Every major actor yearns to play a boxer at least once during his career. The problem is, after Robert de Niro and Sylvester Stallone acing it in Raging Bull and the Rocky series, respectively , everything else looks pale in comparison.
Well, to hell with the competition! Farhan Akhtar looks like he is poised to kill it in Toofaan. The trailer just out, demonstrates the actor at the pinnacle of his powers. Farhan is intensely involved in bringing his boxer character’s inner world to the screen. What I glimpsed was not just the puffed wounded eye, but also the pain behind it.
Although the familiar tropes of the sports genre are all there(the supportive girlfriend, the surly coach,the spoil sports, etc) the trailer succeeds in radiating an electric aura replete with the drama and passion we haven’t seen in a desi sports film since Rakeysh and Farhan got together for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.
One quibble: why do we need a romantic interest at all in a sports film about a male boxer preparing to meet his match in the ring? The supporting cast is committed to making Farhan’s central performance dazzle your senses. Paresh Rawal as Toofan’s coach finally gets the role he deserves (we forgive you for Coolie No.1) while the redoubtable Vjay Raaz kicks the ball out of the park in just one scene in the trailer.
Would Farhan get the National award for Toofaan? Going by what we see in the trailer he just might. In the bloodied kingdom of Toofaan , might is right.