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Sardar Ka Grandson Movie Review: Arjun Kapoor and Neena Gupta film hits closer but misses the mark
The relationship between grand-children and grand-parents has been a subject of several Bollywood films but very few have explored it from the perspective of fulfilling dreams of your grand-parents. Sardar Ka Grandson is such a film that explores to what limit one would go to fulfil the last wish of a matriarch.
Movie: Sardar Ka Grandson
Director: Kaashvie Nair
Movie Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Rakul Preet Singh, Neena Gupta, John Abraham, Aditi Rao Hydari
Sardar Ka Grandson Rating: 2.5/5
The film showcases the journey of an NRI, Amreek Singh (Arjun Kapoor), who adores his grandmother Sardar (Neena Gupta). Sardar is the family matriarch and owner of a successful bicycle manufacturing company. On being informed that Sardar has been diagnosed with a tumour, Amreek returns to meet her and is willing to go to any length to fulfil her last wish. Her wish? To see her home in Pakistan which she left behind during the partition. Unfortunately, she is denied visa to visit Pakistan due to an earlier incident during a heated India-Pakistan cricket match in which she had manhandled Kumud Mishra, who unfortunately is the current Mayor of Lahore.
Long story short, Amreek decides to move his ancestral home from Lahore to Amritsar using structure relocation engineering. It takes initial 15-20 minutes of your attention to stay with the flow of the film but if you manage to do that it can entertain you in patches. The film promises warmth, love, and celebration of the bonds within a happy yet dysfunctional family. It explores through various scenes warmth, love, and celebration of the bonds within a large Punjabi family.
To explore relationships, and how times have changed their definition, the story juxtaposes Radha (Rakul Preet Singh) and Amreek’s breakup with the love story of Rupinder and Gursher Singh (John Abraham) as it swings between the timelines. Both Rakul and Arjun play with what was in hand but are unable to show us the chemistry of their relationship.
One thing that works in the film’s favour is that it is oriented for family viewing. During the lockdown you can sit with your entire family and enjoy the drama without a remote in your hand to skip those ‘so necessary passion scenes’.
In most parts, the film has its heart in the right place. However, it fails to leave an everlasting mark due to the overall performance and loose storytelling. The angle of partition too is briefly touched and missed without evoking or stirring an emotional connection with the audience.
Neena Gupta, Kumud Mishra, Soni Razdan, and Kanwaljit Singh are the character actors from whom every reviewer has very high hopes. It pinches even more when you feel they were off-mark. These actors have the tendency to own the screens but in the attempt to keep it realistic, the screenplay and dialogue turn these extraordinary actors to blend in as ordinary.
Aditi Rao Hydari looks beautiful as the young Sardar. She attempts to even catch the dialect and accent to make us believe that she is playing a younger version of Neena Gupta. John Abraham looks good as Gursher Singh. With a short screen space, he tries to fit into the image; only if the character had more exposure and depth.
The pandemic has made us realise many things; and especially, the importance of people around us and close to us. This movie can definitely act like a gentle reminder to this feeling. Watch this film to remember it’s all about giving back to your grandparents!
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