Yoddha (1992) :
Brief Review -
Bringing that action-packed Chinese Blockbuster in regional Indian Cinema. The Golden Child gets Action-adventure adaptation. Yoddha is inspired from Eddy Murphy's The Golden Child but has different conflicts to share in commercial entertainer. Mohanlal plays the lead role of Thaiparambil Ashokan, the saviour destined to rescue the Rimpoche of a Nepalese Buddhist monastery from sorcerers practicing black magic. Seeing Mohanlal in such a mass friendly role and especially in a mass friendly movie is a pure delight. Kireedam and Spadikam had action but those films had high philosophies included in the narrative while Yoddha is simply made for out-an-out entertainment and nothing else. If you remember watching those late 70s and 80s Chinese Films which became popular in India too then Yoddha might seem like an Indian Version of those films. Instead of Martial Arts, Karate and other combat forms, you get to see hand-to-hand combats+traditional Nepali/Buddhist Sword fights. It also reminded me of Indiana Jones and Mortal Kombat, rather i would say it looked a mix-up of these two. Bollywood Movie 'Chandni Chowk To China' was spoofy adaption of it but here things looked highly entertaining and engaging considering early 90s of Indian cinema. Actually, we were missing such films, i mean exploring this action-adventure genre didn't really happen as expected. Indian Audience was waiting for film like Indiana Jones to be made in India and Yoddha fulfilled that wish even though it was a decade late. Mohanlal does fine as always, Jagathy is hilarious, Madhu looks beautiful, that child Lama was adorable yet relatable and Puneet Isaar played a great muscular villain. Sangeeth Sivan gives a proper mix of action, Adventure, drama, romance and comedy in this terrific entertainer.
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest.
