Season 3 of Satyamev Jayate (SMJ) got off to a rousing start yesterday on Star Plus. And kicking off the proceedings this time was sports and the overall neglect (except cricket) it faces in this one billion plus populated country. There was no attempt made to indulge in unneeded jingoism nor was there a rabble rousing speech given highlighting the plight of sports in our country. Instead, host Aamir Khan chose a novel way to explain the importance and need to take up sports for one’s own benefit. ‘Get addicted to sports’ was the buzz word given and the guests chosen on the show were inspiring enough to make us realise that it’s important to ingrain the values of sportsperson for our own betterment. As critics, we found more positives than negatives in the opening episode. We list out the best five.
1. Sports is for everyone. No one has ever showcased the idea of sports transforming the lives of the underprivileged of the society. If sports can change a dreaded don, it can just about change any other commoner’s life. Team SMJ and Aamir Khan deserves kudos for earmarking such an idea and bringing it to life on screen with an apt title A Ball Can Change The World.
2. From Akhilesh Paul to Commonwealth Games gold medallists, Babita Kumari and Geeta Kumari, to nine-year-old golf champion Shubham Jaglan, SMJ smartly chose those whose stories would inspire viewers. Akhilesh’s transformation from a local thug to a football coach, Kumari sisters’ struggle to become wrestlers and Shubham’s prodigy at work surely made all of us realise the untapped sportsperson that still lurks inside us.
3. The moment when Kumar sisters father emphatically said, “If a woman can be India’s prime minister, there was no reason why my daughters can’t be wrestlers”.
4. Aamir Khan turned Being Human and comforted a sobbing Akhilesh with warm hugs and pats when the latter got nostalgic after remembering how he spent New Year’s eve with beggars whose leftovers he ate for dinner. As if on cue, Aamir immediately got up the moment he saw tears welling up in Akhilesh’s eyes. What followed next was a warm hug straight out of a Bollywood potboiler. Thankfully, Khan fought back his tears and kept the episode less melodramatic.
5. Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar and badminton ace Saina Nehwal lending their active support for the cause of sports and its development in the country.
So did you all like the first episode of Satyamev Jayate season 3? Let us know in the comment section below.