Before reviewing this Ajay Devgan’s produced action comedy, let me take you into the probable backdrop of its making as it seems. For those friends who might not be aware, S. S. Rajamauli is a big name in the South Film Industry who has an incomparable record of giving major quality hits in a row in the recent years. A few months back Akshay Kumar tasted success with ROWDY RATHORE which was a remake of Rajamouli’s film and last month Hindi film viewers witnessed one of the most innovative films of Indian Cinema called MAKKHI (EEGA) dubbed in Hindi.
In 2009-10, Rajamouli thought of a plot based on a silent Hollywood film OUR HOSPITALITY made in 1923. The storyline was such that it needed a central character who could play it as a comedy and generate enough laughter in the theater. In order to portray the plot authentically, Rajamouli decided to take an unconventional cast and took the risk of making it as an experiment calling it MARYADA RAMANNA with Suneel in the lead role. The gamble paid off and the film clicked big time as it had enough comedy to keep the viewer entertained fairly for about two hours.
Now in 2011-12, Ajay Devgan bought the rights of this Telegu film which was also remade in other regional languages too. But the problem was that with such a plot, how to create a sure shot comedy as Rajamouly did in his Hit version. And working on this confusion Ajay Devgan’s team thought of a sad but brilliant commercial idea of converting the whole regional village comedy into a Punjab based film with all Punjabi or Sardar characters as comedians. The reason being, that it was so easy and exciting to make an explosive comedy with all Santa-Banta kind of people fighting with each other on the screen like clowns. Further the genre with the added “Sardar” thing had its own commercial advantages both in the country as well in the overseas market as proved in the recent times repeatedly. So that’s how the work on SON OF SARDAR started, ready to exploit the rich culture and the lively people of Punjab in a funny manner just to earn some quick money bags by the team and nothing else.
Putting it differently, SON OF SARDAR is a film which makes fun of the community in such an open, loud or confident manner that one may not even feel that there is something objectionable in it at all while watching it (which is indeed an intelligent move by the director). At one end, Ajay Devgan keeps on praising the spirit of Sikhs, their pride in their turban and the teaching of their honorable Gurus with all the due respect. But on the other, the writer-director continues cracking sick jokes one after another on the living styles of Punjabi’s, their ever-ready fighting spirit, their drinking habits and their other forcibly created confusions to generate regular laughter in the theater. To be honest, after watching the film even the SIKHS would be in a confused state that whether we should appreciate this kind of solid portrayal of ourselves on the screen or it needs to be opposed strongly. And that’s precisely how Ajay Devgan must have got the approval from all those Sikh authorities the film was shown to, after agreeing to some cuts pointed out by them before its release very cleverly.
Moving on to the film itself, SOS begins in a totally commercial mood, with the title song followed by a long fight sequence in which you right away meet The Pathaan, Salman Khan entering on the screen to help Ajay. So all those claps & seetis can be heard in the first 10 minutes only in the theatre, filling you with a great energy. The pace continues for another hour and you enjoy the proceedings mostly before it says intermission. But the basic plot of the film is too thin to be stretched beyond a certain limit and therefore all you have in the second half is many well directed fight sequences in pure South style to keep you amused. Hence as an individual Hindi film, SOS entertains you effectively in its initial hour but fails to do the same post interval due to its not so great story-plot.
However if you see the original MARYADA RAMANNA directed by S. S. Rajamouli then he doesn’t let it drop so badly in the later part and continues looking after the entertainment factor right till the climax. But SOS largely becomes dependent upon the long action sequences in its second hour with less of the comic entertainment promised, which eventually goes against the film in the end. So for all the true fans of action genre, it has a lot in store in its final hour as an essential feature of a Ajay Devgan project. But for the ones who wish to see a great enjoyable comedy, it gives you the same only marginally.
Another merit of SOS lies in its fresh pairing of Ajay Devgan and Sonakshi Sinha, who look very charming on the screen saying all those one liners with the Punjabi touch. Ajay’s “Kadey Has Vi Leya Karo” and Sonakshi’s “Chal Jhootha” work fine with the audience almost every time they say it impressively. But its really high time Sonakshi thinks of doing some meaningful role in her chosen films, other than being there just as a beautiful showpiece. Ajay plays the mix of a comedian and an action hero well and he is going to be loved by his fans in this new avatar of his as a Sardar.
Sanjay Dutt as the strong opponent acts tough yet I couldn’t get his confusing get-up thought of by director Ashwani Dhir. It was nice to see Tanuja on screen after a long time but Juhi Chawla sadly remains in her “Kurkure” form throughout like a cartoon character. Vindu Dara Singh gets some good punches along with Rajesh Vivek saying “Silencer La Puttar” and Mukul Dev once again impresses in a film made around the Punjabi backdrop. Among the rest Arjan Bawa, Puneet Issar and Mukesh Tiwari do not get anything substantial to show up their acting skills.
In its musical department SOS gets a good support from its four catchy tracks composed by Himesh Reshamiya with the famous “Pon Pon” featuring Salman Khan coming along with its end credits following the latest trend. But as usual all these tracks are simply added into the film without any need as such. Sandeep Chowta’s energetic background score gels well with the feel of the movie and the superbly shot innovative action sequences are sure going to help it get some good response in the smaller centers
In all, made exactly on the format discovered by Rohit Shetty and Prabhudeva in their films, it will not be surprising if SON OF SARDAR does exceptionally well in the coming days as projected. Because if Ajay’s last comparatively weak film “Bol Bachchan” can surprisingly enter the so called ‘100 crore’ club then SOS should also do that quite easily.
Rating : 2.5 / 5
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