This is my first ever IMDb review and the only reason I made this account was to review this movie.
It was really hard to get access to this movie. I am from Mumbai, Maharashtra and the only reason I became aware of this movie was because I stumbled on it's trailer on Youtube. Fine, really good trailer and it managed to create the excitement in me to watch it(being a history and World War related content nerd) 2 months before it's release. Release day.. Check apps to find which theater was the closest where I can watch this work of art. Zero. That's right, being in the heart of Bollywood in a city with HUNDREDS of theaters and cinema halls, there was not a single one screening it. Lack of budget ? Owner's monopoly ? Corruption ? Finally found a lonely theater about 2 and a half hours of journey outside the city where I could watch it.
The film starts off somewhere at the Iraq-Syria border in 2018 where some Khalsaaid workers rescue some refugees(fleeing ISIS ?) and take them to a camp. One brief Sikh history monologue later, we are introduced to our lead Sajjan(Diljit) in a village meeting who is later employed in the Indian British Army with the help of his father. Rest is mostly character introductions till they are deployed to Europe 1914(Possibly Britain as assumed from the lack of "Tally Ho" in French Vocabulary). The men(IBA) are subjected to almost instant cussing and racism(which is quite accurate in that time period) causing an altercation with a British trooper which is then built up over the first half along with introducing us to what the Indian troops were subjected to by their British counterparts. This ends when the Lead proceeds to beat 3 of the racist troopers in H2H combat 1v3 in a 'training' session. We are also introduced to the Leads 'betrothed' wife but her role is so insignificant that they could've cut her out completely and it wouldn't have made any difference.
The second half begins with the troops boarding a train which drops them off somewhere near the Thiepval woods from where they make their way to participate in the Battle of Thiepval Ridge(?) which is a part of the larger Battle of Somme. Here is where the movie really starts for me and I really recommend watching it for yourself.
What I disliked about this movie :- The dialogue seemed missing. The trailer seemed promising with it's strong dialogues and Yograj Singh's veteran demeanor. It was difficult to connect with the characters since most of the dialogue seemed to be motivational quotes or standard military address. This made it really hard to empathize upon some of the characters deaths.
Second of all, the Music is just omnipresent and annoying. It overwhelmed parts of otherwise awesome moments and just irritated me at serious dialogues and combat. Please for the love of god STOP this Ekta Kapoor style of music editing.
Songs... Unneeded, Unwanted, Underwhelming. Why... Just why is there a need to put 2-3 songs in every single Indian movie. It's 2018 already, please stop with this Bollywood. A song or snippets of multiple are fine or elevate certain moments, but the mandatory full songs and dance in every movie is really starting to get old.
Cheesy moments - The 'evil' Germans with the evil grinning German Major, the 2 German soldiers taking their sweet time to spit, laugh, load and shoot our Lead while he reenacted every single death in Border and the Slow Motion shots....
For the love of art, please stop doing slow motion shots. They managed to drag what would have bee an otherwise amazing battle scene in the same leagues of D-Day invasion in Saving Private Ryan to some stupid Rohit Shetty comedy action film level(readers, watch the battle scenes on 1.5x you won't regret).
What I liked about this movie :- The Cinematography. This is by far the best I've seen in any Indian movie till date and SSR pulls this off at such high standards and quality making the movie simply artistic and amazing to watch. The sets, uniforms, lights, camera angles were surreal and a feast to the eyes. Step up your game Bollywood, this is the new benchmark.
The Acting. Yograj Singh was phenomenal in his role as Subedar. His emotions seemed genuine and his passion with his dialogues easily rivaled Liam Neeson. Diljit was on par and gave some of the strongest dialogues but it felt like he was being held back by a lack of script. Still he managed to pull off a laudable performance. Jarnail Singh was an equally delightful one to watch and him being shot was the only point in the movie I felt sadness.
The Story itself. While the movie does not specify where, and what's going on in the field of battle itself, it's not hard to figure out where and why they are deployed. For those expecting a Michael Bay cookie cutter action flick, this is not it. This movie is about Irony and Hope. The Irony of fighting to defend the lands of your occupiers while having a distant hope that doing so will make the Brits give them their freedom(Which they did not for another 30 years). It's about the unsung valor and sacrifice of the Indian soldiers despite racist and sub-human treatment on foreign lands which is commemorated in the lands they fought in but surprisingly absent in mainstream Indian discussions or history books. This movie was a ground breaking start. Not for the world, but for Indian cinema. Lakshya was the previous one and this one supersedes it in ingenuity.
I would definitely watch a part 2 provided they cut the typical Bollywood and focus more on the story, events and characters. You know.. The things we really came to watch the movie for.
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