A man who faced one adversary after another with an undying spirit. His unwavering zeal and never give up attitude led to India's first individual gold medal in any form of the Olympics.
"Chottu Tiger," an absolutely terrific true story of a man who has lived possibly the most incredible life unknown to the world. An unbelievable tale of a man who kept bouncing back from one adversity after another with grit, determination and undying spirit. From wrestling in the rustic interiors of Maharashtra as a teenager, to representing India at the prestigious International Services Meet held in Tokyo, to fighting a War against Pakistan and getting disabled in that, to finally making it to the Grand Munich Olympics of 1972 and facing the Black September Terrorist attack.
In 2017 an old man enters a police station asking Inspector Sachin Kamble to lodge a complaint against presidents of India for not honoring him with Arjuna award over the years .The cops think he is crazy but he revels his identity as Murlikanth Petkar who represented India in the first Paralympics and also served as an army officer to India in 1965 war against Pakistan.Murli since childhood lived with a dream of winning a gold medal for India.But today he is a forgotten hero and wishes to be honored with Arjuna award not for himself but for development of his village.—[email protected]
2017: An aged Murlikant Petkar (Kartik Aaryan) arrives at a local police station, saying that he wants to file a complaint against the President of India for not being awarded the Arjuna Award for his achievements. Murli laments that he has waited patiently for an award for 40 years and now has had enough.He adds that him winning the award would help in the development of his village. He argues that a neighboring village resident received a literary award and since then saw tremendous progress, but his village no light, no water or public toilets. When questioned by Inspector Sachin Kamble (Shreyas Talpade) about his eligibility, he recounts his remarkable journey:
1952: Murlikant grows up in a small village called Peth Islampur in Maharashtra. KD Jadhav returned from the 1952 Helsinki Olympics after winning a Bronze medal in wrestling. Murli was at a station with his brother Jagannath (Aniruddh Dave) to welcome the wrestler back home. Murli and Jagan stay with their parents' father (Nitin Bhajan) and mother (Hemangi Kavi) is relative poverty.At a young age, he develops the ambition to win an Olympic gold medal for India, for which he is mocked and made fun of by his classmates and also scolded by his father. His class names him "Chandu Champion" or "Loser Champion". Jagan tells Murli that to be a champion he would need to work very hard.Murli joins the wrestling arena of Ganpat Bhau (Ganesh Yadav). Ganpat admits Murli after seeing his passion and determination to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics. Murli starts building his muscle strength and stamina.
Ganpat wanted a wrestler to lose a fight against his brother-in-law Nana Bhai's (Digvijay Rohitdas) son Daggu (Amit Kumar). Ganpat selects Murli for the fight as he is a novice and still doesn't know the techniques of wrestling. But on the day of the match, Murli's father takes him to school for his results. He stipulates that Murli can only wrestle if he passes his exams. Murli had failed again but runs away from school to attend his first wrestling match.Murli was inspired when the crowd threw money into the arena for the winner and beats Daggu. Nana takes this as an insult and goes after Murli's life.
Jagan asks Murli to run away from home to save his life. Murli boards a moving train to escape his pursuers and meets Garnail Singh (Bhuvan Arora). The train reaches Poona, where Garnail asks Murli to join the Army as the best route to the Olympics. Gurnail himself is an Army boxer.
Murli joins the Indian Army Corps of EME in Secunderabad. Major Uttam Singh (Yashpal Sharma) is Murli's training officer. Uttam finds out that Murli's ambition is to win a Gold Medal for India at the Olympics. He says that Wrestling is not taught in the Army and suggests that Murli take up boxing instead. Uttam connects Murli to Tiger Ali, who becomes Murli's coach.Tiger accepts Murli as a trainee when Murli manages to land a punch on Tiger's best boxer on his first day in the gym. Tiger trains Murli relentlessly.In the army he is selected and trained as a boxer. He is selected to represent India in boxing at the International Services Sports Meet 1964 in Tokyo (Winning this tournament would give Murli a direct entry to the Mexico Olympics). Murli meets Journalist Nayantara (Bhagyashri Borse) is Japan, who was covering the tournament.Murli does well in the tournament as he breezes through the preliminary rounds. Murli was more focused on Nayantara having lunch with the reigning champion, the boxer from Turkey, who had also beaten Garnail in the preliminary rounds. The Turkish boxer made fun of Murli when he used fork and knife to impress Nayantara and ended up breaking the plate itself. In the bout, Murli was fighting to impress Nayantara and to take revenge on the boxer from Turkey. Tiger helps to focus Murli, who beats the Turkish boxer in a knockout.
Instead of studying his next opponent, Murli goes for a TV interview with Nayantara.His final match is with a ferocious fighter from Uganda, but Murli is more focused on watching Nayantara, instead of his opponent. As a result, Murli is knocked out.Disappointed at his losing in spite of his potential, his coach Tiger Ali (Vijay Raaz) refuses to train him further, even though Murli was selected for the Asian Games as the #1 boxer in Asia.
1965: Their unit is involved in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, in which their camp in Kashmir comes under air attack. He is injured severely, with a bullet injuring his spine, rendering him a paraplegic. Garnail died in the attack.He is admitted to an infirmary for the war wounded, where he was unconscious for 2 years. He regains consciousness in 1967 in Udhampur. The doctor (Jagat Rawat) says that a bullet is still lodged in his spine, and sends Murli to INS Asvini in Bombay for this delicate surgery. Here Murli meets Topaz (Rajpal Yadav) hospital ward boy. The nurse (Dilnaz Irani) takes good care of Murli. Murli undergoes surgery, but the bullet could not be removed without causing further damage.Murli needs full time attendant care as he doesn't even have bladder control. Jagan tells Murli to stay with the army and not return home.Depressed at his condition and that he can never win an Olympic Gold, he has given up on life and attempts suicide. But Murli vomits the sleeping pills and survives. He learns from Topaz that he won the lottery as well. Murli decides that God doesn't want him gone yet, as he didn't die from Nana's men, from the 9 bullets he took or from 30 sleeping pills he ingested.Murli starts swimming to build his upper body strength.
1972: His former coach Tiger Ali visits him in the infirmary and inspires him to compete in the Paralympics. He trains hard and qualifies for the 1972 Summer Paralympics in the 50 m freestyle swimming event in Munich. While he is there, the Palestinian terrorist attack on Olympics takes place and 11 athletes are killed, due to which the Paralympics is shifted to a different venue at Heidelberg. Due to this shift, Murli's records from the Paralympics never reached India.At the new venue, he is successful in progressing through the multiple heats and ultimately wins the Gold Medal, setting a new World record. Once news reaches his village, he becomes a celebrity and is welcomed back by the villagers with great fanfare.
2017: However, his achievements are forgotten over the years. The police inspector is impressed by his story but still suspicious about its authenticity. He contacts a journalist (Sonali Kulkarni) to write an article about him. Upon reading the article as well as receiving Petkar's application for the Arjuna Award, he is visited by a senior government official, who tells him that the Arjuna Award is too small an award for his achievements, and the government has instead decided to award him the Padma Shri.
2018: On 20 March, he received the Padma Shri from the President of India.
It is narrated at the end that the inspiring story of Murlikant Petkar is a fruitful and befitting reply to all ups and down in life, crossing all obstacles, each and every mocking and every fun made of, with the dialogue by Murli, "Why are you laughing?"
