Directors: Sagar Ambre, Pushkar Ojha
Writer: Sagar Ambre
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Raashii Khanna, Disha Patani, Tanuj Virwani
Duration: 133 minutes
Available in: Theatres
Yodha is helmed by newcomers Sagar Ambre and Pushkar Ojha. This is as a lot a factual assertion as it’s a descriptive one. Let me clarify. Writer-director Ambre is credited as assistant director (AD) and script supervisor on movies like Pathaan (2023), Uri: The Surgical Strike (2018) and Mardaani 2 (2019). Ojha’s credit as AD characteristic War (2019), Pathaan and Kick (2014). Yodha shouldn’t be precisely a shaken-and-stirred mix of all these films, however the mishmash of influences is difficult to disclaim. For occasion, there’s War and Pathaan-maker Siddarth Anand’s model of stupid-smart motion, trashy twists and phantom-liberal politics: A hijacked Indian airplane defies the legal guidelines of physics in opposition to the earthly backdrop of an India-Pakistan peace meet within the mid-2000s. A disgraced task-force commando, Arun Katyal (Sidharth Malhotra), has the Hrithik-in-War arc: He is believed to be a traitor who might need turned on his personal nation – however you understand that’s only a cool smokescreen.
Some hammy touches invoke Mardaani 2. Whenever the actual baddies reveal themselves through the movie – three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists on this case – they instantly begin appearing wonky, swaggy and deranged. One of them removes their wig and coos: “It’s so hot!” Another cackles whereas caressing the pinnacle of the Indian head of state. Another behaves as if his favorite ‘villain’ is Fahadh Fasil in Kumbalangi Nights (2019) or, effectively, Vishal Jethwa in Mardaani 2. There’s a little bit of Uri within the movie’s aggressive Kashmir-claiming rhetoric and slick fight sequences. For each flashy one-liner, nonetheless, there’s a terrorist that scowls “Kashmir is a business; war is our religion”.
