Sardar Udham - Unconventionally Patriotic


In the year of 2021, we've had many good and bad movies. Malayalam cinema is getting the recognition it so rightfully deserves. Regional cinema flourishing, meanwhile Hindi cinema is languishing. I've liked very few of them from this year, and thankfully, Shoojit Sircar's 'Sardar Udham' is one of them. 

This is another film about an Indian revolutionary, but this film differs itself from most of the other ones because it isn't overly patriotic to the point of annoyance. It doesn't pat itself in the black and provide a black and white morality tale. It instead provides a more nuanced take at this. 


This film follows a non-linear storytelling structure, and it executes is pretty well, but not perfectly. This film's use of colour reminded me of Greta Gerwig's "Little Women" where you know whether the scene is taking place in the past or present. The scenes that take place in 'Sardar Udham' are very similar. The present timeline has a more blue and cold nature, meanwhile the past scenes have much more colour and life to them where the grass shines brighter than the sun, to show how the past was much more lively. 

Now the length of the film is a little dicy. There are times where a shot goes on for too long, which made me think about how gorgeous it looks. This is one of my favourite looking movies in a while. The way it's lit feels extremely dramatic. The colour yellow is extensively used, but it also allows us to see the blood red of the violence that takes place in the film. 


Along with the length of the movie, the somewhat passive nature of the character makes certain scenes a tad less interesting. He does have a goal, and he had been preparing to achieve that very goal for decades. The minor storytelling issue is that we see him achieve his goal in the beginning, and later we see his process before achieving it, which is more interesting to me. And it doesn't completely work because the moments of tension created in the flashbacks lose that tension because we already know what happens in the future. 

After achieving said goal, Udham is just in prison, so he becomes pretty much passive. He does go through immense torture, which was slightly difficult to watch, and made me feel empathy for him. But to me, seeing Udham trying to achieve this 'want', and us knowing why he's doing this, probably would've been a more interesting movie to watch from a narrative standpoint. 


Even some of the characters have nuance. In most Indian films, the foreigners are poorly written, easily hatable evil people. But here, although the Britishers are portrayed as evil, it's not just for the sake of it. They're ruling India, not just because, but because they believe that Indians will return to being savages without their presence. They believe themselves to be saviours. 

Meanwhile Udham doesn't simply hate all Britishers. He hates the ones that personify the imperialistic rule his brothers and sisters suffer. He knows and is friends with few Britishers, who believe in his cause. This gives his character a level of understanding and empathy. His anger is justified and fleshed out.


The last hour of the film is phenomenal. A lengthy flashback that lets us know why he's doing this. We have always heard about the tragedy of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. But this film provides to us, a different perspective. It allows us to see the aftermath of this attack. Udham stumbles upon countless bodies piled up. Blood and wounds everywhere, he is traumatised. 

He finds few people still breathing and begins to help them by taking them to a hospital. The genius of the film is that this scene goes on for way too long. But it works because it's length serves a purpose. It feels visceral. We're stuck with Udham, searching for bodies, hoping for the best, pitying those who lived through this horrifying event. It was by far my favourite scene because it was the most emotionally impactful. 


Sirdar Udham was a solid film. Shoojit Sircar proves to be one of my favourite filmmakers with every new venture of his. His patient yet gripping style of filmmaking, makes his films some of my personal favourites, and this one isn't different. This is a patriotic film, not because of its self patting nature, but instead lets us see and know what happened, and allows us to feel for ourselves. 


Thank Your for Reading

I hope you liked this blog review, please make sure to comment about your thoughts on the film, or on how I could possibly improve. Also follow my YouTube Channel "Detox with P-Talks Official" where I analyse movies and do other movie related content along with short films, etc.

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