Sardar ka Grandson
Release Date: 18 May 2021
Length: 141 minutes (or eternity)
Cast: Neena Gupta ( The star performer )
Rating: 2/5
Sometimes a beautiful concept gets drowned out in covering all commercial aspects of a movie.
This is what happened to Sardar ka Grandson. The movie directed by Kaashvi Nair, written by Anuja Chauhan and Kaashvi Nair, could have been so much better if there was rigorous editing and a tighter screenplay. The cinematography by Mahendra J Shetty is very much up to the mark, especially in the pre-Independence scenes.
Neena Gupta in her role of 'Sardar' is a treat to watch. Though couldn't say the same for her makeup which seems that it would fall off any minute. Kanwaljit and Soni Razdaan are well casted. Aditi Rao hydari is adorable in her cameo and John Abraham looks great.
The camera shots bringing past and present together are beautiful and yet the movie doesn't work for you.
First reason, is the length of the movie. The slow build up of the premise, the sub plots, the songs, are all distractions to the actual plot.
The lead actor and the lady paired against him, the lesser said about both of them, the better. A character 'Chote' ( Mir Mehroos) who seems so promising, could in fact have been given more screen time instead. Capabilities of Divya Seth and Kumud Mishra are wasted.
The movie starts with a sub plot and takes a lot of time to build premise for the actual story. It comes to the actual plot part after almost wasting an hour on the inconsequential sub plots. The music is dreary and dull. One 'forgettable' peppy punjabi song is also there which seems to be added forcefully in the screenplay. There is not one background score that seems to be on point.
On the other hand, the sets and the camera work is good. Especially the main structure and the area around it. It could be the bylanes of any small town you have ever visited.
The movie is based on 'Structural Relocation' (the process of moving a structure from one location to another),
an interesting and a novel concept. But the movie is a Textbook case of how a good concept doesn't necessarrily mean a Good movie. You also need matching performances, engaging screenplay, efficient editing and a conclusive ending. The film had none of these.
But just for the performance of 'Sardar', I would still give the movie 2 stars.
Neena, keep shining.
