Kesari movie review: Akshay Kumar delivers the goods

There are also some threads which seem to have been included to kowtow to the current majoritarian sentiment: a mulla who talks up ‘jehad’, spouts venom against women, and ‘kaafirs’ who need to be decimated. A token Afghan who is not so much of a hardliner is bunged in for balance, but we know exactly who the good guys here are: the 21 Sikh soldiers who are ready to give up their life for their ‘kaum’, and not as men of the British army. Not to miss that ‘kesar’ is the Hindi word for saffron.

What works for the film is its unapologetic embrace of loudness and lack of nuance: rousing speeches of patriotism keep breaking into the bloody action on the battlefield. Akshay gets the maximum, naturally; but the other soldiers do too. Some work has gone into outlining the other men, one of whom is clearly ‘lower caste’, who gets a teeka of equality, another who hasn’t had time for his suhagraat, and yet another who has just become a father.

Akshay is the film. And he pulls it off, keeping that ‘kesari pagdi’ aloft right till the end, delivering thundering speeches while keeping his men’s morale up. His Ishar Singh is inhabited and convincing, and it helps that his Punjabi accent is completely on point.

Finally, despite its predictable arcs, the outcome which we already know, stretched-out length, and clear alignment with the nationalistic mood of the nation, we stay with the film.