Jersey

Year: 2022

Actors: Shahid Kapoor, Mrunal Thakur

Duration: 170 min

Jersey is about a cricketer who quits cricket initially but decides to revive his career at the age of 36 for his son's dream and to eventually prove his ability. In 1985/86 Arjun (Shahid Kapoor) played Duleep Trophy, and was considered the best batsman of his time with 106 half centuries, 52 centuries and 9 doubles. Arjun dated Vidya Rao (Mrunal Thakur). Vidya lives with Krishna Rao (Vinay Varma), her father, who is opposed to her marriage to Arjun. Vidya elopes with Arjun, against the wishes of her father.But 10 yrs later, life has taken a different turn and Arjun lives with his wife Vidya in a small apartment, with son Ketan. The glory days are far behind. Ketan goes for cricket practice daily. He wants a Indian cricket team jersey as a birthday gift. Baali (Pankaj Kapur), Arjun's coach is a big fan of Arjun and considers Arjun the best first class cricketer produced by Punjab ever. He offers Arjun the assistant coach position, but Arjun says he is done with cricket. 10 yrs ago, Arjun was 26 and at the peak of his skills, when he was overlooked 2 yrs in a row for selection into the Indian cricket team. Baali had counseled him that selection is also about money and politics and Arjun needed to be patient, but Arjun refused to give another yr to this quest.Reality hits when Arjun does not have rs 500 to buy the Indian team jersey for Ketan. Arjun is currently suspended from his job (at FCI) and Vidya is the only earning member of the family (she works at a hotel). Vidya had given rs 100 to Arjun to pay the electricity bill, but he gambled it away with his friends, in the hope of winning rs 500. Vidya is mad since rent is overdue for 3 months and Ketan's school fees also hasn't been paid. She feels Arjun is irresponsible. 2 yrs ago there was a corruption scam at FCI and Arjun's name came in inquiry and he was suspended. The lawyer wants Rs 50,000 to settle the case and re-instate Arjun to his job. Amrit (Anjum Batra) is Arjun's only friend.Amrit and Arjun try all possible avenues, but cant arrange rs 500. Baali tells Arjun that he has convinced the board to play Arjun in a charity match between Punjab Cricket Association and the visiting New Zealand team. Punjab was a batsman short, and since it was a charity match, the board agreed. Arjun agrees since the match pays rs 1000. New Zealand score a mammoth 331/8 in 50 overs. Arjun is sent in when half the side was lost and the game was out of grasp. Arjun hits a century, but Punjab loses by 2 runs, when the rest of the side is bowled out by NZ. The NZ captain applauds Arjun's innings. Arjun is livid when Baali tells him that his entire match fee was also donated to charity. Arjun fails to get the jersey for Ketan.Arjun tries to steal Vidya's jewelry, but she catches him. Vidya accuses him of running away, first from cricket and then from his job. Arjun realizes his mistake and goes back to Baali. But he says he wants to be a player and not the assistant coach. First up is selections for Delhi Ranji team, but their coach Amarnath Ratti wont even let Arjun try out in the nets. In a meeting with Mumbai Coach Mahesh Karmarkar (Rituraj Singh), Amarnath praises Arjun and says that he had an impeccable record 10 yrs ago and even played very well in the charity match with NZ. Karmarkar is skeptical, but Amarnath persuades him to give Arjun a chance. But Arjun's Punjab teammates hide his glove, and Arjun is kicked off the nets by Karmarkar, as he feels Arjun is not serious about his game.Jasleen Shergil (Geetika Mehandru) is a girlfriend of one of the players and is following Arjun closely. She publishes an article on Arjun's innings against NZ and this leads to a lot of debate in the Ranji selection meeting. Eventually Arjun is selected in the list of 35 probables. After a month of training, Arjun makes it to the final playing list of 15 team members for the Punjab Ranji team. The first match is against Himachal. Punjab is batting first and the ball is swinging. 3 down and everyone tells Arjun to defend, but he hits his first 3 balls for sixes. Arjun ends up hitting a century. Arjun ends up hitting a double century and Punja wins the match. Arjun's dream run continues as Punjab notches up victories and reaches the league stage by defeating Haryana and Delhi.National selectors take notice as Punjab make it to the semi finals on the back of Arjun's performances. In the semi final Arjun scores a triple century against Mumbai. He feels dizzy and is admitted to the hospital. Vidya wants Arjun to give up his impractical dream and come back to his family. She asks Arjun to chose between cricket and his family. Arjun comes back home. Ketan makes Arjun realize that now Arjun is his hero (Ketan replaced his Sachin Tendulkar poster with Arjun's picture from the papers). Arjun decides that he cannot live like this and tells Vidya that he is going back to play in the finals. Vidya relents and gets him a plane ticket1996/97 and the Ranji final is between Punjab and Karnataka. Karnataka score 454/6 and declare. Karnataka has a fearsome fast bowler Gowda who bounces Punjab out. Punjab is soon 45/4. Arjun goes for a duck and Punjab is all out for a measly score. Karnataka scores 157 in their second innings. Punjab needs to score 352 runs in 47 overs to win, else Karnataka will be declared champions. Arjun goes in to open the innings. After ducking the first 3 balls, Arjun gets back into scoring boundaries at will. Punjab score 80 runs in 10 overs. Arjun scores a century as Punjab reach 216/2 in 25 overs. Arjun starts getting tired and out of breath. Punjab need 36 in 12 balls and have one wicket left, with Arjun still on the crease. 14 off 6, as Arjun is gotten off strike. Arjun gets on strike on the 3rd ball of the final over. 13 from 3 required. 4, 6, 3, as Punjab win by 1 wicket.Later he is submitted into the Indian cricket team. Soon later (2 days after the finals) he dies of a heart failure which his family soon learns that he knew 10 years before he died. This was the reason he left cricket at the age of 26. Jasleen writes a book on Arjun, Jersey, which goes on to be a bestseller.

Genre: Action   Drama   Sport