Panga Versus Street Dancer, Which One Would You Choose This Week?

1.     Disparate  Genres, Parallel Strokes:  Panga  is  a sports  film directed  by Ashwiny  Iyer Tiwari  who  excels in  probing smalltown dreams and aspirations. Her debut  and sophomore  films Nil Batte Sannatta and Rai Bareilly Ki Barfi both worked within their given area  of  performance. On the other hand  Kangana’s  solo-heroine  films have  not really worked since Tanu Weds Manu and Queen.  The fiascos   in author-backed title  roles  include Simran, Rajjo and  Revolver Rani.

2.     Believable  locales  versus Aspirational:  Street Dancer is  a dance  film. Remod’Souza is as much the  master  of  the dance genre as Ashwiny Tiwari   is   the queen of smalltown rom-coms. While Panga  is set  in  the dusty  heartland , Street Dancer moves  through ritzy  fancy locales including London. Street Dancer is clearly  the more glamorous  of  the two films.

3.     Natural Versus  Cultivated:  Varun Dhawan who plays  a dancer  in Street Dancer  is a natural-born dancer.He doesn’t have  to  make  an effort to look convincing as a dancer.  On the other hand, Kangana who plays a kabaddi  player  is not a natural-born  kabaddiplayer.She has to make  an effort to look like one.The effort  shows.

4.     Desh Bhakti Element: Since   these are  Republic Day releases, there is a  strong patriotic streak running through  both the  films. Varun Dhawan  wants to dance for his  country  and the country he’s  warring against is Pakistan until….hang on… ‘India’ Varunfalls in love with ‘Pakistan’ Shradha Kapoor.Would  Veer-Zara on  the dancefloor work at the Indian boxoffice? Panga on the  other hand, has India’s national game  kabaddi as its backbone.How much more patriotic can it get?

5.     Hero ,Aur Kya? …While  Street Dancer has Prabhudheva as a side attraction  to the  central Varun-Shradha  dance face-off , Panga has a very strong supporting cast in JassiGill ,playing  Kabbadi-playing female  hero’s  unbelievably supportive husband who, like  Anand  Tiwari  in  Chhappak , or like  Nitesh  Tiwari in director Ashwini Iyer Tiwari’s life,  makes  breakfast  for  his son while wife  romances the akhada. Neena Gupta and RichaChadha also play strong supporting roles in Panga. The  emsemble  cast in Panga is  distinctly  more interesting.

So which  one  will it be this  Republic Day? Varun-Shradha’s  Indo-Pak dance  moves or Kangana battling sexism,ageism, and  other  gender-related prejudices  on  the  kabaddi field?