Sardar Udham review: Shoojit Sircar and Vicky Kaushal create a magnificent portrait of the freedom fighter

3/5

A young Sardar Udham (Vicky Kaushal) was deeply scarred by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Thus, he escapes into the mountains of Afghanistan and reaches London in 1933-34. Thereon, Sardar Udham spends the most decisive six years of his life, reigniting the revolution. After a 21-year-long wait, on March 13, 1940, he assassinated Michael O'Dwyer.

It was 15 years back when I first heard about Sardar Udham Singh in Rang De Basanti. If you don't remember, it's Kirron Kher's character who tells Aamir Khan and the gang about Udham Singh, the revolutionary who went to London and assassinated the former lieutenant governor of Punjab, Michael O'Dwyer in 1919. Before Vicky Kaushal emulated him on screen, Raj Babbar (Shaheed Udham Singh) and Parikshat Sahni (Jallian Wala Bagh) brought to life the story of this historical figure.

Sardar Udham, directed by Shoojit Sircar, is a movie that has been 20 years in the making. In these two decades, the screentime of Bollywood films has decreased significantly, and filmmakers sum up their stories in a shorter period. But that's not the case with Sardar Udham, the film is two hours 42 minutes long which seems like a stretch, but it's not.

Sardar Udham is divided into three parts - the assassination of O'Dwyer, how it happened, as in the whole planning and why it happened, the incident of Jallianwala Bagh massacre which triggered the revolutionary to take this drastic step. Kudos to the editor Chandrashekhar Prajapati for cutting the film in this way, and making it more surprising.

Talking about the first part, it doesn't take much time to establish that O'Dwyer has been assassinated. Sircar, who is known for showing the shocking instances most subtly, does the same with Sardar Udham too; just like how he showed Shiuli Iyer (Banita Sandhu) slipping off from a top floor of a building in October or how Piku (Deepika Padukone) gets to know her dad (Amitabh Bachchan) passed away in his sleep.

The film’s pace drops in the second part, with elaborated sequences, and Kaushal shining in every frame. Writers Ritesh Shah (who also penned the dialogues) and Shubhendu Bhattacharya go precise on their narrative, and press upon every sequence whether it is important or not. Sardar Udham has a very documentary approach that could have been a drawback but works well here.

The last hour of the film will leave one disturbed to another level. I do not know of any film that shows the brutality of Jallianwala Bagh in a way that Sardar Udham has. With every passing minute, your patience will be tested just like Udham's was. Had it been in theatres, there would have been a pin-drop silence and constant gasping as the sequence progressed. Sardar Udham has the most dialogues in its first two hours, while the final hour is just the haunting silence that picks up the lost pace.

Like this silence is the hauntingly beautiful cinematography, brilliantly done by Avik Mukhopadhyay. Every frame be it the sequences of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Udham in Russia and London is tight and aesthetically appealing making the film all the more pleasing to watch. Even the costumes by Veera Kapur Ee stand out and show how well-researched the film is in every aspect.

Sardar Udham doesn't have any songs to create a break in the momentum, but the background music by Shantanu Moitra blends bewitchingly with the cinematography.

Sircar knows his craft and has shown his versatility in lighter films like Vicky Donor, Piku and Gulabo Sitabo, and with hard-hitting subjects in Madras Cafe. But with Sardar Udham, the filmmaker has moved forward in leaps and bounds. The outcome shows the vision he kept in with him for 20 years and it has come alive successfully.

Coming to performances, Kaushal is hands down the man of the hour! The actor left no stone unturned in getting into the skin of Sardar Udham, be it in his body language, dialogue delivery and also by looking the part effortlessly. The actor even changes his physique from a young Sardar Udham to a man who has been waiting for more than a decade to seek revenge from O'Dwyer. He is just a treat to watch in the courtroom and Jallianwala Bagh sequence. It's commendable but knowing that he is among the best in the current generation of actors, nothing less can be expected from him.

Shaun Scott as Michael O'Dwyer does his part amazingly, so does Andrew Havill as General Reginald Dyer. Banita Sandhu as Reshma and Kirsty Averton as Eileen in their limited screen time are just fine. On the other hand, Amol Parashar as Shaheed Bhagat Singh does a great job in his extended cameo appearance.

Barring the slow pace amid the film, Sardar Udham is a brilliant watch and would be great if you catch it on a huge television screen or a home theatre.

If Vicky Kaushal is the art, Shoojit Sircar is the magnificent artist of Sardar Udham with beautiful brushstrokes by writers Ritesh Shah, Shubhendu Bhattacharya, cinematographer Avik Mukhopadhyay and editor Chandrashekhar Prajapati.