Sardar Review

What's Behind

Kollywood actor Karthi is known for his high-octane intense films. He recently entertained Ponniyin Selan and is now getting ready to thrill movie lovers with Sardar. Sardar OTT streaming rights have been bagged by Aha Tamil and will be done after it finishes its theatrical run. The film is directed by Mithran of Abimanyudu (Irumbu Thirai) fame. The film is releasing today October 21 and let us find out how Karthi thrilled movie lovers.

Story Review

Story of Sardar is all about a sincere spy who sacrifices everything putting the nation above all. Inspector Vijay Prakash (Karthi) is media savvy and ensures that whatever he does gets public attention. While preventing a group of people from protesting against a company, Vijay finds out that vital security information has been stolen. During the investigation, he learns about shocking developments related to his past. To unravel the mystery behind Vijay's penchant for public image, his relationship with his girlfriend, lawyer Shalini (Raashi Khanna), Sameera (Laila), and their connection to Sardar alias Chandrabose (Karthi), enjoy Sardar on screen.

Artists, Technicians Review

The story of Sardar penned by PS. Mithran is all about a spy whose credentials are suspicious. Mithran despite coming up with a familiar story arc, emerged successful most of the time with a racy screenplay and direction. The screenplay and narration are racy in the first half which after a few hilarious and entertaining elements picks up the pace and then continues in the same vein with an interesting interval bang. The way he narrated and highlighted the water mafia connecting the dots with international and national politics thrills and excites all. While he showed Karthi in the role of Vijay Prakash as jovial, naughty, and at the same times intelligent in the investigation, he highlighted the Sardar role played by Karthi throughout the second half with intense and high-octane action elements. But for all the positives, the second half is marred by routine elements while the first half is marred by romantic and hilarious elements which dragged the pace of the film. Even the flashback episode in the second half affected the tempo and the Tamil flavor got the viewers disassociated with the Telugu movie lovers. The antagonist role though shown as the most powerful, the conflict between antagonist and protagonist is not taken to another level. For all the highs in action elements and interesting twists and thrills, the narration is low on emotions and though few are there, they fail to connect chords with the viewers.

Karthi known for his versatile acting slipped into the role effortlessly. He performed well as a media-savvy police officer and looked mischievous while flirting with his girlfriend. At the same time, he showed variations in his expressions while getting frustrated when remembered his past and while investing the case in a serious mode. As Sardar, Karthi surprises with his makeover and image transformation. He enacted deadly stunts to surprise all his fans. Raashi Khanna got a limited role and she performed well in the role of a lawyer. Rajisha Vijayan is ok as the second heroine. Laila played an important role and made her presence felt. Chunkey Pandey as the villain looked stylish and made an impact. Others performed according to their roles.

The cinematography of George C Williams is neat and gave a rich feel to the proceedings. The visuals are realistic and captivating. Songs tuned by GV. Prakash Kumar is situational but they acted as speed breakers and are full of Tamil flavor. He elevated the scenes with his superb background music. Editing of Ruben could have been better as there are many routine elements in the narration. Dialogues are good and stunt choreography thrilled the viewers. Production values are good.

Advantages

• Karthi's performance
• Screenplay
• BGM
• Cinematography

Disadvantages

• Editing
• Routine elements
• Missing emotional connection

Rating Analysis

Altogether, Karthi and Mithran's combination increased expectations among movie lovers. Karthi is known for his impactful performances while Mithran is known for his thrilling message-oriented films. With Sardar, the duo doesn't disappoint anyone. Mithran beautifully balanced the thrilling twists and messages he is popular along with Karthi's mass heroism. However, after the interesting first half where the conflict is established in a perfect manner highlighting the major problem the world is facing and how India could be endangered, the second half slows down with the flashback episodes. The moment Mithran tries to highlight the emotions, the narration deviated it affected the film in a big way. After some time, people get a feeling that Mithran is getting too predictable, and the same with Karthi. Had Mithran highlighted the emotions successfully as he did in Irumbu Thirai (Abhimanyudu), the impact of Sardar could have been even more. Mithran's story has some familiar shades of a spy being branded as a traitor and his flashback and how he is vindicated. But he with his screenplay and direction generated interest balancing with Karthi's impactful performance. A little bit of fine-tuning of the screenplay could have helped the film in a big way. Altogether Sardar turns out to be an interesting spy thriller. Considering all these aspects, Cinejosh goes with a 2.75 rating for Sardar.