Despite a promising cast, Sarhad Paar is certainly not a masterpiece. Sanjay Dutt is one of my favourite actors and obviously there's little wrong with the way he is playing his character Ranjit... but to put it bluntly, it's not the kind of role he needs to put much effort in, and so he visibly didn't. The roles of Pammi and Simran, on the other hand, are too limited in scope to allow Tabu and Mahima Chaudhry to show off their skills: they mostly seem to be there to add colour, beautiful smiles and heart-breaking tears to the story.
Sarhad Paar is definitely not a piece of crap. Agreed, the characters are cardboard, and I found it hard to identify with any of them. The scenario is neither particularly strong nor particularly consistent, but I've seen much, much worse. Especially in the second half one might expect more, some big events, a bit of good action, or at least some psychological development within the various characters. But instead, the story flows on, quietly, without any major surprises. That, I believe, is the biggest problem of this movie: it simply fails to catch. Even Ranjit's tragedy is shown with so many shortcuts and in an such an uninteresting way that it fails to evoke empathy. Thus, we are witnessing the chain of events from a safe distance, without ever caring much.
The movie has a few assets as well. The music, written by Anand Raj Anand, is absolutely gorgeous. Besides, the film is beautiful visually, offering lots of wonderful pictures from Punjab that give a great impression of the atmosphere in that region. Fans of Sanju will be delighted to see their idol as a Sikh.
All in all, this movie is neither good nor bad. It's worth giving it a shot, though, but don't expect too much of it. Personally, although I don't find it a dull movie, I don't think I will return to it soon.
