Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal could have been the most awaited sports film of the year as it claims to be only if it would have been released way before “Chak de!”. I mean forgive me, but the comparisons are inevitable. Sports based movie genre will be always be compared with Lagaan and now chak de.
But for now, let’s judge it as an individual film on its own merit. To start with let’s look at the story. It the basic plot of a good-for-nothings triumph to win the pride back. It was a good story to tell with some good emotional connects for which Indian audiences always die for.
It starts about south hall football club of (obviously) south hall, London. Its used for all the possible events other than football like weddings, birthdays, etc all. The football team who has it, cleans it up after those not so football events. The club is a precious property which is eyed by the builders for their plush shopping malls/multiplex plans. The owner asks for 3 million pounds to handover it to the club or wants them to vacant it. In the time frame given by them, the next season of football is there for which prize money is same…. 3 million pounds. So it becomes the lifetime aim of the captain shaan (arshad warsi) to free the club from the clutches of the property monsters.
Shaan knows that he needs a good coach to be able to win the championship over even play in it. 
So he brings in Tony (Boman Iraani). Boman gets on his job after shaan’s efforts to bring him in. What he has at his disposal is a money less club with good-for-nothing team. He brings in the physiotherapist (Bipasha basu), who is also Shaan’s sister, on the panel. At some point of time tony tells her that team is good for defense but not for a strike. They need a goal maker and Bipasha brings in Bhasin (John Abraham).
Then they all have fights, non-operation. Efforts by tony brings them together, etc. In the course of the movie they become a team and fight for what their pride is.
It was a simple story to tell which needed a strong scriptwriting and screenplay. Thats the point where the movie fails. The narrative is plain. There are very few points in first half of the film and first part of the 2nd half of the film which holds audience attention. Few comic scenes are good so are some camaraderie between the team members, between john and bipasha, between john and arshad. However it does not keep you involved from start to finish.
The main problem behind this is it does not connect the audience to the characters. The characters of 2-3 team members are only highlighted and sketched properly. All others are there just to be there. Also the past of the characters, their personal anguish, the reasons for why they are what they are, are not properly brought up
Film takes lot of time to establish the team as failure and then does not move impressively to the rising journey. The scenes of self realization for the team are not very motivating and can not involve audiences with it.
However, its not a bad film. Its above average film with some good moments, some good excitement, some good emotions all scattered over the film. It fails to hit the bulls eye as lagaan or chak de did. It brings up some crucial issues like racism, etc with which the international audience can connect more. It has a large chunk of movies emotions devoted for that. So it can do well in the south-asian diaspora living across the world.
Speaking about performances, john steals the show. John is the “jaan” of the movie. 
He is both hot and cool in the movie. He looks hot and his style/attitude is cool. His fan following will definitely grow multi-fold after this movie. He fits the EBCD (england born confused desi like the ABCD- American born confused desi) role to the T and the issue he brings forth about his identity crisis is very important and aptly executed. Check out when he asks his father, who is first generation migrant to London often called as FOB (fresh off the boat), that why he is confusing him about his identity when he thinks himself as a British and not an Indian because he is born and brought up there.
Another good performance is by arshad warsi however he needs to take care of his looks. He should have worked on his looks before this movie. He looks fat and not a sports person. His role also is not very well sketched has ups and downs in characterization. However arshan does the role with elan and conveys what he is told to convey with finesse.
Another important role of the coach is done by Boman Irrani. I wonder why he is kept in his gray beard and poor man kind of looks (when his house does not look so) even after he joins the team and is happy doing that job. He also does not look very fit. He is a big let down in this movie, a weak link I can say. He fails to impress as a coach who can motivate the team. His motivational acts/speeches fails flat with the audience.
Bipasha as the teams physio is good and does her job very well. 
Her chemistry with john is to look forward. Though her role is small, she does justice to it. From the team, raj zutsi is as the sardarjee is good. The actual player in the team is not used at all and is just been there in the frame.
Cinematography (Attar Singh Saini) of the film is excellent with the final match scenes topping it up. The earlier matches are not made that much exciting visually. I can not guess why so. The billo song is not needed at all and is not in the mood/style of the movie. It takes the movie’s merit down actually. The southall football club’s anthem “dhan dhana dhan goal” is very good and could have been used better in the narration.
Vivek Agnihotri performs well as director but he is not excellent. If he could have made the narration more crisp and movie a little shorter, then this could have been at par with lagaan and chak de.
Production value of the movie is very good. The in-film product placements for western union and Reebok are done very well. The movie will be profitable for the producers (UTV) and will be a hit (as there is not big release to stop its collections) but its actually a above average movie.
To sum up, we can say that the question which was there in speculation in the media that is will Goal be as big hit as chak de! Has got an answer…. No!
D3 Goal wins the match, but it could have been exciting.
BR Rating: **1/2
BR Verdict: Above average.
BR Advise: Can watch!
- Reviewed By : Prashen H. Kyawal
