Bandaa Singh Choudhary movie review: Arshad Warsi film fails to do justice to its subject, actors

Punjab in the 80s was a hotbed of terrorist activity, buoyed by cash and arms from across the border, whose porousness encouraged the easy flow of ISI agents intent upon creating mayhem. Hindus who had lived in the state for a long time were targeted: sporadic killings occurred. But it was also a place where pockets of peace existed, where long-time Sikh neighbours resisted the attempts to drive a wedge between communities.

If you go by this film, you would think that there was no resistance from Punjab’s residents, and that there was a wholesale exodus of Hindus. That there was only a solo hero in the shape of Bandaa Singh Chaudhary who declared that he wasn’t going to be chased off his ‘mitti’. There is no attempt to put his actions into context: all you see are the villagers after Banda’s life, forcing him and his family to leave, and later, cartoonish militants carrying out the ISI orders.

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What you also get are creaky scenes between Banda and his best friend (Jeeveshu Ahluwali) — sharing multiple pegs and jovial banter on a ‘charpai’ in their ‘aangan’, venomous comments from said BFF’s ‘gharwali’ after an expected tragedy, and the film descending into a Wild Wild West situation with the villagers taking up arms en masse.

Warsi is such a pleasing performer that he manages to lift even the worst things he is in, but his roles are mostly confined to being loud comic sidekicks. I haven’t seen anything that matches his talent after ‘Sehar’ and ‘Ishqiya’. Playing a central character usually gives a good actor something to do. Not here.

Bandaa Singh Choudhary movie cast: Arshad Warsi, Meher Vij, Jeeveshu Ahluwalia
Bandaa Singh Choudhary movie director: Abhishek Saxena
Bandaa Singh Choudhary movie rating: 1.5 stars