Patiala House (film)

Plot

The movie is about Parghat Singh Kahlon alias Gattu / Kaali (Akshay Kumar) who is living the life his father Gurtej Singh Kahlon (Rishi Kapoor) chose for him. Gattu had been good at cricket and wanted to play for England though his dad would never let him become a member of the England team. His dad had told him if he played he would commit suicide. His siblings hated him as he was an exemplary in the house. He was always alone until Zeeshan and Simran (Anushka Sharma) come into his life.

In the present day, Gattu gets another chance to fulfil his dream and Simran and his siblings convince him to give it a shot. If he gets on the team, their father might be able to realise that the world isn't as racist as it used to be. As he gets on the team, they hide the fact that Gattu is on the team but their father eventually finds out. Seeing his son on a team he despises gives him a heart attack and he ends up in the Emergency Room. Gattu plays cricket anyway for his siblings. He is deeply hurt to be disgraced by his father but he also loves cricket and hopes to change his father.

The people of Southall all come together and try to convince Gurtej that it is okay to be a cricket player for England. He locks himself inside the house where his wife tells him that she has never acted as a mother, only as a wife and often forgot she was both. She turns on the T.V. wanting to see her son fulfil his dream. Gurtej watches with her and realises how badly he had treated his son. The family comes back in the house and Gurtej requests for one of them to drive him to the stadium. Gattu is playing poorly because he is so upset that his father disgraced him. Only at the last ball of the game, Gattu manages to win the championship for England. His father compares his bowling to Late Lala Amarnath. His father apologises to him and Gattu's siblings are now able to follow their dreams.

Cast

Critical reception

The film met with mixed reviews. At one end of the scale, Kunal Guha of Yahoo! Movies and Rajeev Masand of CNN IBN gave the film 1.5/5 stars, with Masand arguing that Patiala House was "lacking subtleties and nuances" that could have made it truly heartfelt. Similarly, Mayank Shankar of Hindustan Times gave the movie 2/5, and Sonia Chopra of Sify awarded the movie 3/5 stars and described it as "predictable". A similar score was awarded by Anupama Chopra of NDTV who also gave it 3.5/5 stars but the reviewer described it as the "best work director Nikhil Advani and Akshay Kumar have done in recent years" and argued that the movie "never soars but it is a notch better than the mediocre fare that we see every week."

Countering these, more positive reviews came from other sources. Aniruddha Guha from Daily News and Analysis and Sukanya Verma from Rediff Movies each awarded it 3 stars out of five, with Verma acknowledging Akshay's role: "Patiala House rests on Akshay's restraint and valiant performance". Smriti Sharma of India Today gave it 3.5/5 stars, describing it as an emotional journey, and Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama awarded the film four stars, concluding that the "hallmark" of the film was the "merging of its engaging drama with cricket" and describing it as a "compelling watch".

On the review aggregator website ReviewGang, Patiala House has received a score of 8.5/10 from 21 users. On IMDB.com, the film has also received a mediocre rating average of 5.5/10 from over 1000 users.

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Lyrics are penned by Anvita Dutt Guptan.

Reviews

The album received positive reviews upon release. Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama gave the soundtrack 4 out of 5 stars, saying "Patiala House delivers more than what one expected from the album.[..]it is obvious that listeners could well be picking up the first popular album of the new decade in the Millennium." Rediff in a 3.5 star review said: "Akshay Kumar-Anushka Sharma starrer Patiala House is S-E-L's first release of the year, and it's good news for everyone concerned. You won't feel cheated for having brought an original copy of this CD."