Months after the release of Kartik Aaryan's critically acclaimed film Chandu Champion, Olympic winner Manu Bhaker heaped praise on the actor as well as the film. Manu shared a picture of herself on her Instagram stories in which she can be seen watching the film at home. In the caption, Manu wrote, "Finally the Olympics have ended and I saw Chandu Champion as soon as I got home and this film turned out much more relatable than I thought. The prep, struggles, failure but never giving up... Hats off to Kartik Aaryan for playing this role so effortlessly. Being an athlete myself, I know it's not easy... Especially the prep sequence... You deserve a medal for this!!" FYI, Manu Bhaker won two bronze medals in the women's 10 metre air pistol event and the mixed 10 metre air pistol team event respectively at the Olympics 2024.
Re-sharing the story on his Instagram post, Kartik wrote, "Wow!! Thank you. These are the moments I will always cherish, when a real champion like you showers praise on our labour of love! Chandu Champion love and respect for making every Indian proud."
Celebrities like Kapil Dev, Shabana Azmi, Shatrughan Sinha and others, earlier, praised Kartik Aaryan's performance in the film. Speaking to Zoom, Shatrughan Sinha said, "What a sincere hardworking boy! Kartik deserves all the success he is getting. He is so dedicated and passionate in Chandu Champion. Ek junoon hai uss bachche mein. [There's a passion in that child.] Please convey my congratulations to him." Shatrughan Sinha also mentioned that Kartik should be awarded a National Award for his performance. He added, "He should get all the awards for this including the National award."
Chandu Champion, directed by Kabir Khan and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, also features Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, Shreyas Talpade, Sonali Kulkarni and Bhuvan Arora. The film, released on June 14, marked the first collaboration between director Kabir Khan and Kartik Aaryan. Kartik Aaryan will be next seen in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, alongside Triptii Dimri and Vidya Balan. The Anees Bazmee movie will be released on November 1.