Excel Entertainment films are known for bringing Western sensibilities to Bollywood. Films such as Dil Chahta Hai, Don, Rock On!!, and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara are as Indian in terms of their substance as they are Western in terms of style (and flavour). The aforementioned films are made by and for those who have access to international culture, even though they are rooted in Indian sensibilities. Bring in Shridhar Raghavan, the writer of great action films like Khakee and War, and we should have gotten a well-rounded action entertainer from Excel Entertainment that ably combines solid action set pieces with emotionally resonant moments. Sadly, however, that is not the case with Yudhra. The film is a mess in terms of writing.
A long character set-up for Yudhra (Siddhant Chaturvedi), a man who can’t help but get mad, should have led to moments where we feel terrified of his ability to easily lose his cool. Moments where, because of his temper, Yudhra makes a hasty decision. Looking at him, his part-father figure Rehman Siddiqui (Ram Kapoor) says, “Inko khatron se khelna pasand hai.” However, after some time into the first half, this trait is barely existent—the man in fact seems pretty calculative and well-planned.
In a larger-than-life actioner, logic doesn’t really matter that much if the characters and their actions are convincing; it wouldn’t matter if the hero has the secret ability to flap his wings and fly. However, some of the writing decisions in Yudhra just don’t make sense. Why travel to Portugal to save a girl from the bad guys, only to just let her travel alone? Of all the ways to assassinate a dreaded don who has long been evasive, why come up with the done-to-death plan of killing him during a cruise party? Why not write scenes that show how much the characters mean to each other rather than just having random lines like “Today is dad’s birthday, I really miss him”? The latter point might not apply to a slick, no-nonsense actioner, but Yudhra wants to be so much more.
There are parts that work well, though. Despite quick cutaways, the action set pieces have vigour and some good imagination. A sewing machine used to stitch the hands of a goon together so that he always looks like he is pleading. A flute getting pierced into a throat and making sounds when the person chokes. These are well thought-through elements with a sense of slickness that is missing in the rest of the film. The dialogues by Farhan Akhtar make the scenes more interesting than they actually are on paper. When Rehman tells Yudhra that his dad had an anger issue too, he remarks, “Will the judge give me a shorter term if we tell I have a genetic problem?” The background score by Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara is perfectly sinister. And the cinematography by Jay Pinak Oza is sensational. There is a deep, saturated tone throughout that lends more intensity to the scenes than the characters themselves do.
The other big issue, apart from the writing, is that the film lacks memorable performances. Siddhant Chaturvedi looks the part, but he needed to have brought more insanity to his character, Yudhra. Without a maniac-like treatment, the character comes across as just a prick, being purposefully rude to people (until miraculously changing into a good guy later, because, well, he is the hero). Raghav Juyal should have been given way more than ‘wears colourful clothes’. The rest of the actors are all equally flat, with no chemistry between one another.
In the end, Yudhra feels like a missed opportunity. It struggles to find a footing, lingering in the 'somewhat entertaining’ zone. Two terribly placed songs, an unnecessarily stretched romantic angle, needless jumps from one location to another—it all ends up half baked. I left the theatre wishing they had much more of the action portions. Or should I say Kill Chahta Hai?
Film: Yudhra
Director: Ravi Udyawar
Cast: Raghav Juyal, Malavika Mohanan, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Shilpa Shukla.
Rating: 2.5/5
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