During Diwali, do you remember what it was like when you’d light a really loud Laxmi bomb, scurry to safety and wait nervously with your fingers in your ears for the big blast? Do you recall what it felt like when it failed to explode and you went to it gingerly, probing and kicking it lightly to see if it’s got some life in it or is losing its fizzle?
Rohit Shetty’s three-hero action world is like that bomb. You wait for it to explode into extraordinary entertainment. You stick around for a long time, like more than 2hrs 30 mins, hoping to see it spring up and surprise you.
But even a whole host of writers who divide story, dialogues and screenplay amongst themselves, can’t go beyond ho-hum a terror plot that Veer Sooryavanshi (Akshay Kumar) must foil before Mumbai is blown up. Like Akshay’s previous outing Bell Bottom that took time off from a gripping narrative to flashback into unnecessary romance and songs, this time too, there’s a tame personal life with wife Aditi (Katrina Kaif) that eats up screen time instead of going full throttle into the main action. If Rohit Shetty was looking to add sizzling tadka to the plot, it misfires. Because the eternally pouting and rather tired looking Katrina cavorting in the rain to Tip Tip Barsa Pani reminds viewers of Akshay’s own original version of the song with a sprightly Raveena Tandon in Mohra way back in 1994. After nearly three decades, by also re-using Udit Narayan’s voice in the 2021 remix, it all comes off as an exercise in exhaustion with dew-fresh faces and matching energy completely missing.
The only moments of energy come from Bhalerao alias Simmba Ranveer Singh who has fun with the plot. It is otherwise, a routine story with scenes, lines and performances that don’t have the sparkle of freshness. But there is action and each hero (Akshay, Ajay Devgn, Ranveer) gets one set all to himself which is worth a watch. However, the climax is overstretched and over-flogged.
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When there’s terror, there has to be communal amity written into the screenplay, as a sort of apology or balance, whatever you may want to call it. So just after it’s revealed that a terrorist called Mukhtar Ansari (Nikitin Dheer) has tricked wife Vidya into believing that he’s Vivek Shastri and a touch of love jihad trickery flashes by, Yunus Sejawal’s screenplay has a Ganpati idol being evacuated from a bomb scene by Muslims pitching in to help the Hindu pandit. There’s a shot of a maulvi and a pandit on either side of Ganpati, carrying the idol to safety. Important to show balance. But one wished it wasn’t so obviously calibrated and had been a more organic flow of thought.
I’m disappointed because I like Rohit Shetty’s ideas. I’m all for his brave attempt to make a Marvel-like Universe of Rohit Shetty’s Cops. There’s a sequel he promises with Ajay as Singham and Jackie Shroff as the terror leader. I do hope it is better written. A little less distraction on the home front (ie the flashback to Akshay-Katrina), especially when it’s tepid and has little to do with the main action, would be a good place to start. The second element that needs inspection is the premise. How many times are filmmakers going to tell tiresome stories of terrorists attacking Mumbai? Is a new kind of villainy that the Cop Universe has to demolish so difficult to find?
I know of reviewers who’ve watched the 7 am show of Sooryavanshi and then put out reviews saying how important it is for audiences to go back to the theatres. Therefore, said one YouTube reviewer, go in large numbers and patronise Sooryavanshi without uttering even one line about whether the film itself is worth it or not. I’ll repeat that thought here. This is not Rohit Shetty at his best, it’s not a great entertainer like Singham or Simmba. But if you think audiences must go and fill up theatres, then go watch Sooryavanshi as a philanthropic gesture. Otherwise, wait for a month and watch it on OTT. You wouldn’t have missed much in the intervening 30 days.
Watch Sooryavanshi Trailer here: