Son of Sardar — an entertaining watch

Ajay Devgn delivers a funny movie filled with chaos.

KARACHI:

Son of Sardar or SOS is just a downright-slap-happy kind of a movie you won’t regret watching. The film certainly beats Dabangg and Rowdy Rathore in terms of colourful scenes, dialogues and actor’s performances, but maybe not in action-packed sequences.

The film begins with Ajay Devgn as Jaswinder Singh Randhawa – wearing a turban, riding two horses and steaming into the camera – which makes you question: “Will this be like Singh is King?” Further into the movie, Ajay dances in London atop Big Ben followed by a scene where he beats up locals showing off his sardar power. Still assuming it’s similar to Akshay Kumar’s Singh is King, portraying dominance over the West, but maybe with more special effects; the plot suddenly takes a turn.  Oh wait – bang! The movie just became ridiculously funny.



The expected absurd story advanced as an interesting and entertaining watch. “Buddhe kay mun mae toffee aur mehman kay mun sae maafi kabhi achi nahin lagti” is just one of the funny one-liners in the film directed by Ashwni Dhir.  Writer-director Dhir is also known for comedy film Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge.

This wacky-action-comedy film is a remake of the Telugu movie Maryada Ramanna, which in turn was a copy of American film Our Hospitality made in 1923 starring Buster Keaton and Natalie Talmadge. The story revolves around Jaswinder or Jassi, an unemployed sardar who resides in London and goes back to India to deal with land disputes. Upon arrival, he finds out that Balwinder Singh or Billu Paaji (Sanjay Dutt) has waited for his return for the past 25 years to take revenge for their tribal leader’s murder by Jassi’s father. Oblivious to the fact that Jassi is the killer’s son, Billu invites him to stay in his house. As the reality unfolds, Billu is helpless because he can’t attack a guest in his home, so he waits for Jassi and appoints his thugs to keep an eye on him. Billu wants him to step out before he can make any moves. The hide-and-seek game between Jassi and Billu wrapped with action scenes, revengeful feelings, and timely dialogues makes the film undoubtedly hilarious. Sonakshi Sinha plays the role of Billu’s niece who falls in love with Jassi.

The plot is steady and it’s filled with all the events most Bollywood movies are based on, from tribal feuds to love barriers to land issues. The humour that SOS generates is intentional and presented naturally. The characters were suitable to their age and outstanding performances were given by seasoned actors Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn and Juhi Chawla. Sanjay can claim most of the fame of the movie, for his contribution to the movie as a brave yet emotionally weak and under pressure by traditions. Chawla’s smile is as pleasant as it used to be in the late 90’s and  she has acquired grace with her age. Ajay’s commonly spiked hair and bad-ass behavior was missing, and in certain scenes, flashbacks of his look from film Dil Jalay were apparent, but now with a buffed physique, of course. Sonakhsi played her character to perfection, which is  no different from the roles she played in her previous films like Dabangg, Rowdy Rathore, and Joker.



Son of Sardar was released simultaneously with Jab Tak Hai Jaan around the world and it was a full as expected. Although, the comparison of the two films would be quite an absurd idea due to the difference in genres; however, considering both were senseless, Son of Sardar definitely wins more points for entertainment.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2012.

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