On September 12, 1897, in the Samana Range, 10,000 to 12,000 Pashtun tribals launched an attack on the small and rocky British outpost, Saragarhi, that was situated between Fort Gulistan and Fort Lockhart in the North West Frontier Province, now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. 21 soldiers of the 36th Sikh regiment, fought valiantly. Led by Havildar Ishar Singh, the battle went on for a day, until each of the soldiers gave in to the attacks from the huge army in the opposite side. The bravery of the soldiers has been unparalleled. In the end, it is the will of the soldiers that won. They wanted to keep the Afghanis occupied for the entire day so they don’t proceed on any of the other outposts, and they did manage it very well.
In the last couple of years, the battle of Saragarhi has been discussed a lot across the media. One, because it makes for a fascinating story/script; and two, some well known stars have been associated with these projects.
However, Kesari, directed by Anurag Singh and starring Akshay Kumar as Havildar Ishar Singh, is the first project to have come alive for the big screen, besides a TV series starring Mohit Raina. The others in the cast of Kesari are lesser-known actors. This ensures that the spotlight follows Kumar, and it does.
Kesari opens with a voice-over of the story behind the creation of the three outposts and the British Army’s constant scuffle with the Afghan tribesman as the camera (ably handled by Anshul Choubey) gives us an aerial view of the rocky, sandy mountain in the region. It doesn’t waste much time before it pans out to Kumar as he explains the concept of sarhad (border) to another soldier in the cantonment.
The frequent use of the words mullah, jihad and majhab, during the course of 150-minutes of the film, is hard to overlook as something that is essential to the plot proceedings. Neither can the explanation behind the power of the colour kesari (saffron). But who are we to suggest anything?
The first half of the film is a build-up to the day of the battle, and focuses on creating a character arc for Kumar—of a person who is valiant, righteous and always ready to take on a fight for the right causes, whether it is saving a woman or building a masjid.
So, it doesn’t come as a surprise when a man single-handedly, you guessed it right –Kumar’s Ishar Singh – starts beating the Punjabi folk tune on his dhol, valiantly pitting it against the numerous Afghan men’s nagada, and his beats supersedes theirs. Unbelievable? Oh, yes. But that is our superhero, without a cape. And, he can do anything, even dream of his courtship days with his wife (Parineeti Chopra) back home.
Perhaps, that is the reason the film seems too long and tiring by the time it ends. The writing by Singh and Girish Kohli is too patchy to keep the film engaging. But the film has its moments, especially during some of the action scenes and the time when the soldiers stand by each other. And, even with all the exaggeration, Kumar handles the character well, especially the action sequences in which he is adept. The prosthetics and fake beard is unconvincing in the beginning; the less attention paid, the better it is.
But the stories of any other soldiers—for instance, Sumeet Basran’s Gurmukh Singh, who kept updating the Lockhart outpost with the happenings at Saragarhi—is too little and comes too late. When a lot of films on the battle were announced one after another, Randeep Hooda (supposed to be playing the lead in one of them) had said that 21 films could be made on this historic battle. “Each soldier deserves his own film,” he was quoted as saying. We wouldn’t be up for 21 films, but won’t mind one directorial that focuses on the stories of every soldier who fought instead of the star power.
Film: Kesari
Director: Anurag Singh
Actor: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra (special appearance)
Rating: 2/5
