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.
