Sardar Udham

Rarely felt like this to a movie. Best bollywood movie i have seen since i dont remember the last i watched. Last 45 minutes took away my sense of clock ticking away. F.......g brilliant.

Shoojit Sircar delivers yet another nuanced, offbeat yet impactful cinema experience after Vicky Donor (2012), Madras Cafe (2013) and Piku (2015) in Udham Singh, riding on an immense performance from Vicky Kaushal.

The biopic tells us the relatively unknown tale of Shaheed-i-Azam ('greatest of martyrs') Sardar Udham Singh, who gunned down one of the perpetrators of the Jalianwala Bagh massacre, Michael O'Dwyer, audaciously in the center of London.

A harrowing character portrayal of a man scarred by the massacre of his people, Vicky Kaushal delves deep into the anguish, the motivations and the resolve of the legendary freedom fighter, portraying each stage of his life with dignified conviction.

A story that would be unbelievable if it were not true, the film shows us the steely determination of a freedom fighter hell bent on revenge, who embarks on a perilous journey through Afghanistan and USSR to strike at his enemy's heart in London.

The film never meanders to jingoistic levels instead quietly yet profoundly putting across the messages of freedom and equality propagated by Udham and a fantastic Amol Parashar who essays the role of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

Director Sircar has taken an unconventional non-linear narrative style, a format rarely used in nationalistic films. He leverages it to astutely put across not just the freedom fighter's perspectives but that also of the British administration.

While the British officers are often portrayed as evil, maniacal tropes in most freedom fighter movies, Sircar again refuses to follow the norm. Shaun Scott is terrific as the banal, even dispassionate Michael O'Dwyer while Stephen Hogan is impactful as the detective charged with extracting Udham's confession.

Sardar Udham is a firm reminder that our country's freedom was won by a group of men and women who were made of sterner stuff, who sacrificed everything for their motherland.

The film, at 2 hours and 42 minutes will require a patient watch. But I promise you, the experience is well worth it. Recommended!

After watching the brutal and heart-wrenching visuals of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, I can't review this film. And yes, India is yet to receive an official apology from the British Government for the same.

That's it.

Available on Amazon Prime Video.

This movie is a masterpiece. Loved that it presented the true facts and was not altered for the sake of commercialism. The last half an hour of the movie is heart wrenching. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre left a deep impact on the entire nation. The movie feels a bit stretched in between as the scenes keep ping ponging between present and the flashback. Vicky Kaushal gives his best performance. This movie deserves an Oscar nomination.

This is a story that will make your blood boil, regardless of where you reside, your home soil; as injustice and terror and slaughter ensues, with trespass, oppression, cruelty and abuse; the instruments used by tyrannical force, their weapons deployed, politicians endorse; to control and to quell, dragoon and coerce, a nation enveloped by despotic curse.

A far from uncommon telling of a story based on facts, one of so many resulting from imperialism, empire building, slavery and the theft of another countries people and resources, that invariably results in the oppressed fighting back and receiving the unforgiving force of the invasive foe in return.

Almost as heart breaking as the events portrayed here is the unflinching resistance of the oppressor to enlighten its civilians through education, of the reality behind considerable portions of its recent history - even today.