever
participant.
So
this
fire-breathing
neighbour
tries
everything
to
get
Vijay
disqualified,
including
getting
a
television
reporter
to
discredit
him.
The
hysteria
on
the
national
news
about
some
small
local
event
is
laughable.
Vijay’s
unexpected
friendship
with
Aditya
is
the
sweetest
thing
about
the
film.
The
young
chap
is
nothing
like
his
father
and
is
chafing
under
pressure
himself.
His
marketing
expert
girlfriend,
and
the
colony’s
resident
vlogger
(with
millions
of
followers,
seriously?),
join
Vijay’s
side.
Even
the
daughter
stops
nagging
for
a
change.
Make
a
list
of
all
underdog
and
sports
film
cliches,
and
Vijay
69
has
all
of
them.
Right
from
successful
NRIs
humiliating
Vijay
for
his
humble
vocation
to
the
spirit
of
his
long-dead
wife
hovering
to
cheer
him
on
to
that
old
favourite
song
that
puts
the
wind
beneath
Vijay’s
feet.
The
film
seems
to
have
been
written
for
Anupam
Kher,
who
pulls
out
all
the
stops
in
his
effort
to
make
Vijay
lovable.
It’s
too
bad
the
bland
film
does
not
let
the
viewer
feel
his
despair
or
his
triumph.
The
most
forgettable
‘zero
to
hero’
films
at
least
managed
that
much.
Vijay
69
streams
on
Netflix.
Vijay
69
Review
Rediff
Rating:
