CHANDU CHAMPION: The incredible story of India’s first Paralympic gold medalist

By

Sharada Iyer

How many of us have heard the name of Murlikant Petkar? He was the first Indian to win a gold medal for India in the Paralympics held in Heidelberg, Germany in 1972! He won the gold medal in 50m freestyle swimming and set a new world record that year. Not many are unfortunately aware of his name or his achievements and with the passage of time his inspiring tale and the glory he brought to India somehow became relegated to the background. This film is a touching tribute to this Titan of India!

This is the story of remarkable human grit and unbelievable perseverance and witnessing it unravel on screen is indeed a rare experience. After watching his heartwarming journey, the one question we will ask ourselves is how was it possible for a human being to have had so much relentless faith and determination to overcome all those seemingly insurmountable obstacles that destiny threw at him at every step in his life but he never gave up in his pursuit of fulfilling his childhood dream?

Born in the year 1944 in a small village in Sangli, Maharashtra, Mumbai, young Murli witnesses the return of an Olympic bronze medalist in his village and the kind of welcome, love and appreciation he gets from the villagers inspires him to start dreaming of becoming an Olympic champion one day and bring home a gold medal for India. And thus starts the mindboggling journey of this young boy to work towards his goal.

Everyone in the village makes fun of him and his dreams and calls him ‘Chandu’ (loser). The little boy is angered by this and gets into fight with his classmates but his elder brother who stands by him and believes in him advises him to find a way to accomplish what he aims to get and not just get angry. He joins the village wrestling ‘akhada’ and though he is not taken seriously and given only odd jobs to perform, he decides he will become a wrestler and compete in the games.

As is the case with most of the families, the father is dead against his dreams and even slaps him for not only failing in his exams but also for his sheer audacity to harbor such far-fetched ambitions. Not one to easily give up, he soon becomes the village champion but circumstances turn against him and he is forced to run away from his village to save his life otherwise he would have been killed.

In the train he meets Garnail Singh, who becomes his close friend and advises him to join the Army where he can be selected and get a chance to play in the Services sports meet. Here he meets his coach Tiger Ali who becomes his mentor and starts training him in boxing. For a while everything is going fine but due to some quirk of fate he gets distracted from his goal for a while, and does not win the finals held in Tokyo and there is tremendous disappointment. Now Tiger Ali refuses to be his coach and gives him a dressing down for taking the championships so lightly.

There is so much more to happen in his life which would change his destiny forever. The Indo-Pak war of 1965 results in him getting nine bullets in his body during a horrific aerial encounter by the enemy on their camp. One of the bullets gets lodged in his spine rendering him paraplegic. Shattered and depressed he feels his very soul has been sucked out of him.

He manages to find his courage back and through a series of remarkable incidents, he is selected to represent India in the Paralympic games being held in Munich, Germany. But once again disaster strikes in the form of a terror attack due to which the games are cancelled. The venue is then changed and finally, at the Summer Paralympics in Heidelberg, Germany, he fulfills his childhood dream of winning a gold medal for India!

From Wrestling to Boxing to Swimming, the sport he chose may have changed to suit the circumstances in his life, but this never distracted him from his relentless passion of winning. Why did he have to flee the village to save his life? What distracted him from winning in the wrestling finals in Tokyo? What happened when he found out that he would be a paraplegic for the rest of his life? What made him choose swimming and how did he get back his courage? Find out all these details while watching this incredible man’s journey.

The director and the cinematographer get credit for the brilliantly shot wrestling, boxing, and swimming championship scenes. As audience we can feel the palpable excitement and thrill as we become spectators watching these authentically captured moments. There is a twist at every step in his life and nothing comes easy for him.

In the role of Murlikant Petkar, Karthik Aryan does full justice in bringing to life this champion’s saga clinching all the physical and emotional aspects. He aces all the fight sequences whether wrestling or boxing or swimming and has given his 100% to the role. In the emotional scenes also, he is very good. Vijay Raaz is faultless in the role of the coach Tiger Ali, and his brilliance shines through in every scene.

Bhuvan Arora plays Garnail Singh- Karthik Aryan’s best friend, and his screen presence is endearing.  He breathes so much life into his character. Both the child artiste and the adult actor who play Murli’s elder brother are good. The actors playing Karthik’s parents are cast well. The child actor Ayan Khan who played young Chandu Champion is also brilliant. Actors Brijendra Kala and Rajpal Yadav are perfect in their small roles. Among the songs ‘Sarphira…’ written by Kausar Munir stands out.

At the end it was heartening to see the audience in the cinema hall clapping for this courageous soul especially in the scene when the real-life Murlikant Petkar is shown receiving Padma Shri from the President of India.

For undertaking the Herculean task of bringing to life this forgotten hero’s untold story on celluloid, director Kabir Khan and his team deserve special credit. The film is bound to move the viewers in every which way.  Meticulously researched, painstakingly crafted, and superbly directed, the film is both emotionally and mentally uplifting, and is a lesson on human resilience that needs to be seen by one and all.