Director: Swapneel Jaykar

Producers: Sudha Productions and Zee Talkies

Writer: Yogesh Vinayak Joshi

Cast: Santosh Juvekar, Sayaji Shinde, Vijay Maurya, Aniket Vishwasrao, Sai Tamhankar, Neelam Shirke, Atul Parchure

Music: Amar Mohile

Rating: * *

(Review taken from the website Halti Chitre.)

By: Keyur Seta

Story Outline: Three men, Nayar (Santosh Juvekar), Abbas (Vijay Maurya) and Lefty (Aniket Vishwasrao) have taken up the task of finishing off Sunil Tendulkar (Sayaji Shinde), maker of B-grade films. He always makes films with his favorite actress and concubine Velvet Manisha (Sai Tamhankar). On the other hand, Tendulkar’s wife (Neelam Shirke) also has an extra-marital relationship with Dhanu (Atul Parchure). Will the trio succeed?

Review: As expected, Swapneel Jaykar’s Tendulkar Out has nothing to do with the cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, despite the title and the fact that the film released on the day the Master Blaster played the very last innings of his career. But the real reason for the film not working is a poor story or rather, hardly a story. It is only due to some hilarity here and there that you manage to sit through it.

The film does start on a promising note though. As the trio goes about trying to execute their task, you are treated to some genuinely funny moments. The running cricket commentary to describe the situation of the trio works very well indeed and becomes the biggest plus point of the film.

But you soon realize that the story isn’t going anywhere. You anxiously wait for something to happen but it just doesn’t until the last few moments. Although the final culmination is somewhat interesting, it doesn’t amuse you since the journey towards the climax hasn’t been a pleasant one. Apart from some silly moments, a big reason for this is the sub-plot about Tendulkar’s wife and Dhanu. Barring one rib-tickling moment, it doesn’t offer much. Also, the way they have tried to induce humor through Tendulkar’s wife’s labor pain appears a bit sadistic.

The film also suffers from being historically inaccurate. The entire movie centers around the 2003 World Cup match between India v/s Pakistan. However, the characters are seen using smart phones of today’s times. This is not all. They have shown the aforementioned match going right down to the wire. But in reality, India had won very easily.

The songs (Amar Mohile) are forgetful while the technical aspects (cinematography, background score and editing) fall in the above-average category.

Talking about the performances, Santosh Juvekar underplays his character well and succeeds in expressing anger, tension and frustration. It’s good to see him after long. Vijay Maurya too plays his character well while Aniket Vishwasrao isn’t bad. Sayaji Shinde fits the bill but we have seen him do such things many times before.

A good performer like Sai Tamhankar is wasted. Neelam Shirke and Atul Parchure are decent but, as mentioned before, their sub-plot doesn’t work.

Overall, Tendulkar Out is let down due to the writing. It looks like the makers, like many others, are trying to cash in on the retirement of the great cricketer. The film stands no chance at the box office.