Following a completely familiar pattern of famous superhero films, A FLYING JATT certainly had a great potential in its basic idea of presenting it as a SPOOF that sadly gets used and forgotten within the first half of the film itself quite irresponsibly.
So ‘it all begins well to end up in a mess’ is the best way to describe this amateurishly executed film co-written and directed by the choreographer turned director Remo D’Souza. In other words, the entertaining part of A FLYING JATT gets over much sooner than expected and then all you get to see is a tediously long boring mix of various social drives and religion thrown into the narrative just for the sake of it. In fact after going through all the deliberately added references of air pollution, toxic wastes, green plantation and a fight sequence placed in the space with an old school kind of constantly growling villain named RAKA, I strongly felt like forgetting all about the film and read the good old Diamond comics series of “Chacha Chowdhury and Raaka” once again having much better entertaining stories to share.
Having said that, a few things did make me smile in the film’s initial moments, like watching the mother getting more excited than the son knowing about his blessed superpowers, the superhero dress being stitched by the mother herself, the jatt flying close to the ground level due to his fear of heights, him obeying the traffic signals too while flying, going to the local market to buy ‘Lauki’ and then the couple of scenes interacting with the kids as a clumsy martial art teacher trying to be the best.
However the overall basic structure remains cartoonish and unconvincing from the very first scene itself when you get to see a graphically designed colourful colony and a huge ancient tree besides the river looking like an overdone unreal set that later gets followed by a lousy unoriginal script, all silly cardboard characters and tacky graphical effects generating a feel of watching something made in the last century instead of the new millennium.
In short, having a painfully long duration of 150 minutes without any appreciable cinematography, special effects or an enjoyable soundtrack, the fun element isn’t really there and the director actually wastes a terrific opportunity of developing a funny Indian superhero spoof series going into many sequels.
In the acting department, no doubt Tiger Shroff yet again comes up with his usual honest performance. But this is his third film (with the first remaining the best) and we are still eagerly waiting for him to choose something much better than these usual, mediocre projects going the easy way. Sharing the good news, believe me or not but the boy was energetically greeted with loud whistles and shouts in a the first show of a single screen theatre, which is nothing short of an achievement in the present competitive world that essentially needs to be reciprocated with a great entertainer as his next.
Playing the leading lady, Jacqueline Fernandez is just there without making any kind of impact in a completely predictable and dull romantic track. A dependable actor like Kay Kay Menon is made to ham constantly. And we also have Shradhha Kapoor featuring in a comic cameo scene that could have been lot better. As a result, despite being too loud and over the top, one still likes the performances of both Amrita Singh as the nagging mother and Gaurav Pandey as Tiger’s only close friend who goes for a sacrifice.
A self-declared eco-friendly film, A FLYING JATT also ends with a quote that happens to be the director’s own with nothing exceptionally new or never heard before. So now we also have directors who are daring enough to end their films with their own quote, instead of introducing the youngsters with a ‘not to be missed’ must-read personality they might not be aware of.
If truth be told, A FLYING JATT is a kind of film that would have never been made, had Remo not delivered two decent successes in the past as ABCD and ABCD2. The writer-director might have had this idea in store since long but without these two films vouching for him - such a casual approach of “Chalo Ek Superhero Film Banatey Hain” would have never got materialized fooling the producers (Balaji Production House) just interested in earning money and nothing else.
So you can go for it, only if you have made some early promises to the kids and now unable to refuse them. But if that isn’t the case, just try to save your money, efforts and time spending it on a better option.
(The basic REVIEW ends here)
Coming to the most important part of the write-up, which might be informative and enlightening for many friends not aware of the actual thought process behind the Sikh faith. The team of A FLYING JATT just uses this religious reference cautiously but in the process also reveals its zero understanding of this particular spiritual path believing in One Supreme Power.
To give them the much deserving due first, the director and his team very rightly guide the unaware viewers about the ‘actual proud connection’ between the time of ’12 O’clock’ and Sikhs related with the history of India. So post watching this film ‘the sick practice of cracking jokes’ should ideally turn into ‘a respect’, remembering those brave Sikhs of the past who fearlessly fought and saved thousands of Indian women from the ruthless Mughals irrespective of their caste or religion.
Sadly that’s the only positive feature related to Sikhism in the film to be honest. And everything else simply reveals that the writer and director neither did some relevant research nor had any kind of ‘learned advisor’ in the team telling them the actual facts. Because if truth be told then the entire film revolving around miraculous happenings and blessed superpowers is strictly against the concept of Sikhism or Sikh faith to be precise.
Putting in clear words, neither the sect nor the divine Guru Granth Sahib teaches or supports MIRACLES in any form whatsoever in its 1430 pages. So Sikhism simply denies the concept of such magical superpowers given to a particular human-being treating him or her special above than everyone else.
Bravery to be displayed as warriors fighting for justice is one of its significant lessons taught as a way of living. But Sikhism never believes in seeking, using or depending upon any miracles or superhuman powers to win over the evil or tough times as shown in the film.
Secondly, displaying their ignorance and lack of understanding, the writer-director proudly showcases Sikhs worshipping an ancient old tree in the film having Khanda (a religious symbol) engraved on it, which again is strictly against the basic principles of the Sikh faith, which doesn’t believe and allow indulging in any kind of idol worship, be it a photograph, image or symbol engraved on any surface or tree.
Thirdly, where at one end the director strongly portrays Sikhs as highly positive and courageous people fighting for others, there he also shamelessly presents the Punjabi mother as a heavy drinker and a loud outspoken lady, holding glasses and asking for bottles in many key sequences. May be Remo was following the widespread misconception about Punjabis (Sikhs) mostly considered to be regular drunkards (tankers) and meat eating people by many (which again reveals no research of any kind made before writing the major characterizations).
Fourthly, the title of the film says A FLYING JATT as if Sikhs and Jatts are synonyms and there is no Sikh in existence who is not a Jatt, again giving you a crystal clear glimpse of the miniscule understanding the writer-director had of this particular community.
In reality if Mr. Remo and his team had made a thorough study then they would have kept the title as A FLYING SIKH and not A FLYING JATT. But probably since the title of FLYING SIKH was already taken up by the respected Milkha Singh, so they had to opt for something else and decided to call it A FLYING JATT without having even an iota of awareness that Jatt is a caste division and not any synonym word that can be used in place of Sikh.
Lastly sighting a hilarious addition by the thoughtful director, in the whole film Tiger keeps flying as a clean shaven superhero forgetting his original identity of a Sikh. But the moment he is made to wear a Pagdi in the climax, suddenly there also comes a faint beard on his face to suit the proper image of a Flying Sikh as required, which actually made me laugh out loud, LOL as they say to be honest.
Next opening a Pandora box, despite having all these visible faults in presentation of a particular sect, if this film was duly shown and approved by some reputed Sikh Organisations before release and they readily allowed this all to be shown in the name of Sikhism and Sikhs, then this fondly makes me recall a famous sheyr (I am not aware of its original writer) which goes…,
“Gar Kulhaadi Mein Lakdi Ka Dasta Na Hota,
To Lakdi Ke Katney Ka Rasta Na Hota”
Hope it delivers the unsaid message to one and all showing them the mirror.
Concluding the whole discussion, I would like to end with a simple question that kept disturbing me throughout the film focusing on a Sikh Super Hero……….that,
Isn’t the concept of A SUPERHERO itself far away and above any kind of particular religion?
Isn’t A SUPERHERO supposed to be free of all religions whatsoever and act beyond this man made limitation itself?
OR The moment one becomes the chosen one blessed by The Supreme Power as A SUPERHERO, then can he still afford to remain a Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian or more following such a narrow mindset?
In other words, what Religion has to do with A Superhero?
or
Why to bring in Religion while you are going for a Superhero film who is actually supposed to help everyone irrespective of any region, religion or colour?
Expressing my personal opinion, its much easier to accept and imagine A SPIDERMAN, A SUPERMAN or A BATMAN without clinging to the concepts, costumes or symbols of any particular sect but its completely illogical to accept and support a superhero film belonging to any specific religion at all as that itself is contradicting to the very thought of A SUPERHERO.
More so because in this way we will even divide our SUPERHEROES into Hindu, Sikhs, Muslims and Christians following a sheer stupid thought process poisoning the innocent minds.
So with a humble request to Mr. Remo with folded hands, please let the SUPERHEROES of our kids remain The SUPERHEROES free of these questionable divisive religions creating another sick war.
Just give it a thought!
Rating : 1.5 + 0.5 / 5 (with the additional 0.5 for spreading the much needed right awareness about the time of 12 and Sikhs not known to majority of people)
(Note: One of the film’s poster looks quite close to that of KRISHH 3 including the costume and stance. Plus the basic structure of the film borrows heavily from the famous Superhero movies.)
