Entertaining, impactful and cathartic. Jersey is a brilliantly made film. Shahid Kapoor, Mrunal Thakur, Pankaj Kapoor and Ronit Kamra, all perform brilliantly and add a different kind of life to this remake.

Remake of the 2019 Telugu film of the same name, Jersey is a sports-drama directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri who also directed the original. It is his Hindi directorial debut and he manages to hit it out of the park in his very first.

Jersey revolves around a father, Arjun Talwar, played by Shahid Kapoor who had to quit playing professional cricket due to circumstances outside his control. Life keeps on giving setbacks and he also loses the stable job he has. 2 years on, he has lost self-confidence and feels worthless. Amidst this, the love for his son and wanting to see him appreciate his father makes him want to start the game again at the age of 36. He rises to this occasion wanting to be a symbol of hope rather than living his life as a loser.

The entire first half sets this pretext, showcases the journey from romance to marriage of Arjun Talwar and his wife Vidya Talwar, played by Mrunal. It also very endearingly establishes the father-son relationship and shows how every father’s love is unconditional. The entire 2nd half is about Arjun Talwar getting back on his feet. A lot of cricket and matches.

The cricket bit of the film has been made very technically accurate. Shahid pulls off the sport very neatly. The matches have been shot very aptly and are very engaging. The production design is very on point, too. The 80s and 90s is brought back. The houses, the vehicles, the stadiums, and everything is very raw and authentic.

The performances along with the BGM and soundtrack elate the movie to a whole new level. I haven’t seen the original but I am sure Shahid’s performance and the Hindi sound track is equally comparable if not better. Shahid is a very fine actor and he proves it yet again. His versatility, ability to get intense, dialogue delivery, and the way he plays cricket is amazing. His hard-work is apparent in his act. Mrunal Thakur is absolutely perfect. I had loved her in Toofaan and she pulls off an almost similar act in a similar zone in Jersey as well. Pankaj Kapoor is great with his role. The actor who also deserves special applause is Ronit Kamra who played the role of Kittu, Arjun’s son. He is such a great actor and doesn’t at all make you feel that he is acting.

Sure, there are flaws too but not many to be changing the overall movie experience. On the whole, Jersey is a film that will entertain you, inspire a little and also make you emotional if not cry. If you need just one reason to watch Jersey, watch it for Shahid’s fantastic performance. 

Watch the trailer here: