Sons Of The Soil Web Series Review: It will provide you an insight for the world of Kabaddi through Abhishek Bachchan’s eyes
Sons Of The Soil Web Series Review: 3 stars
Just watched Sons Of The Soil Web Series on Amazon Prime Video. So let’s analyze the cast, release date, story and at last my personal view on this web series.
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Bunty Walia and complete team of Jaipur Pink Panther season 7
Director: Alex Gale, Omkar Potdar
Release Date: 4th Dec 2020 (On Amazon Prime Video)
Duration: 5 Episodes/ 30 Minutes
Story: It is sports documentary series following the journey of Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan and his kabaddi team, Jaipur Pink Panthers, in their attempt to reclaim the champion’s trophy of India’s Pro Kabaddi League. Witness the struggles, the pain and the team’s ultimate journey towards success.
Series follows the entire Pro Kabaddi League 2019 season as Jaipur Pink Panthers competes against 11 other teams, is as invested in the ups and downs that the individual players encounter as it is in the thought processes of the Bollywood star who runs the show. It’s not more than kabaddi itself, it throws light on how the minds of the young lads out there under the glare of the media spotlight respond to the challenges posed by money and fame.
Abhishek Bachchan is the narrator of the series which sheds light on the journey of the players and follows the team through season 7 of Pro Kabaddi League and perfectly shows their ups and downs during the tournament. The show opens with Abhishek Bachchan speaking to a camera within the frame and spelling out who he really is. He uses three adjectives and qualifies each with a defining statement: passionate (“I don’t like losing”), fair (“I still don’t like losing”) and affable (“But not when I’m losing.”) It is an interesting starting point for a documentary that turns out to be more about the vagaries of sport than simply about victory and defeat.
We learn how Pro Kabaddi League dramatically changed the lives of its players. It’s fascinating to see rustic village boys, majority of them from the state of Haryana, getting groomed at Hakim’s Aalim before a match. It’s equally surprising to know that Deepak Niwas Hooda, the captain of Jaipur Pink Panthers, was bought for staggering Rs 1.25 crore. The series offers an interesting insight into how modernization and commercialization of a sport, once limited to rural India, can completely change the face of it.
However, when a sport brings its players money and fame, there are insurmountable pressures too. After a few initial wins in the seventh season of the league, Jaipur Pink Panthers gets onto a downward spiral. The first person to be held accountable is the captain himself. The multiple outbursts of the team’s Chief Operating Officer, Bunty Walia, reveal how when money and reputation are at stake, winning is the only option. When pressurized for victory, the players react in fashion similar to that of a salaried employee working in the corporate sector. The struggles of a coach have also been well depicted. Doing the job here is the Hyderabad-based Srinivas Reddy, who deals with bruised egos more often than he handles bruises knees. It’s an eye-popping moment when you see Reddy driving his BMW and attributing it to Kabaddi. But then you know, it has not come easy.
Durgesh Tiwary’s View : When I watched the trailer of this documentary series felt very good as now we are promoting and highlighting the game in which India is world champion and never lose any world cup so far.
In my childhood have played Kabaddi but after that always focused on Cricket like every one. But after watching this series feel motivated and inspired and also happy that big names are associated with this game and audiences are also coming in big numbers to watch this game.
It shows inspiring life stories of the players, mainly their four key players Captain Deepak Hooda, Deepak Narwal, Nilesh Salunkhe, and Nitin Rawal. Their real-life unfiltered stories touch you the most throughout the series.
These are simple boys from very humble, mostly rural backgrounds adjusting to an alien setting. The sport is the same, the packaging isn’t. The dusty patches of land on which kabaddi is still played in large swathes of India have been replaced in the Pro Kabaddi League by spotless mats laid out in brightly lit indoor facilities jam-packed with voluble enthusiasts.
Even if you are not a fan of ‘Kabaddi’, the series is a must-watch as it educates, inspires and most importantly entertains you till the end and keeps you engaged. Appreciate the fact that India is adapting to new formats and likes of content, and OTT platforms are backing the same. (Highly Recommended)
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