''Breakaway'' is a 2011

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Robert Lieberman Robert Lieberman (July 16, 1947 – July 1, 2023) was an American film and television director. Career Lieberman was the founder of the commercial production company Harmony Pictures and directed close to two thousand commercials. He received ...

, and produced by

Akshay Kumar Akshay Hari Om Bhatia (born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia; 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian actor and film producer working in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as "Khiladi Kumar", through his career span ...

and

Paul Gross Paul Michael Gross (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, film and television director, screenwriter, playwright, and producer. He rose to fame for his lead role as RCMP Constable Benton Fraser on the popular Canadian television series '' ...

. The film stars Vinay Virmani in his debut performance opposite

Camilla Belle Camilla Belle Routh (born October 2, 1986), known professionally as Camilla Belle, is an American actress. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Belle began her acting career with appearances in numerous television commercials before land ...

, with

Rob Lowe Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and entertainment host. Following numerous television roles in the early 1980s, he came to prominence as a teen idol and member of the Brat Pack with starring roles in ...

Russell Peters Russell Dominic Peters (born 29 September 1970) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, and producer. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and won a Gemini Award in 2008. In 2013, he was number three on ''Forbes'' Forbes Celebrity 100, list o ...

and

Anupam Kher Anupam Kher (born 7 March 1955) is an Indian actor, director and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, he has acted in more than 540 films. A veteran of Indian cinema, Kher is recipient of two Na ...

in pivotal roles. It also features

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

and

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, spoken as "ludicrous" in American English), is an American rapper and songwriter. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at age ...

in cameo roles. In addition, this was the last film directed by Lieberman before his death in July 2023. The film also contains songs in Hindi and Punjabi. The film was released on 23 September 2011 and received negative reviews. The film was released in India as ''Speedy Singhs'' and failed to sell many tickets in the Indian market. The story of the film is set in

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

. It is filmed in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Plot

Rajveer Singh (Vinay Virmani) is a college dropout who spends his spare time playing hockey with his friends. He and his father, Darvesh (

), both work at Darvesh's younger brother's trucking company, where Darvesh encourages Rajveer to take on more responsibility in order to one day take over the company. Rajveer is Sikh, but cut his hair after being bullied by kids as a child (which he personally regrets). This and his lack of commitment to the trucking company is a point of contention between him and his father. During a pick up game, Rajveer tries out for the Hammerheads (a league team) but despite being the best player on the ice, the coach gives him the cold shoulder. Feeling slighted, Rajveer decides to create a league team with his friends. Darvesh disapproves of the idea and forbids Rajveer from playing any more hockey, but Rajveer continues to play with his friends secretly, saying he's working more routes at the trucking company. He and his team eventually name themselves the "Speedy Singhs" and capture the attention of the hockey rink owner, Dan Winters (

) who agrees to coach them. They need a sponsor and recruit Rajveer's uncle Sammy (

Gurpreet Ghuggi Gurpreet Singh Waraich (born 19 June 1971), commonly known as Gurpreet Ghuggi, is an Indian actor, comedian and politician. He is known for his works in Punjabi and Hindi films. Ghuggi began his career by acting in theatre in the early 1990s, ...

) who keeps Rajveer's hockey playing a secret. While playing, Rajveer also starts dating Dan's younger sister, Melissa (

). Darvesh later figures out that Rajveer has been playing hockey and when a night out celebrating with the team ends poorly, Darvesh kicks Rajveer out of the house after an argument. Frustrated, Rajveer also ends up arguing with Dan, and quits the team. Though the Speedy Singhs make it to the finals against the Hammerheads without Rajveer, Melissa reveals that the Speedy Singhs must wear helmets, which they cannot do unless they remove their turbans. Inspired by the story of why Sikh men wear turbans, Rajveer obtains special helmets that will accommodate the team's turbans and pays for the legal fees to allow them. He apologizes to Dan and the Speedy Singhs for his selfishness and they accept him back. The day of the finals coincides with Rajveer's cousin Reena (

Noureen DeWulf Noureen DeWulf (née Ahmed) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles in '' West Bank Story'' (2005), ''Ghosts of Girlfriends Past'' (2009), and ''The Back-up Plan'' (2010). She also starred as Lacey on the sitcom ...

), and her fiancé, Sonu's (

) wedding. When Sonu thanks all the guests, he brings up how the Speedy Singhs have become a source of pride for the community and encourages everyone to attend the finals. Rajveer tries once again to express his passion for hockey to Darvesh, but he refuses to attend. The Speedy Singhs do well until the Hammerheads tie at the end of the third period, forcing overtime. Darvesh, after listening to the close game on the radio at the temple, arrives at the arena to show his support. Spurred by his father's arrival, Rajveer scores the winning goal and hugs Darvesh in the rink.

Cast

Special appearances (in alphabetical order);

Soundtrack

The head of Columbia Records India,

Sandeep Chowta Sandeep Chowta (born 1967 or 1968) is an Indian music director who primarily works in Hindi cinema and Telugu cinema. He is also the head of Columbia Records in India. He has also sung some of his songs. In 2003, he produced an anti substance ...

composed the music for ''Breakaway''. Including special features by RDB,

Jassi Sidhu Jassi Sidhu (born in Birmingham, United Kingdom) is a British Indians, British-Indian Bhangra (music), Bhangra singer and the former lead singer of Bhangra (music), bhangra music band, band B21 (band), B21. He split from the group, declaring th ...

Rishi Rich Productions Rishpal Singh Rekhi (Punjabi: ਰਿਸ਼ਪਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਰੈਖੀ, born 30 June 1976), better known by his stage name Rishi Rich, is a British-Indian music producer based in London. He began his career in the Asian Underground scene ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, J.Hind,

Sukshinder Shinda Sukshinder Shinda (born Sukshinder Singh Bhullar) is a British Indian playback singer-songwriter and bhangra record producer from Handsworth in Birmingham, England. He hails from Dhamai village in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, India. Sin ...

Jazzy B Jaswinder Singh Bains (born 1 April 1970), better known by his stage name Jazzy B, is an Indo-Canadian singer and songwriter of Punjabi music, he has also worked in Indian films mainly Punjabi and Hindi. Early life and career Jazzy B was ...

and

Malkit Singh Malkit Singh, MBE () (Malkit Singh Boparai; born c. 1963) is an England-based Punjabi bhangra singer. Born in Hussainpur and raised in Nakodar, he moved to Birmingham in 1984. Singh was the first Punjabi singer to be honoured with an MBE by Q ...

Track listing

Reception

''Breakaway'' received negative reviews from critics upon release.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reports a 20% approval rating, based on five reviews. At the Indian box office, the film opened poorly and subsequently failed to pick up over the weekend. The film then faced a further drop throughout the next few days worldwide and was declared a "disaster" by

Box Office India Box Office India is an Indian film website dedicated to tracking, reporting, and analyzing the financial performance of films released in the Hindi entertainment industry. Established in 2003, Box Office India has become a prominent source of ...

. The film was dubbed into Hindi and retitled as ''Speedy Singhs'', but opened to mostly negative reviews from Indian critics.

Taran Adarsh Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media, as well as his reviews for Bollywood Hungama. Career Taran Adarsh started his journ ...

from

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...

rated it as 1.5 out of 5 and said "''Speedy Singhs'' fails to deliver!"

Komal Nahta Komal Nahta (born 30 April 1964) is an Indian film trade analyst. Nahta is the publisher of "Film Information" and also a television show host. He is an anchor of the trade show ETC Bollywood Business on the Bollywood TV channels ETC and Zee Ci ...

gave it 1 out of 5 stars and claimed "If you want to watch a disaster version of ''

Chak De! India ''Chak De! India'' (transl. ''Let’s go! India'') is a 2007 Indian sports drama film directed by Shimit Amin and produced by Aditya Chopra under the Yash Raj Films banner. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan as Kabir Khan, a former captain of the ...

'', definitely watch ''Speedy Singhs''!"

References

External links

* {{Akshay Kumar 2011 films Films scored by Bohemia (rapper) Canadian sports comedy films Films about Indian Canadians Canadian ice hockey films Hari Om Entertainment films Viacom18 Studios films Films about Sikhism 2010s sports comedy films Films directed by Robert Lieberman Films about immigration in Canada 2011 comedy films Indian sports comedy films Indian ice hockey films 2010s English-language films English-language sports comedy films English-language Canadian films 2010s Canadian films English-language Indian films