Anil Kumar, Film scholar,
Kerala central university.
Shoojit Sircar’s
latest, Sardar Udham, streaming on Amazon Prime. Starring Vickey as
a lead role will make a quiet person a leader and the louder as this film
provokes an ideological questioner about the revolutionary activities and the
unity in the diversity of India.
Story: - Main theme runs around the life and activities of
Ram Mohammad Singh Azad aka Udham Singh who is trying to assassinate Michael
O'Dwyer in London to take revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The
aim is to understand the emotional arc of an innocent boy from Amritsar who
wouldn’t hold a gun, let alone fire one. What motivation led him to survive
20years to kill Dwyer? Was it driven by revenge? Why is the same person a
revolutionary and terrorist for different people?
Review: - Sircar’s usage of creative liberties and
dramatizing the events for cinematic expression was fantastic. One can feel and live in the scenes with the beautiful background music and top-notch cinematography.
Directors work on hysterography to represent a true picture based on various articles,
reports and research to make the point very clear about global freedom and
imperialism. Distinguish between terrorism and the revolutionary. Director tries to convince the audience by making a conversation between a British officer and
Udham Singh about the hatred. This film is a ticking time bomb waiting to
explode but beware; the wait tries your patience. The intention is to give
a lull before the storm treatment to storytelling. Silence is amplified so when
Udham’s inner turmoil finds an outlet, the impact reaches a crescendo.
Aspects of
Mise-En-Scene:-
- Setting: - Depiction of the chain locking of the culprit, moving soldiers and
the usage of the 1920s vehicles at the opening scenes, travelling through
Siberia, Siberian wild dogs, London immigration with perfect VFX shots
with the combination of the ships, vehicles, streets, trams and the
buildings.
- Lighting: - Movie coloured in warm aged glow to indicate the historical
narration of the film. Scenes of London design with mastery of cinematography,
jail scenes and the lengthiest Jallianwala bagh massacre shot in the night
with perfect visualisation.
- Acting: - Expressing the ideology of free speech at the monument, court
scenes and rescuing the wounded bodies, searching the dead bodies will
melt the audience.
- Set props: - Khyber guest house to represent the place, timings, depiction of
the telegraph, telegram and telephone highlighted the historical narration, red coloured
files, closed ground of Jallianwala bagh having the narrow entry.
- Hand props/Action props: - Hunting scenes of the Jallianwala bagh massacre,
lovely moments of the protagonist, lines written on the hand, rejection of
food, and forceful injection of food.
- Costume: - British Indian uniform of the soldiers, imperial officers, police,
costumes of the crowd, judges and the pupil of London.
- Makeup: - showing the life phases of the protagonist as a young boy
transformation to an aged revolutionary.
