Sardar Udham Review: Film is almost perfect tribute to unsung hero and Indian revolutionary Udham Singh
Sardar Udham Movie Rating: 3.5 Stars
Just watched Sardar Udham movie on Amazon Prime Video. So let’s focus on the cast, release date story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Shaun Scott, Stephen Hogan, Banita Sandhu, Kirsty Averton and Amol Parashar
Director: Shoojit Sircar
Release Date: 16th October 2021 on Amazon Prime Video
Story: The film pays tribute to an unsung hero Sardar Udham Singh who was an Indian revolutionary who assassinated Michael O’Dwyer in London in 1940 to avenge the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.
Sardar Udham (Vicky Kaushal) becomes a revolutionary in the true sense of the term when he sees scores of Indians massacred and hundreds grievously wounded at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar where they had assembled on 13th April, 1919 to protest against the Rowlatt Act. Lt. Governor of Punjab Michael O’Dwyer (Shaun Scott) was then at the helm of affairs. He had asked General Reginald Dyer (Andrew Havill) to take his decisions and stop the protest any which way.
With shoot to kill orders hundreds died that evening, hundreds more were wounded or maimed for life, and it turned out to be a blot on British colonial history in India. Soon after Dwyer was recalled but he showed no remorse for his ghastly action and instead chose to explain it away by saying that he wanted to avoid a re-run of the 1857 revolt or War of Independence.
Udham reached the Bagh later and helped cart dozens of injured people to hospital. His girlfriend Reshma (Banita Sandhu) was also dead and all these left a painful memory in Udham who decided to take revenge in his own style. For him, it was all about defying British misrule and monstrous authority by murdering a man whose savagery was unimaginable. In fact, the soldiers stopped shooting only after they had run out of bullets. He fulfilled his mission of killing Dwyer after 21 years by shooting Michael O’Dwyer point blank as he addresses an East India Company convention.
How Sardar reached London, entered then left and reentered several times before plotting his assassination with the help of different factions who were working against the British Crown and government for their own reasons like the IRA (Irish Republican Army) for one is all about this movie.
Positives
1. Excellent Performances
2. Story
3. Cinematography
4. Climax
5. Direction
Negatives
1. Excessive use of English words
2. Slow Screenplay
3. Length
Durgesh Tiwary’s View : When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie on the first day of release because movie is based on unsung Indian revolutionary Sardar Udham Singh.
Sardar Udham traces its eponymous protagonist’s journey from the psychological impact the Jallianwala Bagh massacre had on him while growing up and his early days fighting against the British with Bhagat Singh to his insurgency into London, planned retribution and aftermath of his actions.
First things first do not expect hard-hitting dialogues or emotional outbursts. The pre-independence drama based on true events is a simmering observation of a man consumed by grief. The protagonist makes numbing pain his strength and silence, his voice. The screenplay is good but like the story it suffers from the defect of too much detailing in the first half and too slow a pace. The pace definitely picks up after interval especially when the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and its aftermath start. That portion is a wonderfully scripted human drama which shakes the viewers. However the boring first half is a very big sore point.
This freedom fighter traversed continents, used aliases and lied low throughout his life. He was too possessed by his singular quest for equality to make a noise. If you are as passionately curious about his quiet existence, this film is for you. It will prove decently engaging for proper art-film lovers but would be quite challenging for commercial or even middle-of-the-road cinema viewers. If you manage to wade through the slipshod editing and snail-like pacing in the first hour and could hold your patience for its interminable length then Vicky Kaushal’s earnest act and Shoojit Sircar’s shot-taking and certain directorial decisions are sound enough to hold your interest. My view on this movie Highly Recommended.
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