Sarbjit Review

Expectations

Omung Kumar started his film career as a production designer for many TV serials and films. His association with Sanjay Leela Bhansali helped him debuting as a director with a biographical sports drama 'Mary Kom' based on the real life boxer. This Priyanka Chopra starrer film was appreciated by the critics and also fared well at the box-office. Right since that time there has been a huge amount of curiosity related to his next film. He decided to make one more biographical drama 'Sarbjit', based on the real life happenings of an Indian farmer stuck in Pakistan Jail. The expectations grew high due to association of actors like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Randeep Hooda and Richa Sharma. The promos look appealing and promises to deliver a hard-hitting film with some great performances.

Story

'Sarbjit' is a biographical tale of Sarbjit Singh (Randeep Hooda) residing in a village near the border areas of India. One day in a drunken state, he accidently crosses the border and lands up in Pakistani jail. The Pakistan government charge him as a terrorist and thus is locked up in the dark cells. Out here in India, Sarbjit's sister Dalbir Kaur (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) and his wife Sukhpreet (Richa Chadda) starts hunting for Sarbjit in their village and nearby areas. After a long span Dalbir comes to know that Sarbjit is in Pakistani jail and decides to set him free. The task is not easy and has loads of hurdles but Dalbir is set to surpass every hurdles in order to set her brother free.

The 'Glitz' Factor

The story is hard-hitting and interesting. Every scene involving Randeep Hooda is brilliant, you simply cannot take your eyes away from him. Remove him from the film and you will find a huge vacuum in the film. The usage of political events is brilliant and gels perfectly with the flow of the film. The end credits with usage of real life pictures of Sarabjit and family leaves you with goose bumps. There are some great dialogues in the film, which should have been more instead of overdose of Punjabi dialogues. The cinematography is of top notch and does full justice to the theme of the film. Director Omung Kumar sets up a right base for such type of film and presents it well by adding stars and good production values. He highly succeeds in extracting some great performances by his actors but fails little bit in executing the film.

Randeep Hooda is simply fantastic and the best thing to happen to this film. He makes the whole film believable. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is good in few scenes, especially the protesting ones. She looks beautiful in the initial part of the film followed by her strong screen presence in the finale portions. Richa Chadda lends good support.

The 'Non-Glitz' Factor

The movie starts too fast with lots of things happening at the same time due to which there is no settling point in the film. Both, the story and the theme fails to connect with you in the initial part of the film. On the contrast, the second half is bit slow and takes its own sweet time. The length of the film dilutes the intensity followed by the repetitive moments in the second half. The movie should have been trimmed down by twenty minutes as the short tale was heavily stretched in the second half of the film. Usage of Punjabi dialogues is jarring at times and will not appeal with the people who don't understand the language. Darshan Kumaar's track fails to enhance the film in its finale moment. The director struggles with the inconsistent pace followed by lack of good screenplay moments and a strong soul factor in the film. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan hams in the dramatic scenes and fails to connect with the soul of the film. After a given point her loud screams starts to torture your eardrums. Darshan Kumaar is wasted. Ram Murti Sharma was jarring.

Final 'Glitz'

Soulful act by Randeep Hooda and the original premise makes 'Sarbjit' worth a watch for the real hardship faced by these innocent people. It had all the potential to surpass the acclaims and box-office numbers of 'Mary Kom'.