Akshay Kumar, whom we last saw in Pad Man, returns to the big screen with Gold. A period sports drama, it is a fictional narrative of the machinations behind India's first gold medal win in Olympics as a free country. Naagin actress Mouni Roy makes her Bollywood debut with Gold, that also stars Kunal Kapoor, Amit Sadh, Vineet Kumar Singh and Sunny Kushal. Gold is directed by Reema Kagti and is produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani under the banner, Excel Entertainment. Our in-house critic Sreeju Sudhakaran is watching the movie and here's what he has to say about the first half -

"Gold begins the Indian hockey team winning the 1936 Olympics in Berlin in hockey with some motivation from Tapan Das (Akshay Kumar). But they are disappointed. They are playing for the British flag. Then the World War II happened, and the Olympics was held off for 8 years. When India is at the threshold of gaining independence, Tapan Das learns that Olympics is going to be reinstated and this would be an opportunity for the country to win the gold under Free India. But will it be an easy path for him? Afraid not.

The first half of Gold is more about Tapan's struggles in getting the team together. These portions have it's good and bad moments. Not just Akshay, even Amit Sadh, Sunny Kaushal, Vineet Kumar Singh get their scenes to shine. However, you can't help but draw comparisons with Chak De India. The movie reaches an interesting point, when the violence over partition happens and the team gets split. We are curious to know how Tapan will get back his Indian team and win the gold."

The movie is not over yet, so this is not the complete review. So come back here and get to know what our final views on Gold are.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 14, 2018 02:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).