7 Kadam Redemptive Drama Redeemed By Ronit Roy,Amit Sadh

7 Kadam(Eros Now)

Starring  Ronit Roy,  Amit Sadh

Directed  by K Mohit Kumar Jha

Rating: **

A  deep dark family   secret   is revealed  in Episode 3  of this   goodhearted  but pale drama  about a father, son  and the  unholy dost who tries  to tear them apart.  When a deeply hurt  AurobindoPal(Ronit  Roy)  blurts  out that  family secret  to his  wounded-in-his-own-right son Ravi(AmitSadh)  , the   sound of a  Qawwalli rendered by  Javed Ali and  performed  by him on screen , comes alive on the soundtrack.

The  Qawwalli  goes Allah kar de reham. Our sentiments,  exactly.

 It should have been  decisive  moment  in the drama. Sadly this father-son  urban fable about failure and its acceptance  in the  city of Durga Puja and  football(we are given to  understand that’s all Kolkatans do,celebrate Durga Puja  and play  football) never  takes off. For no fault of  the lead actors, I might add. 

Ronit Roy  playing the alcoholic  ex-football coach  with a  chip on his shoulder is  no less than spectacular  in some of the key scenes. The fact that his character  limps through  the  plot  is significant.  It’s  the  prevalent mood of the  screenplay. Ronit gets  able  support from Amit Sadhas his  son.  Sadly  the two  performances are  bereft  of   the  heft that  would  have lifted the drama  to  a glorious height. 

 Instead  the  narrative remains grounded. The  plot is inured  in mediocrity with some  very clumsy  acting from  the  lady who  plays  Amit Sadh’s  love interest. Deeksha Seth should immediately work on her  voice modulation.  Not her faulty entirely. Everyone sounds fake  in that Hindi Bengali accent that they  are given to speak . If the  characters are Bengali  why are they speaking in  Hindi among themselves? And if they speak Hindi , why that thick  hammy  Banglaaccent ?

 Getting back to  the  plot, father and son  Ronit and Amit are torn apart  by a suited rich bully named  Babul  Bannerjee who has an axe to grind with Ronit. To take  revenge he lures son Amitaway  from his father  into his  own football team so that the son ends up playing against his  own father’s  team  in the climax.

 Uri baba.  Bhishoon samasya. The  director seems in  no mood  to  delve  with any seriousness  in the father-son relationship and  it’s left to the  two actors to work out  an equation on screen that  makes them  look workable . The rest  of the cast is lost in trying to fit in.Rohini Bannerjee  as  Ronit’s  wife  trying    to keep a balance between the father and  son  plays  the thankless role with  not  hair  out of place. They must have spent more on her makeup in this  low-budget film than on  the  football scenes which look woefully  inadequate.

And why convert a  feature film into four episodes?  Doesn’t this drama  about a problematic father-son  relationship have  enough  problems of its own?