SUBEDAAR features a massy first half but a weak second.
Subedaar Review {2.5/5} & Review Rating
Star Cast: Anil Kapoor, Radhikka Madan
Director: Suresh Triveni
Subedaar Movie Review Synopsis:
SUBEDAAR is a story about a man who is honest but ends up in trouble.
Arjun Maurya (Anil Kapoor), a recently retired Subedaar, returns to his hometown after the death of his wife Sudha (Kushboo Sundar), who died in a road accident a few months ago. He now lives with his daughter Shyama (Radhikka Madan). At the request of his friend, Prabhakar (Saurabh Shukla), he takes up a job as a driver for Shashikant, who goes by the name Prince (Aditya Rawal). Prince runs an illegal sand business in the area, led by his sister, Babli Didi (Mona Singh), who is currently in prison. Both are feared in the region. Arjun is disturbed by how Prince treats others and quits the job the same day. The next day, there's a fight over parking. It escalates when Prince damages Arjun's new car, which his late wife had booked. Angered, Arjun beats Prince and makes him clean the car. Prince then vows revenge. Later, Prince realizes he left his prized gun inside Arjun's car. Meanwhile, Shyama gets into a conflict with her college friend Ranveer (Vikram Pratap) over the inappropriate videos he sends her. What happens next forms the rest of the film.
Subedaar Movie Story Review:
The story by Suresh Triveni and Prajwal Chandrashekar is similar to JOHN WICK and has some promise.
The screenplay starts well but becomes messy later. The dialogues by Suresh Triveni, Saurabh Dwivedi, and Prajwal Chandrashekar add both drama and humor. One funny scene is when four college students introduce themselves as Ranveer, Ranbir, Kaushal, and Rajpal.
Suresh Triveni's direction is decent.
The film accurately captures the look and feel of a dusty small town. The chapter-wise structure adds a nice touch, and the first half is engaging. There's a good scene where Arjun and Shyama talk about their day, each hiding the exciting events they just experienced. The scene where Arjun attacks Prince and forces him to clean the car is excellent. If this were a theatrical film, it would have received applause.
However, the film takes a turn for the worse.
Events happen without clear reason. It's confusing how Prince left his gun inside Arjun's car, especially near the driver's seat. Shyama's conflict with her classmate is forced and the way it connects with the main story doesn't make sense. Also, Shyama lives in a small town where Prince is a major gangster. It's surprising she doesn't know about the video of Prince being beaten up by her father. The climax is weak and makes little sense. Prince and Babli Didi seem oddly ineffective in the end. The final scene hints at a sequel but it feels unclear.
Subedaar Movie Review Performances:
The acting helps the film a lot.
Anil Kapoor is great in his angry scenes and is impressive in action and confrontational moments. However, in some parts, he seems overly angry which could have been avoided. Aditya Rawal, who impressed in DALDAL, does even better here. He really gets into his character and shows he's a talent to watch. Radhikka Madan gives her best, but the script doesn't give her enough depth. Mona Singh also performs well, but her character lacks weight, especially towards the end. Saurabh Shukla and Faisal Malik (Softy) are excellent in supporting roles. Kushboo Sundar is lovely as always, though she appears again as a deceased wife, only in flashbacks. It's hoped she gets more varied roles in the future. Vikram Pratap, Snehlata Siddharth, Aditya Kashyap, and Arjun Singh Rajput are all okay. Sada Yadav and Vinod Goswami are well cast. Manav Kaul has little to do as the item boy. Nana Patekar appears in a cameo role and is big in that part.
Subedaar movie music and other technical aspects:
The songs are okay.
'Balam Subedaar' and 'Lalla' are new and make an impression. 'Subedaar Theme' is catchy. 'Chilam Tambaku' is not as noticeable. The background score by Rohan Vinayak adds mass appeal.
Ayan Saxena's cinematography is impressive, especially in the highway chase scenes.
Vikram Dahiya's action sequences add to the fun. Kshitij Kankaria's costumes for Anil Kapoor and Shyamli Arora's costumes for others are stylish and realistic. Ajay H Chodankar and Vipin Kumar's production design is authentic. Shivkumar V Panicker's editing is decent but too fast in some parts.
Subedaar Movie Review Conclusion:
Overall, SUBEDAAR relies on Anil Kapoor's powerful and standout performance and a strong first half.
But the overall impact is reduced by a weak second half and a disappointing ending.
