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The name Champion makes this Padam Kumar film sound like an action flick about an athlete or boxer. It isn’t anything as thrilling. If the title is misleading, the film’s a letdown too. The film took a long time in the making, and the five writers seem to have made quite a mess of the plot and characterisations. Rajveer (Sunny Deol) a cop from Patiala reluctantly takes on the job of protecting a kid whose parents have been killed by a bomb planted in their private plane. Abbas (Abhishek Sharma) is an obnoxious brat, surrounded by an even more odious entourage of kids and adults. The entire police force of the city seems to have nothing to do but worry about Abbas’ safety. It’s not even as if he is the target of a wanted terrorist or a gang of kidnappers, it’s just a demented fellow with a personal grudge who wants to kill Abbas. Nazir (Rahul Dev) is cosily ensconced in a mental asylum, but has an unlimited supply of funds to bribe the doctors and make innumerable sorties to kill the kid with sophisticated bombs. The bond between the cop and the kid is not properly established, so Rajveer’s obsession with Abbas seems quite out of place. He goes far beyond the call of duty to protect the kid, even as several cops are killed trying to keep Abbas from harm. Some of the scenes of Nazir stalking Abbas are very well shot, and quite terrifying, but it is monotonous watching the same thing over and over again. And it is very disturbing seeing a kid being traumatised like that. Instead of the emotional relationship between Rajveer and Abbas, which would have given the film some more shades, the focus is all on violence. Sunny Deol handles the role with his usual competence. Manisha Koirala has nothing to do, and even does that little part with complete indifference. Rahul Dev with his muscles and gym-toned physique is a welcome addition to the roster of villains, though it’s hard to tell whether or not he can act, his face is always covered with hair.
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