Sardar Ka Grandson(2021)
A review
Sardar Ka Grandson is a Hindi comedy-drama film entailing the quest of Amreek Singh (Arjun Kapoor), as indicated in the title the grandson of Sardar Kaur (Neena Gupta) to fulfill his ailing grandmother’s only wish. In her early life, Sardar had built a home along with her husband and envisioned enriching a family in the home and living with her husband until they grow old. However, life had different plans for young Sardar (Aditi Rao Hydari) and her husband (John Abraham). In the wake of the Indian independence and the following partition, Sardar had to escape the new dominion of Pakistan, with her husband having to sacrifice his life in the process. Now, decades later, Sardar still hasn’t forgotten her beloved home that still lay on the soil of Lahore. With insinuating circumstances, Sardar cannot return to Lahore to fulfill her last wish, so Amreek decides if her grandmother cannot go to her house, he’ll get the house to her. The whole debacle and effort of Amreek trying to do the impossible receive endless curveballs giving out hilarious yet multiple emotional situations.
Firstly, I’ll start with why most people would not have been impressed with the movie. The casting choice foremost is the factor that seems to have gone wrong. People would rarely see John Abraham playing the kind of role he did, albeit a cameo role, yet it was quite unusual seeing Abraham portraying that. Next, Arjun Kapoor tries his very best to carry out the lead role but falls short by a mile. There are many budding and established Bollywood actors that could have done a fantastic job with the interesting character of Amreek. Finally, the film is deemed a comedy-drama but unfortunately excels in neither, with the comic timing being way off and displaced emotional scenes.
Now the good parts that the movie surprisingly pulled off. First, the music is amazing and perfectly fits with the on-screen situations. Second, while most or all of us would have swayed the movie due to the absurdity of the plot, it surprisingly and convincingly keeps the movie sensible and realistic. On the acting front, Gupta charmingly and delightfully plays the role of the grumpy grandma. Finally, the location setting & set are more than perfect, never making anyone doubt the authenticity of Lahore in the backdrop.
My initial thoughts were far from positive, but the movie builds on and carries the story surprisingly well. Unfortunately, maybe due to the set of initial disappointing scenes, the movie does not seem to have much praise from the audiences who would seemingly avoid the movie after those initial scenes. All in all, it is not the best of movies but surprisingly prevails in a few areas, which makes it compelling enough to try. So, if you are looking for something to watch with the family on a dreary Sunday evening, give Sardar Ka Grandson a try; you may end up liking it by the end.
Acting- 7
Casting- 5
Cinematography- 7.5
Dialogue- 6.5
Directing- 7
Editing & Effects- 6
Sound & Music- 8
Story- 6
Storytelling- 7.5
Rating- 6.5
Available on: Netflix
