Selection Day review: Netflix’s unconventional cricket drama is a must watch!

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Indians are obsessed with cricket. Generally, the kids are the ones who struggle to convince their parents to allow them to pursue cricket as a career. But in Selection Day, it is the father who is obsessed with making his two sons the best batsmen in the world – so much so that he calls them as Champion No. 1 and Champion No. 2 instead of their real names. Based on Aravind Adiga’s novel of the same name, Selection Day is an unconventional cricket drama. It avoids the clichés of a sports drama and focuses more on the inner and interpersonal conflict of characters.

The trio of father and sons come to Mumbai to get picked up by a school that has a cricket team so that they can apply for the Mumbai cricket team selection. Their rejections bring them to Weinberg Academy which is also struggling for funds and a win in the Harris Shield, a local cricket tournament in Mumbai. The cricket coach of the academy, who had given up coaching, spots the talent of the two boys at Shivaji Park during a stroll with his wife and gets them enrolled at Weinberg.

The journey of the trio begins and many layers and secrets of their relationship begin to unfold. Manjunath (Champion No. 2) doesn’t like cricket yet he’s playing it courtesy the tyranny of his father. Manju wants to become a scientist. Radha (Champion No. 1) is claimed by his father to become a better player than Sachin Tendulkar.

Watch the Selection Day trailer here:

Mohammad Samad (Tumbbad) and Yash Dholye as the two brothers (Manjunath and Radhakrishna) give a sincere performance. Karanvir Malhotra as the troublesome rich brat Javed Ansari has done justice to his layered character. Rajesh Tailang whom you must have adored as a cop in Delhi Crime plays the tyrant, manipulative and unlikeable father here. He’s too good as the bad guy. The effortless Ratna Pathak Shah as the Weinberg Academy’s head Nellie is a treat to watch. After a long time, Mahesh Manjrekar is seen in a refreshing role of the cricket coach Tommy Sir.

Netflix and other OTT platforms have given the Indian filmmakers and content creators the much-needed space and opportunity to tell authentic stories. Here (like Sacred Games), Maharashtrians speak nuanced Marathi, unlike in a mainstream Hindi film that would ridiculously mix languages for a wider audience to understand. Personally, I would rather read subtitles than listen to shabbily mixed languages in dialogues. The digital world has enabled storytellers to tell multilingual stories without compromising on the vision.

I haven’t read the novel by Aravind Adiga but the series is smartly written by Marston Bloom (Hindi dialogue by Sumit Arora) and finely executed by directors Udayan Prasad and Karan Boolani. Soumik Mukherjee has filmed Mumbai and maidan cricket with a fresh vision. Shashwat Sachdev’s (Uri: The Surgical Strike, Veere Di Wedding) music too avoids the sports drama clichés and the signature tune keeps playing in the head.

It seems like Selection Day was shot completely in one go and then divided into 12 episodes across two seasons. One might argue whether it could have been made into a feature-length film but a show is better. Feature films in India are limiting. And if the end of part 2 is any indication, I would be looking forward to Selection Day part 3.