India, June 4 -- What do you get when you mix The Karate Kid with Dangal and Lagaan? Peddi. At least on paper. In execution, it feels like a patchwork of familiar sports-movie beats, borrowing generously from it's inspirations while leaving behind the excitement and emotional connect that made them work.

Directed by Buchi Babu, the story revolves around Peddi (Ram Charan) a talented cricketer from a lower-caste community in a neglected village, long denied a railway station. Frustrated by years of apathy from the government, he decides to put his village on the national map by winning a national wrestling championship. But when fate doesn't help, Peddi's journey takes an unexpected turn. What follows forms the crux.

What starts as an in...