Film Review: Sardar Udham

In the beginning of Sardar Udham, we already find our lead haunted by an experience that has led him to London with a mission. His name is Udham Singh (Vicky Kaushal), and within the first half hour of the film, he shoots Michael O’Dwyer (Shaun Scott) dead after a speech in front of an audience, and is swiftly arrested. While most reading this probably don’t know, Udham Singh was an Indian freedom fighter, and with Sardar Udham, director Shootjit Sircar, and writers, Ritesh Shah and Shubhendu Bhattacharya, explore what set of circumstances could lead a man to commit such an act.

The film takes a non-linear approach in telling Udham’s story, starting off with the assassination that put his face in all the world’s papers in March of 1940, then flashing back to various points in his life, from his early support of India’s fight for independence to his travels to his moments shared with his love interest, Reshma (Banita Sandhu), a mute girl who appears to be a complete work of fiction on the filmmakers’ part, and easily the weakest and least developed of all the story threads presented in the film, adding an unnecessary angle that doesn’t get the room to breathe that it requires to really make an impact.

Aside from that one aspect, the choppy presentation of the story actually works out fairly well in the film’s favor for the most part. It gives the film a dreamy sense of logic, like piecing together fragments of memories in order to get a full picture of this man. I was reminded often of the works of Paul Schrader, in the way he incorporates narration, and diary entry style structuring in many of his dark character studies. Even though the main goal has been achieved in the first half hour of the film, the remaining two hours have this intensity and sense of momentum that builds as we learn more about Udham and his motivations.

Of course, anyone aware of Udham Singh knows what propelled him to make the choices he made, that being the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on 1919. It’s an event referred to several times throughout the film, we know that it has had a huge impact on him, but the film does not treat the massacre lightly, instead building up to it, saving it for the finale, along with Udham finding himself caught in the gruesome aftermath. It’s a bold way to tell the story, but it makes for a distinctive viewing experience, especially in how this doesn’t go for the typical nationalistic flourishes you often find in mainstream Indian cinema.

Vicky Kaushal is by no means a newcomer, having popped up here and there for a little over the past five years, but it wasn’t until 2019’s Uri: The Surgical Strike that his capabilities as a leading man became clear for audiences. With Sardar Udham, he delivers his finest performance to date. He brings an earnest and soft-spoken vulnerability that contrasts with the hard edged fixation that drives him on his mission. You can practically feel the pressure he puts on himself in the way he carries himself just through his grasp on the character’s physicality. The whole cast is solid, Shaun Scott is notable in how much he gets to do here as well, and Amol Parashar and Kirsty Averton both have a small but memorable turn as Bhagat Singh and Eileen, a British communist party member, respectively. But this is ultimately the Vicky Kaushal show, and he is more than up for the challenge.

I found myself very surprised by how much I was impressed by Sardar Udham. While it isn’t flawless, it’s a strong and effective piece of filmmaking that paints a compelling and well rounded portrait of a man in search of vengeance, no matter the cost. It’s beautifully made, featuring a great score from Shantanu Moitra, and stunning sets that really set a feeling of a certain time and place, immersing you into the past that Udham Singh navigates. Folks who aren’t aware of the history here will be given enough context to understand what is going on, and it’s fairly accessible because of that. There’s clearly a lot of passion behind this, both behind the camera and its lead performance, and while it’s lengthy runtime might seem a bit intimidating, it is one that I would definitely recommend to just about anyone.

 

Sardar Udham is now out on Amazon Prime Video.