It was a time when it was felt that sports-based movies can never be successful. But Lagaan and Chak De! India proved it all wrong. And therefore, there were big expectations from Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, a movie based entirely on football. And the result is out: Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal is not as brilliant as Chak De! India, but it is a good timepass flick, which fails but also entertains.

The story of the flick: Southall is a suburb in West London. Majority of its population consists of South Asians. It also has its own football club-The Southall United Football Club and Shaan (Arshad Warsi) was its captain. However, the club was facing very bad times. The club had no money, no sponsor, no fan, no spectator, and no owner. To add to this, the city council ordered them to evict the club in 11 months. The council and its frontman, Johny Bakshi (Dalip Tahil) planned to make a mall and multiplex on the very place where the ground of the club stood. But the club could still save their club if they pay off 30 million pounds to the council. And the CCFL (a football league) was just a month away. Now the Southall United Football Club must win the CCFL in order to save their club. To begin with, Shaan requests Tony Singh (Boman Irani), an ex-Southall footballer, to coach them. Tony refuses but later agrees. On the other hand, there was Sunny (John Abraham), son of Indian parents and born and brought up in England, who played for Aston Football Club. However, he was not selected in the team, though he was a great striker. The reason: he was an Indian. Tony Singh then invites Sunny to play for Southall. Sunny agrees. Sunny and Shaan could not see eye to eye. But though they were playing together for a team.

Will Southall be able to win the CCFL?
Will Shaan be able to save his club?

Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal is a great film but it is not devoid of flaws. The problem with the movie is that it works in parts. In some scenes, you feel you are a part of the movie; in some scenes you don’t. At times the film is highly engrossing, at times it is not. Because of this, the movie succeeds but unfortunately, it fails a bit too.

But Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal has a big amount of plusses. The story and the situation are excellent. The characters are quite interesting, especially those in the Southall team. Some scenes are highly inspiring. The scene just before the intermission point was fantastic and will be remembered for a long time. The climax was the best part of the film. It was nail-biting and highly engrossing.

On the flip side, the screenplay at times was not powerful enough. Also the direction overall was not perfect for a sports-based movie. But there was one thing I loved immensely about the movie-it is extremely fast-paced. It may not be engrossing at times, but it moves in great speed. Therefore, even though the movie is around 2 hrs 50 mins, you don’t feel that the movie have used up so much time.

Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal rests on the power-packed performance of three actors-John Abraham, Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani. John Abraham was perfect for this role and he carries it out with utmost confidence. He was great on the scenes shot on the field. And as Bipasha says in the film, he looks quite sexy! Great work, John!

Arshad Warsi is mostly seen as a funny guy, but here one is able to see that he could lot more than just making you laugh. He went completely into the skin of his character and delivered a fine performance.

Boman Irani has never disappointed, and he continues this same thing in Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal! He was completely natural throughout the movie. He was simply the best in the scene just before the intermission point. Throughout the year, we see him playing different type of roles in different movies, and in each movie, he is fabulous. Really, he is one of the finest actors of Bollywood!

Bipasha Basu as Rumana was good and completes the need for glamour in the film. Raj Zuthshi was quite funny. The lady, who was Arshad’s wife in the film, does a great job. Others were good.

Pritam’s music was fantastic, as usual. The songs which rock are ‘Billo Rani’ and title track. The title track was terrific and anthem-like and it was like the soul of the movie!

Atarsingh Saini’s cinematography was good but could have been better. Screenplay was good but it was not uniform-at times it was engrossing, at times not. Dialogues were normal and perfect.

Vivek Agnihotri who disappointed greatly with his debut flick, Chocolate, does quite a good job in Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal. He has not done a perfect job but though, his work is not that bad and I am sure he would do a far-better job in his next flick. Best of luck!

Some of the best scenes of the movie:
1. Dalip Tahil’s first scene
2. Boman Irani’s entry
3. John’s entry
4. The first match of Southall in CCFL
5. John and Boman’s 10-min match played in the rains
6. John’s first day with Southall team
7. The intermission point in Manchester United Stadium (fantastic!)
8. The song ‘Billo Rani’
9. The climax

On the whole, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal is a fine sports-based movie which has all the elements required to make an entertaining flick. It also raises the issues of racism and patriotism. It would be loved by majority of the youngsters and football freaks in the country. It will also be appreciated overseas, especially by Indians living in UK. It is not outstanding as Chak De! India and Lagaan, but it is surely a good entertaining, timepass flick for this weekend!

My rating-*** out of 5

Related posts:

1. Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal: Movie Preview
2. Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal: Movie Review by Gaurav
3. Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (2007)
4. Bollywood’s next big releases
5. When not playing ball, am running after Bips: John