Sardar Udham (2021)

Shoojit sircar is one of the best directors in Bollywood directing films of various genre. His latest film Sardar Udham is the real life story of Udham Singh who travels to London to kill the Michael o Dwyer, the mastermind behind the jallianwala bagh massacre. This movie narrates the long journey of udham singh to achieve his mission.

Sardar Udham is absolutely brilliant film technically. The cinematography is top notch, locations are top notch, art direction was authentic capturing that era very well. Coming to performances, barring Vicky kaushal and banita sandhu, there are not any familiar faces here. All the actors have performed well including the British actors. The actor who played dwyer looks like male tilda swinton. The last act is horrific and disturbing as it not just captures a massacre but also its aftermath.

But the film runs at a slow pace which might test your patience. I never liked a revenge story with non linear narration but this narration worked for sardar udham otherwise it would have ended with less impact.

On the whole sardar udham is the best Bollywood film which I have seen in recent times.

Fmovies: What worked: After viewing the movie, the first impression for me is very subtlety and beautifully made piece of work. It's a movie with a rare excellence at least for a Bollywood team to assemble a production of this magnitude and with such a well done effort. I am hugely impressed by the cinematography, editing and the screenplay, making it a very well made movie. Of course, credit goes to the director in his brilliant work of assembling and executing this project in such a watchable and enjoyable movie. For me, this movie remains a great movie that has done quiet some research and worked well in term of production design, making it hugely successful project. The lead, Vicky added a new update in his portfolio that keeps him shining for a long run. Overall, a movie that deserves appreciation and should be considered for the Oscar contender from India for not only its subject matter but the execution. I don't think there has been any movies from India that has been par this execution level, if any very few.

What did not work: I would not have wanted to see the full fletched tragic scenes portrayed at the last 30 minutes of the movie. It made it hard to see , not because it was not shot right. On the contrary, it was a difficult watch and very tragic, making it hard. Or maybe that's what was intended and a trigger for the main character which demanded long shots of the event. Either way, it was successful.

Final verdict: highly recommended.

"Revolution is an inalienable right of mankind. Freedom is an imperishable birthright of all" - Bhagat Singh

Wow! What an incredible piece of Cinema I have just been a witness of! I'm truly captivated by Sircar's direction and the way he addressed such a heroic act of patriotism. And I can't convey enough appreciation for representing such a fairly unknown story of the Martyr, Udham Singh; who against all the odds made the impossible. He shook the British empire to its core and sent out a decisive statement against their heinous colonialism.

From a technical stance alone, I must admit, this was something very special! I had never seen a historical drama on such an enormous scale before. From the detailed set designs to the astounding Cinematography, the commendable art direction to the world-building; it has every right to be considered as a landmark in Indian filmography. Trust me, supervising any sets with that many people and intricacies; it's easier said than done. And this gets even more fascinating when you consider the restricted expenditures!

Likewise, the performances leave quite an impression. Amongst the entire cast, Vicky Kaushal's act indisputably draws our attention the most. Particularly, towards the end. Where, in my opinion; he gives his absolute best. Speaking of the rest of the ensemble, I was amazed to observe such a capable group of foreign nationals playing their roles with utmost affection and integrity!

My only criticisms are in regards to the comparatively long-winded screenplay and its Non-linear structure. Don't get me wrong, I'm all up for Non-linear storytelling, but I'm not sure whether it was an absolute necessity in this case.

Even though I gotta say, that whole Jallianwala Bagh massacre sequence is no less than a cinematic brilliance. No matter, how tough you deem yourself to be, remember the words; it's gonna break your heart. If it was up to me, I would have probably inaugurated the film with this portion rather than placing it near the climax. That way, I guess the impact would have been far greater.

Lastly, I just wanna thank all the people who have contributed to such an ambitious endeavour and I wanna give my regards to Mr Shoojit Sircar as he's done plentiful to denote the atrocities of British Imperialism. Innumerable manslaughters, abscondings, tortures; the British without any question, shares a dark & sinful past with our country and its people.

My heartiest admiration goes to all the martyrs and their families who sacrificed everything just to break the shackles and to get our much-awaited Sovereignty & Freedom. And most importantly they did all that while being unified, irrespective of class, religion or Identity.

Today's generation should learn a thing or two!

Sardar Udham fmovies. An epic historical movie from the viewpoint of an Indian Punjabi Sikh plotting against the British Empire. Stunning production values and a creative story structure that has you wondering the whole time if the protagonist is a revolutionary or a terrorist! Not until you witness the final scene detailing the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that you understand Sardar Udham's violent motive...

Sardar Udham review :

Of all the movies Shoojit Sircar has made till date, this has to be the most technically brilliant one. Capturing the landscape from Amristar to London, the shots appear like a beautiful painting on celluloid. The art design, recreating the 1930s and early '40s when most of this film is based, is top class. Sardar Udham is also the most unconventional historical movie made in Indian cinema. If you are looking for entertainment or patriotic jingoism here, sorry but this is just not the movie for you!!

Indeed, Sardar Udham is a highly realistic and at times, harrowing depiction of the relatively unknown freedom fighter who decides to avenge the Jallianwala Baug massacre. Travelling all the way to London to execute the two officials responsible for the most inhuman act in British India, Udham Singh takes a long time to execute his plan. But he is successful at the end.

Narrated non-linearly, the film may get tad difficult for the aam junta not used to such treatment as well as those who are not so well versed with the historical events of that period specially those second world war references and the communists' role in it. Udham Singh's torture scenes in British jail are also extremely discomforting to watch.

Vicky Kaushal, in the titular role, delivers his career best performance. This one deserves a National award, no less!! Kirsty Averton as Eileen Palmer, Udham's sympathizer from the local Communist party, is a standout. The other firangi actors are earnest and thankfully, talk in English instead of that oh-so-familiar accented Hindi patented by Bob Christo.

Sardar Udham reaches its pinnacle in the last forty minutes dedicated to the Jallianwala Baug tragedy. I have read and seen this event many times before but trust me, was never ever shaken so much!! It is a heart wrenching watch sure to move you to tears.

Finally, films like Sardar Udham need to be made and the sacrifice of these great freedom fighters deserve much more attention than just a footnote accorded to them in our school history books.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

Sardar Udham (2021) : Movie Review -

I am not gonna write a regular review for this one which combines things like acting, writing, screenplay, music and direction because i don't really think this is a film made to glorify that hardcore patriotism from India's history. Making a commercial jiongism patterns like 'Border' (1997), 'Uri' (2019), and 'Shershaah' (2021) is easy and safe because you that our massy audience will fall for patriotic emotions and will forgive cinematic mistakes. But making a relevant and thought-provoking film like 'Haqeeqat' is still a dream for new generation filmmakers. Sardar Udham is high-end triggering drama with strong flavour of Shoojit Sircar style. Those who are expecting a quality cinema and are ready to wait for a while are welcome and those who want to whistle and scream during mass sequences are prohibited from viewing this movie. Sardar Udham is typical Shoojit Sircar style slow burn but moreover it attempts to rediscover patriotic biographical genre in Indian Cinema on the level of what Hollywood did with film like 'Patton' (1970) and 'Schindler's List' (1993).

Jalianwala Bagh massacre is one of the most brutal events ever happened in the 20th century in any corner of the world. But how many times it has made you feel that pain even today except for Anniversary trends on social media and few glimpses in any freedom fighter's biopic in Indian Cinema? We have seen this particular event in many biopics from Bhagat Singh to Gandhi to Sardar Patel and few more but Sardar Udham is probably the only film which has made a big issue out of it to create an entire plot affected by that terrible masscare. I remember watching Soviet Filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein's film which showed one of that Russian Massacre in Brutal manners and who on earth knew that those scenes from a silent film made in 1920s decade would remain the most astonishing massacre scenes in cinema history. Sardar Udham might just become that for Bollywood Cinema. Especially those last 40 minutes where you feel the pain of Udham, a teenager, who didn't really understand what just happened and it kept him torturing for 2 decades. Finally, he took the revenge and yet it feels like a soft punishment because you hate British empire so much that even shooting a man dead in front of 50 people feels so less. British had killed hundreds brutally in Jalianwala Bagh massacre and any toughest punishment in the world can't justify that. Sardar Udham is about this ideology, not a revenge. There are thousands of revenge in the history of India but not all them became universal ideologies.

One of the best thing i noticed in Sardar Udham is it shows that fatal state of mind British government during world war 2. You see, World War 2 is one of the major reason behind India's independence but our historians and filmmakers have always overlooked this fact. You gotta know that British saw it coming back what they did to India. In this movie there is a quote to explain this- "Germany calling. The sun finally seems to setting at British Empire. Like an elephant, Indians never forget their enemies" and the next two scenes when Udham Singh questions the Law twice, once in Courtroom before Judge and once during investigation in front of detective. Do you remember any Bollywood Film going in such details about ideology and morals? Leave that topic for further arguments later.

So, overall Sardar Udham is quite a break from commercial potboilers a