120 Bahadur is underwhelming, including little recent perspective and feeling like a normal struggle drama we now have seen umpteen instances earlier than, notes Mayur Sanap.

We already know struggle is hell. Is there something new left to say about its futility?

So many Bollywood movies have bolstered this thought through the years with masala-laden storytelling. Maybe it is the built-in attraction of such tales that continues to attract filmmakers to the style.

120 Bahadur tells the story of troopers combating bravely till their final breath. The story is paying homage to Akshay Kumar’s Kesari, and even J P Dutta’s Paltan.

Right here, the narrative is constructed across the Battle of Rezang La, a big chapter within the India-China Struggle of 1962.

That is an inherently sturdy story, and far of its attraction comes from the deeply transferring human ingredient on the core of it. However regardless of its sincerity and good intentions, the acquainted therapy prevents 120 Bahadur from providing a lot in the best way of shock or surprise.

The movie focuses on Main Shaitan Singh, a recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, who led 120 troopers of the Indian Military’s Charlie Firm as they defended a strategic mountain go in Ladakh towards a a lot bigger Chinese language pressure.

 

120 Bahadur opens with Chinese language troops steadily pushing into Indian territory, an act which Amitabh Bachchan’s resonant voiceover describes as ‘vishwasghat‘ to the India-China dynamics of the Nineteen Sixties.

For a change, the opposing facet is not the khol-eyed, janaab-uttering adversaries, providing a extra intense showdown.

As tensions within the valley rise, Main Shaitan Singh realises his males are vastly outnumbered by the Chinese language troops.

He leads his 120 courageous troopers into the freezing Himalayan heights, able to face an intense battle.

Regardless of the sturdy emotional pull of the story and earnest performances at its centre, there’s one thing a bit too apparent and finally underwhelming about 120 Bahadur.

The whole first half is spent on the introduction of characters and build-up to the large battle. You already know the whys and hows, so the curiosity lies extra in the best way the occasions play out moderately than the occasions themselves.

That is the place the movie begins to lean too closely on all-too-familiar beats.

A good portion of Farhan’s character improvement is conveyed via his life again residence in Rajasthan with intermittent flashbacks.

It reveals his relationship together with his loving spouse, Shagun (Raashii Khanna), who understands that, for her husband, the nation all the time comes first. At one level, she even states firmly, ‘Woh desh ke sipahi pehle hain.’

To ascertain their bond, the movie additionally contains the customary romantic music, which resembles an prolonged tourism montage for Rajasthan.

Raashii does her greatest to deliver nuance to her restrained position, however there’s solely a lot she will do inside the restricted house of what’s credited as a ‘particular look’.

The opposite soldier characters obtain minimal backstory, and the little that’s included leans extra on cliched doses of sentimentality than any real depth.

Nonetheless, a few of these scenes nonetheless work.

Some of the affecting sequences reveals the troopers breaking into the music Yaad Aate Hain as they reminisce about their households and their eager for residence. It is a tender stretch that provides emotional heat to their characters.

One other standout second entails debutant Sparsh Walia, who performs a younger soldier scared of struggle. He will get a robust redemption arc within the climax, the place he lastly finds his braveness in a well-crafted second. The beginner makes his mark, proving he’s somebody to look out for sooner or later.

Director Razneesh Ghai repeats the motion strengths of his earlier movie Dhaakad, protecting the movie brisk and visually sharp.

120 Bahadur is technically spectacular, with lengthy one-shot sequences and hand-to-hand fight that seize the gritty realism of the battlefield.

It is also good to see the director avoiding extreme gore, regardless of the movie coping with a violent topic.

The largest gripe about 120 Bahadur is, unexpectedly, Farhan Akhtar.

Regardless of being a persistently dependable performer, he feels unusually stiff within the position of a soldier. He will get the physicality and angle proper, however by no means absolutely inhabits the character.

His first look is placing: A dead-eyed stare on the enemy, a bullet grazing his ear, and but he stays unflinching.

‘Shaitan naam aisa hello thodi hain,’ a fellow soldier remarks in admiration.

It is a sturdy introduction, however because the movie unfolds, it turns into clear that Farhan is more practical in silent expressions than in delivering dialogue. It finally ends up feeling extra like a giant performing showcase than a efficiency with an actual visceral influence.

In a single light-hearted second, his identify, Shaitan, attracts good-natured jokes from his troopers, who guess if he was a mischievous youngster or if a instructor gave him the nickname. The Main simply smiles at their guesses.

The identify takes on new that means within the climactic battle, the place even the enemy senses the ferocity of the Indian troopers, proclaiming that they appear ‘possessed by the satan‘.

By the point we attain the climax, there is a poignant second the place the troopers look straight on the digicam with light smiles, as if watching from above.

The plaintive music provides to the sombre temper and heightens the emotion.

It is touching, and on this brief silent second the movie lastly lands emotionally.

For probably the most half, although, 120 Bahadur is underwhelming, including little recent perspective and customarily feeling like a normal struggle drama we now have seen umpteen instances earlier than.

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