The big game.

Set during the Kargil War of 1999, Stumped (2003) focuses largely on a group of characters who are more concerned about the 1999 Cricket World Cup. This is a movie with a message, and it presents that message with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the toes.

Major Raghav (Alyy Khan) and his wife Reena (Raveena Tandon) live in a neighborhood full of charming eccentrics, though the charm level varies from person to person. Swadesh Deshpande and Ranga Khetrapal (Viju Khote and Anjan Srivastav) are the most cricket obsessed men in a neighborhood of obsessive cricket fans, so much so that Khetrapal spends most of the movie dressed in a replica Indian team uniform. Subramaniam (Suresh Menon) is a grouchy Communist who decries cricket as “the opium of the masses.” Llatu Singh (Amrit Pal) refuses to buy a television because he wants his son to actually play sports, rather than just watching them. Girish (Armin Gazi) is an awkward teenager looking for an older woman to initiate him into the mysteries of love, and he has his eye on Reena. Baba (Vallabh Vyas) is a blind holy man who drops by every now and then to foreshadow and to underline the movie’s message. And the watchman, Dukhiram (Mac Mohan) wants people to stop bothering him so he can take a nap.

Most of the movie revolves around the neighborhood eccentrics being eccentric in a manner which befits their various eccentricities; it’s like Northern Exposure, only with more cricket jokes. Reena, on the other hand, has an actual plotline. Raghav is deployed to the front, and Reena puts on the bravest face she can, distracting herself by enlisting a confused but eager Girish to help her paint the front room. The brave face cracks on the eve of the big India-Pakistan match, however, when Raghav is reported missing and probably dead.

As mentioned earlier, this is definitely a movie with a message; the back of the DVD cover proudly proclaims that “Stumped is a story whose time has come.” And while the film is not subtle about sharing the message that cricket is not as important as our boys on the front line, fighting to defend the nation, it’s not as dogmatic as it could be. Even though everyone has learned a valuable lesson, in the end they’re still able to enjoy cricket. They’ve just gained a little perspective.

Reena’s story is tightly focused, and perhaps a little rushed, with Reena transforming from soldier’s brave wife to grieving widow who can no longer function in society literally overnight. The rest of the movie, however, is an unfocused collection of incidents. The movie can’t even decide whether or not it has a narrator, and if so, which character gets to narrate. On the other hand, some of the incidents are entertaining, and the completely gratuitous booty-shaking item number features Salman Khan rather than the expected scantily clad starlet.

Stumped is far from perfect, but it’s certainly well intentioned, and frequently entertaining.