Sooryavanshi (2021): In Search Of The RDX

Sooryavanshi (2021) Trailer:

The Good:

Portrays The Reality Of Indian Muslims

Sooryavanshi depicts the reality of Muslims in India. It signifies the fact that all Muslims are not alike and opposes the stereotyping of the entire Muslim community. Sooryavanshi does depict that all Muslims are not terrorists. However, it also shows that the Muslim community has certain anti-national elements like Kader Usmani who spoil the name of the entire religion!

Sooryavanshi portrays that certain Muslims, like the character of Usmani in the movie, practice terrorism and raise hatred amongst their fellow Muslims towards other religions, especially Hindus. Such Muslims spoil the name and identity of their religion. But, there are patriotic Muslims as well like Naeem Khan and his son Abbas who serve the police force and fight for the welfare of their country.

This is what DCP Sooryavanshi told Usmani when he was using his religion as a shield to avoid arrest. Sooryavanshi told that he is not biased toward any particular religion and he has arrested people belonging to every religion during his career. It is only the crime and the criminal that matters to him when making an arrest. It has got nothing to do with the criminal’s religion.

However, as Sooryavanshi’s story is based on terrorist attacks and Muslim identity, it has created a huge controversy in India after its release.

Great Performances

Akshay Kumar as DCP Sooryavanshi was fascinating. His action stunts, charisma, and dialogue delivery in this movie were super. Akshay has carried out his role of the diligent and fearless cop to his full capability. DCP Sooryavanshi had the habit of forgetting words, especially names of people, and misspelling them out. This gave the Sooryavanshi character a comical twist in his daredevil attitude. The best thing about Akshay Kumar is that he doesn’t use a body double for his action sequences. He does the action scenes in his movies all by himself!

Katrina Kaif as the strict doctor and wife of Sooryavanshi too carried out her role well. I must appreciate Rohit Shetty here who has chosen to cast Katrina opposite Akshay. Akshay Kumar is aging and a young actress wouldn’t have been a great match opposite him. Katrina, now nearing her 40s, aptly suited the role of the wife of the aging superstar. She also gave a sizzling performance along with Akshay in the song “Tip Tip Barsa Paani” which is in fact a remake of the track by the same name in the 1994 Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty starring blockbuster movie Mohra. Here Akshay did a remake of his own track from that film. Only the actress is different. In 1994 it was Raveena Tandon opposite him and in 2021, it’s Katrina! Most of the tracks in Sooryavanshi are remakes of previous tracks from various Bollywood films.

The lead villain in Sooryavanshi Maulana Kader Usmani played by Gulshan Grover was intriguing. Grover, the “Bad Man” of Bollywood, has a track record of fascinating the audiences with his intimidating dialogues and expressions. Mark my words, his expressions are sure to instill a thrilling essence in your mind while watching the movie!

Jackie Shroff as the Lashkar’s chief Omar Hafeez and Abhimanyu Singh as Omar’s son, Riyaaz Hafeez performed well. Jackie Shroff didn’t have much of a role in the movie and he was seen in a few shots. Abhimanyu Singh performed quite a few high-intensity action stunts which included his one-one-fight with Akshay as DCP Sooryavanshi.

Nikitin Dheer has a very tall, robust, and intimidating build. However, I felt that the character of terrorist Mukhtar Ansari didn’t quite suit his personality. He didn’t have much dialogue delivery in the movie. Still, he did all efforts to carry out his role diligently and participated in an intense one-on-one fight sequence.

The Extended Cameo Appearances: Featuring Ajay Devgan And Ranveer Singh!

You will only be able to understand the logic behind Sooryavanshi if you had watched Ajay Devgan as DCP Bajirao Singham in his Singham series of police action films and Ranveer Singh as police inspector Sangram Bhalerao a.ka. Simmba in the 2018 police action-drama Simmba.

Ranveer Singh As Inspector Simmba In The Final Fight Scene In Sooryavanshi

https://youtu.be/cnoTrx260SI

As the ending approached and the ATS put all their plans and efforts to action in locating the planted RDX bombs, inspector Simmba (Ranveer Singh) takes the entry. DCP Sooryavanshi takes the help of inspector Simmba to catch Mukhtar Ansari and locate all the RDX which had been planted by the terrorists across various locations in Mumbai.

However, the ending scene showed Sooryavanshi’s wife Dr. Ria taken hostage by the terrorists as they had planned to use her as a suicide bomber to attack the headquarters of the ATS. Meanwhile, DCP Sooryavanshi, inspector Simmba as well as all the other cops of the ATS were also taken hostage by the terrorists.

All of a sudden, Ajay Devgan as DCP Bajirao Singham makes his smashing entry and saves the day! The three cops, DCP Sooryavanshi, DCP Singham, and inspector Simmba; destroy the terrorists single-handedly!

I was amazed at what I saw. The final 30 minutes of Sooryavanshi only comprised intense one-on-one fights, gun action, and stunts where the three daredevil officers use all their combat skills to counter and demolish an entire lot of terrorists. While they were fighting the terrorists, Simmba was throwing funny gimmicks to irritate Sooryavanshi which was indeed fun to watch. The irritated Sooryavanshi told Singham to shoot Simmba first and then kill the terrorists. This added a real funny essence to the action sequences.

However, this movie is named Sooryavanshi, isn’t it? Then DCP Sooryavanshi was supposed to be the real hero. But here the story took a drastic twist and Ajay Devgan as Singham came roaring all of a sudden to help Sooryavanshi who was nothing more than a mere hostage to the terrorists. Had Singham not arrived at the end moment, Sooryavanshi and his cop team would have had it from the terrorists. What a twist! However, I have nothing to say regarding this. The story of Sooryavanshi is what Rohit Shetty thought best! He decided to bring all the police characters from his previous movies on screen together and give the notorious terrorists a blast!

The Action-Filled Screenplay

The screenplay of Sooryavanshi by Yunus Sajawal involved a lot of action sequences. The 2 hours and 25-minute movie is loaded with thrills and high-intensity one-on-one fights, police encounters, gun action, and astounding car chases and helicopter stunts. I must confess; this movie is a complete feast for action lovers!

Not just action, the screenplay involved some mind-blowing dialogue too! Some of the dialogues that Sooryavanshi gave to the villains were, “The bullet that will kill you will be stamped in bold…MADE IN INDIA!”; “Mumbai police doesn’t fire a bullet based on the religion mentioned on the passport…It fires based on the criminal record!” and “The amount of hatred we (Indians) have for Ajmal Kasab… we have the same amount of respect for Abdul Kalam!”

Awesome Camerawork And Special Effects

Sooryavanshi’s high-definition camerawork by Jomon T. John specifically captured all action sequences in minute detail. The special effects in this movie were amazing as a lot of bombings have been shown. The filming of Sooryavanshi took place in Mumbai, Bangkok, and Hyderabad and the action sequences shot in Bangkok specifically aroused my interest. Bangkok happens to be a beautiful place and the scenic beauty in the shots taken in Bangkok was much more appealing as compared to the sandy landscape shots of India. The camerawork was coupled with precision editing by Bunty Nagi which kept the movie’s flow and thrill intact.

Rohit Shetty Deserves The Credit!

Rohit Shetty, the veteran action film director of Bollywood, has fascinated the audiences over decades with mind-boggling action sequences in his movies. Whenever it is a Rohit Shetty film, whether it is a comedy or a thriller, that film will be flooded with intense action scenes and daredevil stunts. I am eagerly waiting for more of his films to release.

The Bad:

Old Akshay!

Indeed, Akshay has given a tremendous performance. However, the only issue is that Akshay has become too old for such roles. If you happen to watch Sooryavanshi, you will understand why I am saying so. His hair has turned grey, his bones are visible which usually happens when a person ages and loses muscle mass, and the sagging skin from his throat while he kept his collar open was very much visible. Akshay has posed as a maybe 35-year-old cop in this movie and his aging looks simply spoil the character of DCP Veer Sooryavanshi.

Kumud Mishra as Bilal Ahmad (Dawood Ibrahim)

Dawood Ibrahim, who in fact is portrayed as Bilal Ahmad in Sooryavanshi, looked timid and scared, roaming alone everywhere and appeared an easy target for the police. Here Kumud Mishra as Bilal Ahmad visited his mother’s grave after reviving 600 kilograms of RDX from his isolated ancestral home. He was tracked by Sooryavanshi and his police team when he was offering prayers at his mother’s grave. When the police surrounded him in his hotel room, he committed suicide in front of them. Not only such incidents shown in this movie are far from reality, but I also feel that Kumud Mishra by his looks, body language, and acting combined didn’t suit the character of the fearsome terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.

The Verdict:

I don’t know why Bollywood has the habit of exaggerating the image of Indian cops. Bollywood makes movies where cops are shown as kind of “invincible” which is absolutely not true. Here in India, crimes occur but the cops are the last ones to arrive at the crime spot, let alone fighting criminals and terrorists!

Sooryavanshi Ending Scene: Gunning Down The Terrorists

However, I must admit that there are brave and patriotic police officers in India too like Vishwas Nangre Patil who countered the notorious terrorist Ajmal Kasab during the 26/11 attacks at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, India. The Sooryavanshi movie and the character of DCP Veer Sooryvanshi are inspired by him and his contributions.

Sooryavanshi also depicts a hard reality. At times, Indian Muslims get brainwashed by some Pakistani goons and terrorists, like Kader Usmani in the movie, who tend to divide them from their Hindu brothers in the name of religion. Whether a person is a Hindu, Muslim, or Christian; the truth is that we all are humans! Man created religion. Religion did not create man. We, humans, have divided each other based on social status, religion, race, and whatnot! As far as I believe, the social troubles caused by religious sentiments are all man-made and illogical.

India remains under a constant threat from Pakistani terrorists who are responsible for the 1993 Mumbai bombings and the 26/11 attacks at the Taj hotel which claimed the lives of thousands. Sooryavanshi does make us aware of this fact.

The ending of Sooryavanshi was a bit unexpected to me. I thought DCP Veer Sooryavanshi would be the sole hero of the movie. But the actual hero turned out to be DCP Bajirao Singham who saved the day! If you happen to be an action lover like me then do watch this thrilling police action drama where the Indian Anti-Terrorism Squad bravely counters the Pakistani terrorists and destroys them effortlessly.