‘SPOILER ALERT’

The movie opens at the semifinals of the Calcutta Sports Club Snooker Championship, 1994. The match is between K.K Burman and Toolsidas, who the announcer describes as everyone’s favourite. Toolsidas, accompanied by his two sons and wife, walks into the room, waving and smiling. The players shake it up and resume the game. Toolsidas plays eagerly, encouraged by the cheers and smiles of his youngest son, Midi. Toolsidas wins the game against Burman easily and whisks off Midi to stand beside the trophy. He promises that Midi will be the one to bring the trophy to him. Fellow members of the club draw near and invite Toolsidas to the bar for a drink. His wife frowns at this saying they have to be at a wedding soon, but Toolsidas promises to be back after just one drink. Toolsidas asks for ten minutes and asks his wife to wear a red sari, saying that she looks beautiful in it. The family leaves him at the club.

Back home, Goti, Toolsidas’ eldest son, begs his mother for 80 rupees, exempting himself from the wedding. He says he will visit the fun fiesta instead, where his friends are waiting for him. She gives him 30 rupees instead so he convinces Midi to request for 50 more rupees from her. Midi uses the words Goti taught him, saying that the wedding in view was not his, so as to get money from her. As they predicted, their mother gives Midi 30 rupees instead of 50. At the Fun Fiesta, Goti and Midi stop at a shooting booth. Goti asks for the betting rules after the attendant tells him about the normal rules. They have to make three clean shots to triple their price for the balloons, or five times the original amount for the nails. Goti bets his money and predicts his shots. He gets the first two but loses the third one, ignoring Midi’s warnings. He gives Midi the gun to try the next round and the latter goes for the nails.

Midi closes the first two shots and sees that the attendant cheated by not adding any bullet for the third shot. Midi exposes him by firing the gun at his head instead. When nothing happens, Goti takes the attendant’s money and cartons of juice as revenge. They hide the juice behind an idol and sneak into the house. Goti warns Midi not to say anything about the gambling. They find their mother seated quietly on the chair. Goti observes her and they realize that Toolsidas was not back from the club and they failed to attend the wedding. A call comes in from the club about Toolsidas’ wasted state. Goti refuses to go get him since his friends would be at the club. The wife cannot go because Toolsidas would make a scene if he saw her. Midi leaves without a word. He finds Toolsidas at the bar talking about the reason he plays the game with the club member from before. While taking him home, Toolsidas promises to get Midi long pants since he is now a man.

Midi reminds Toolsidas of the wedding and he seems surprised. His wife gets very angry when he gets home and scolds him at the top of her voice. Goti and Midi try to tell her that she’s too loud but she shuts them up. We then see the sleeping arrangements of the family when his wife is done scolding him. His wife sleeps in the kids room with Goti, while Midi sleeps next to his father in their room. The next day, His wife’s anger subsided. Midi peeks at his father getting the group picture with other players but he is interrupted by Goti. Goti tries to use Midi to make photocopies saying that the final tournament is not so important as their father would never win against Jimmy Tandon. Midi is optimistic that Toolsidas would win but Goti mocks him. On the drive back home, Toolsidas presents Midi his first ever long pants. He also learns the meaning of the word “ambition.”

At the finals, Midi wears the long pants Toolsidas gifted him. Goti does not attend the match. After the first three frames, Toolsidas leads with 3 points against Jimmy’s 1 point. There’s a fifteen minute break and Toolsidas leaves to use the washroom. Midi sneaks behind him and is relieved that Toolsidas does not enter the bar. However, on his way back from the washroom, Toolsidas answers Jimmy’s invitation to the bar and takes a couple of drinks, becoming drunk. He flunks the next frames and Jimmy wins, again. Toolsidas breaks the cue in anger, but Midi picks it up and takes it to Marker, Rehmat, the next day. He isn’t permitted to play at first but Tutu Bose convinces the market to allow him play. Jimmy Tandon comes in later and stops them, Tutu comes up with an idea and writes a permission letter to let Midi play every Friday. Midi is caught by Goti who convinces him to play either Cricket or Badminton to make money. Goti becomes his manager and enrolls him into a Cricket club but Midi cannot play the game. They try badminton next but Midi is bad at it.

Midi intends to put his father’s name on the championship board. Goti tries to make him get into horse racing but it is an equal disaster. Midi avoids Goti the next day and runs into the Snooker Club. Goti gets sent out because he is wearing slippers and Midi gets to play a game with Tutu but he is terrible at it. After three Fridays of attending Tutu’s games, Midi has gained nothing. Tutu fails his shot and refuses Midi’s assurance that he’s a good player. He tells Midi that great Snooker players are made at YMC. Midi convinces Goti to sponsor him to YMC. The experience at YMC Chowringee is awful with the “no talking” policy, so they opt for YMC Wellington. The environment is unfriendly for people of Goti and Midi’s age but they find the club. Goti doesn’t want Midi to play there but Midi insists. Goti gives in and gets the YMC form for Midi. He even gives him transportation money.

Midi is told to return in the morning to okay as senior players play in the evening. He bunks off school by acting sick and makes his way to YMC Wellington. He meets Salaam Bhai for the first time. Mohammed Salaam is one time India’s best National Champion in Snooker games. Midi plans to observe Salaam play and learn from him after one club member, Nandi, gets slapped when he asks Salaam to teach him. As Midi observes and learns, Salaam notices him and starts giving him tips. Although his game is not yet strong, impatient Goti takes Midi to a game which he flops at. Goti gets angry and withdraws his support for Midi. Midi has to get money for himself against all odds. He tries carrying luggage for people but Toolsidas sees this. His mother gives him money and Toolsidas assures him that he can take as much money as he wants from his pockets. Back at YMC Wellington, Midi asks Salaam why he always sleeps before every game. Salaam, who never spits out his betel leaf to talk to anyone, spits it out for Midi.

He encourages Midi to try it first. Midi tries it and is amazed. Midi tries to convince Salaam to teach him more but his persistent requests vex Salaam. The Marker rebukes Midi. Two players tease Midi by playing with his cue. He explains to them that the cue belongs to his father and that his father is a champion. They make fun of him until Salaam steps in and snatched the cue from their hands. He agrees to teach Midi every day from 11:00 am.  Salaam explains that it helps him focus more as the Snooker game is all about focus. Midi learns most of Salaam’s tricks. He learns to make a bum-per shot, the names of each cue ball according to their color, and the types of heroes in movies that demonstrate three types of power shots. First, the Bachan Saab shot for a Full Follow-through shot, then the Rajinikanth Saab shot for a solid shot, and then the Mithun Da where the hero pulls away after the shot. Salaam tells him he can play a frame after practicing for eight hours a day.

Midi’s joy is threatened when he learns that the family is traveling away to Darjeeling for the holidays. Midi gets angry and is unable to play but Salaam teaches him about anger and ego. Midi comes up with a plan and ends up staying back for extra lessons while the rest of his family travel to Darjeeling. He catches Goti red handed with a girl and blackmails him to leave for Darjeeling. He continues his lessons with Salaam once his family is out of the way. He gets into the Pinky problem because of his situation with Pia, his classmate. Salaam explains the need for confidence in women matters and Midi solves this problem after sharing a dance with Pia. On his way home from training, on the day his family is to return from Darjeeling, Midi loses his cue stick that he suffered to repair. He is sad and doesn’t feel the joy of his reunited family. Unlike he expected, Goti is not mad at him. Goti promises to get another cue for him.

Midi takes his dad’s form for the coming championship to the club and is unable to get one for himself. He goes to the bar to take his drunk father home when Toolsidas makes a drunk bet of 2,000 rupees and doesn’t even put any effort in winning the money. When Goti hears this, he gets mad and takes Midi back to the club. He makes Midi finish the game and win the money back. The president of the club also signs a championship form for Midi. Goti promises his support for Midi in the championship. Midi tries to go to YMC Wellington the next day but his mother grudgingly lets him go and trails him. She is stupefied to see where Midi has been frequenting and tries to take him away but Salaam stops her and begs her to let Midi fly. She lets him go as per Salaam’s wish. Midi begs Salaam to come watch him play and he agrees to come for the finals, since Midi said it’ll improve his game.

The championship starts and Midi makes it through three rounds to the quarterfinals, even defeating Tutu Bose who is confused by Midi’s improvement. He wins a walkover with his next opponent, K.K Burman. Salaam is pissed by this because he would rather Midi played and lost than not play at all. He tutors Midi on Sportsmanship. For the semifinals, Midi is to play against his own father, Toolsidas Senior. After the fifteen minute break, Midi fails a shot with a black ball. Toolsidas shoots a foul so the game goes in Midi’s favour. Midi is pissed, thinking his dad intentionally lost, but Toolsidas explains that’s not the case. He also promises to keep his end of their bargain and stop drinking so that things can go back to normal in their family. For the finals, Midi is to face the tyrant Jimmy Tandon.

Midi makes sure Salaam gets a grand entry when he arrives and wins the first three rounds of the game. During the break, he sits beside Jimmy at the bar and advises the old man to drink Lemonade. This upsets Jimmy and he hurts Midi’s hand. For the next rounds, Jimmy has leveled up to Midi while the latter keeps struggling. Salaam notices this and demonstrates the use of the other hand to Midi before he leaves. Midi applies the trick to the final round and wins, ending a long winning streak of Jimmy Tandon. Toolsidas is shocked by everything. Midi runs all the way to YMC Wellington to hug Salaam and inform him that he won. Toolsidas Senior takes home the trophy for the first time. The End.