Sardar Review: A Classy Spy Thriller With A Noble Theme

Sardar provides an interesting take on how limelight and fame could motivate a person to work hard but not always for the right things. However, the discussion is only an interesting side track and the main plot of the film is more about celebrating the unsung praises of spies who dedicate their identities and lives only to perform their responsibilities the best way they could.

"Once a spy, always a spy" says one of Karthi's avatars in the film, and it's not necessarily a line of swag. It comes from the pain of realizing once you go down that path there is no return to a normal way of life. The film is a tribute to spies and secret agents who work in the dark to serve the light.

Story & Performances

Vijay Prakash is a cop who is motivated by the urge to clear up his identity that is being overshadowed by the accusations and shame that befell his father. Although he has never even seen him, he grows up with hatred and resentment over his father, as he is the reason Vijay ended up with no family and a lot of shame in the society.

Vijay is in love with a lawyer who drags him into a case that would turn his life upside-down. Eventually this case leads him to his father and how the interaction goes, and where it takes him is the story of the film. The plot takes up an interesting an educational point of water politics on the global front, and how it affects the general public in ways we never imagined.

The screenplay is tight, although not fast paced. It moves at a reasonable speed without any lags for the most part. Almost all of the scenes are relevant and realistic and the performances are grounded and impressive. Raashi Khanna has performed really well, but her role stands the risk of some people overlooking it because of her limited screen space. I thought she had done a great job and I wish her character had a more prominent space in the story.

The boy who plays Laila's son totally stole the show unexpectedly. He has a reasonable amount of screen time and has totally justified his presence in the film. The antagonist has also performed really well, although because of a lack of nativity one might not engage with that character as much.

Yugi Sethu has made an appearance after significant gap, and it was nice to see him on screen again.

Finally, coming to Karthi, he is scoring homerun after homerun with his films, and I just hope this continues. His performances in the film have been so natural that you sometimes forget you are watching a film. No, I am not hyping up. He is that good an actor.

Strengths & Weaknesses

The film's is overall quite strong. It scores big in writing, performances, production quality even. The Music works quite well on the background score level.

I guess the fact that it doesn't create wow moments periodically might be a weakness, but apart from that I felt this was a very neat film.

Verdict

A spy thriller that is no less than a James Bond or a Jason Bourne film, with the native flavours and feel.