BOTTOM LINE
Strong Anil Kapoor, Middling Actioner
PLATFORM
Amazon Prime Video
RUNTIME
2 Hours 18 Minutes
What Is the Film About?
Retired Subedaar Arjun Maurya returns to his hometown, seeking to mend the bond with his daughter, Shyama. His peace is shattered when a sand-mafia heir, Prince, comes in his way. Pushed to his limit, the soldier reawakens his military instincts. Arjun must navigate a personal war of redemption and a battle against Babli Didi’s criminal empire to protect his family and honour.
Performances
Anil Kapoor’s raw intensity, brought alive with his physicality and sharp dialogue delivery, is easily the film’s lifeline. If you manage to take the film seriously, it is all about his visceral screen presence. Radhika Madan has a decent character arc as the rebellious, grieving daughter, though the performance is hardly her best.
Aditya Rawal is getting better with every performance. He gives it all as Prince, though the character is hardly a solid match for a fiery protagonist like Arjun. Saurabh Shukla gets a role that boils down to ‘net practice’, and he sleepwalks through it. Mona Singh is surprisingly underwhelming in a part that lacks meat.
Analysis
It is always interesting when a filmmaker’s next move is hard to predict. Suresh Triveni debuted with a simple yet feel-good domestic drama like Tumhari Sulu and later, with Jalsa, explored the tense dynamic between a guilt-ridden journalist and her housemaid through a tragedy. His latest film, Subedaar, is fronted by a protagonist who feels like a senior cousin of the ‘angry young man’.
Subedaar, an Amazon Prime original, has an unusually interesting premise that surprises you with its layers. It deceptively starts as a vulnerable mother’s fight to avenge her child’s death due to illegal sand mining in a village. It eventually turns into a bloody tussle between a young, rebellious goon, Prince, and a retired army officer, Arjun Maurya, whom the former initially hires as his bodyguard.
It does not end there. The conflict also serves as an outlet for the retired subedaar major and his daughter, Shyama, to mend their fractured relationship while they come to terms with a recent death. In his own words, Arjun is a man who will take a bullet to his chest but will not tolerate an insult. In her father’s absence for many years, Shyama has learned to fight her own battles.
The director readies the ground well for a raw, intense conflict in the first half-hour, though the film struggles to raise the stakes efficiently and is too distracted with its subplots later. What the film has are several intriguing character sketches which are not fleshed out with care. The best part of the story remains within the director’s head, and what you consistently get are a few flashes of the tight, gripping film it could have been.
The father-daughter drama remains strictly functional and hardly has the emotional depth to hold the narrative together. Well-etched characters are placed in overwhelmingly bland situations. Shyama’s tussle with the classmate who sends her explicit videos chickens out too easily. The tension between Arjun and Prince gets monotonous after a point, as if the film was only about exploring their male egos.
At one level, you also feel cheated because of its insensitivity. The mining conflict involving a poor mother is conveniently relegated to the background, allowing the bitter war between two men at opposite ends of life to take centre stage. The resolution in the ending is compromised at many levels; the closure is, at best, too insincere and primitive. Subedaar ends up being a confused film with its intentions and its execution.
The visually arresting, arid landscape, the raw action, the anxious setup, Anil Kapoor’s ferocity and the presence of familiar faces try to smoothen the rough edges at places. It is a shame ultimately, because it had top-notch ingredients and reasons to work: a solid lineup, compelling emotional layers, decent character arcs and a dose of social commentary, only for it to end up a khichdi that leaves you craving for more.
Subedaar, as an action drama, is a mixed bag. It starts with promise and loses its way, failing to build on its momentum. It is intriguing in parts, steered by an in-form Anil Kapoor, but that is about it.
Music and Other Departments?
Apart from Anil Kapoor, the technical execution is a key reason for a viewer to stay invested in the film, with the cinematography effectively capturing the scorched, dusty atmosphere of the Madhya Pradesh hinterlands. The background score, with its rock and metal music influences, escalates the conflict exceedingly well. While the action choreography is immersive, the editing is slightly all over the place, reflecting the problems with the writing that fails to capitalise on the conflicts and the characters.
Highlights?
Anil Kapoor’s intense and controlled performance.
Grounded and rustic atmosphere.
Strong start (first 30 mins)
Drawbacks?
Slow pacing.
Some predictable plot points and tropes.
Underdeveloped subplots.
Did I Enjoy It?
In parts
Will You Recommend It?
Only for Anil Kapoor
Subedaar Movie Review by M9 News
