Sardar Udham

To narrate the biography of a freedom fighter without sounding jingoistic is not an easy undertaking. Shoojit Sircar's Sardar Udham is an understated piece of film making we don't see much in Bollywood in these days of Bell Bottoms, Kesaris and Bhujs.

Vicky Kaushal as Sardar Udham

The casting is spectacular.  Vicky Kaushal is becoming the thinking person's hero,  who straddles the line of commercial Bollywood and alternate cinema with the ease of a seasoned tight rope walker. From essaying a teen to a forty year old, the effortlessness which with Vicky gets into the skin of the character in Sardar Udham is admirable. Did I say I like Vicky Kaushal? He is so quintessentially Indian - could be from North , South,  East or West of India.

The production design leaves no room for finding historical mis-steps. The British characters are not monsters, the subjugated Indian patriots are not embodiment of morality and virtue, all are faulty humans, victims of their circumstances.The cinematography is amazing, it has one of the best depictions of Jalianwalla Bagh massacre ever shown on screen. Even in the imagery representing brutal slaughter of hundreds of people, India is painted with a breathtakingly poignant brush with striking colors.

The movie is a bit of a slow burn, especially for someone like me whose fingers are glued to the forward button on the remote. But I understand,  Sardar Udham is like an episode of Oliver Stone's Untold History of United States India, you think know the story,  but you don't, so you will yourself to watch a skillfully crafted old school film making, word by word, moment by moment as history unfolds. 

Ram Muhammad Singh Azad or the real Udham Singh in British custody

An ordinary Indian guy plans and prepares (flying solo for the most part) for his revenge, on a representative of the British Empire. It takes him 20 years to complete his mission of eliminating his target, his revenge for killing 1500 civilians in his hometown of Amritsar. The British never formally apologized for the massacre, but expressed 'regret' on the 100th anniversary of the event in 2019.