It is hard to get a commercial action film right. The items on the menu are pretty much the same, and when you further restrict yourself to a film with a dual hero, there is a high chance of running into a plethora of cliches and redundant tropes like the renegade spy, a Jagapathi Babu-ish villain, a nation-wide threat, and of course, an emotional flashback about family bond… you get the drift. Sardar has all and even more of it, but not for a moment does the film comes across as monotonous. One of the significant differences between PS Mithran’s film and the generic affairs is that the director treats the genre and the audience with respect.
Secondly, there’s meat, a lot of it. In the first few minutes of the film, he effortlessly depicts the on-ground functioning of police intelligence. It begins with a small-time politician wanting to become the trending topic on social media. As his team hatches the plan, we are shown how the information leaks to the police through a range of spies and planted sources, eventually ending up as a report on the police department’s table. There’s more. The purpose of the sequence is not just to give a glimpse into how police gathers intelligence, it also leads up to the introduction of one of the film’s heroes, Inspector Vijaya Prakash (Karthi). Nothing goes to waste. If you get a throwaway trivia about a truck full of Plutonium, hang on to it, it might become one of the major plot points later. Tight writing is the key to Sardar’s success.
There are two good performances in Sardar and both are by Karthi. He exhibits a significant difference between Sardar and Vijay to an extent that you forget they are the same people – a rarity in our typical ‘double role’ films. As far as the story goes, Vijaya Prakash is a fame-hungry cop, who wants to make sure that even a small deed of his gets wide attention. “Naalu perukku nalladhu senja kuda adha naaapathaayiram peruku theriyara maadhuri seiyanum (If you do deeds for only four, make sure that it is seen by forty thousand).” This is not just a random character trait. It serves an inner purpose. He wants to undo the shame left behind by his father Chandrabose aka Agent Sardar, who is accused of treachery to the country. He is the son of a secret agent who lives for the spotlight. Another example of good writing.
As far as the plot goes, when Vijay sets off to investigate a theft of a top-secret file by an activist, it takes him to places that reveal a lot about his life and the true story of his dad. What keeps you glued to the screen is that everything in Sardar is about the central plot. Mithran never loses sight of the prize. Vijay’s love interest Shalini (Rashi Khanna) is perhaps the most expendable character in the film, but the writers (Pon Parthiban, Roju, Binpu Ragu, and Geevee) make sure that she gets to add value. The film only slips because of the utterly unnecessary songs, which are also pretty bad; a huge letdown by GV Prakash. The film would have hugely benefited from a better background score. One cannot help but wonder why Mithran, who is otherwise conscious of everything, couldn’t get rid of songs. The other appalling problem of Sardar is the non-syncing dubbing work, which exposes that many dialogues were added post the filming. However, with the speed at which things proceed in the film, you forget and forgive those shortcomings. The climax hints at a sequel, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the universe of Sardar grow, or should I say MCU… Mithran Cinematic Universe.
Sardar Movie Cast: Karthi, Rashi Khanna, Chunky Pandey, Laila, Rithvik Sardar Movie Director: PS Mithran Sardar Movie Rating: 3.5 stars
Kirubhakar Purushothaman is a Principal Correspondent with Indian Express and is based out of Chennai. He has been writing about Tamil cinema and a bit about OTT content for the past eight years across top media houses. Like many, he is also an engineer-turned-journalist from Tamil Nadu, who chose the profession just because he wanted to make cinema a part of his professional life.
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Karthi in Sardar trailer