Yodha analysis: This action drama backed by Karan Johar is oversimplified and underwhelming due to poor writing and formula filmmaking.
Yodha analysis: A few weeks prior, Siddharth Anand, the director of Fighter, hypothesized that the reason his masterpiece about aerial combat was failing was likely because a significant portion of the Indian film audience had never flown. I’m sure that directors Sagar Ombre and Pushkar Ojha wouldn’t mind that after Yodha, whose meanings also include fighter.
The reason for this is that the narrative goals of this unwieldy Sidharth Malhotra and Raashii Khanna film have enough turbulence—tumbling, twisting, rolling, and rumbling—that it is easy to predict the plot (if you cared to).
The hypothesis
Played by Sidharth, Arun Katyal is a special forces commando who leads an elite task force as its de facto duke. His father, Surender, played by Ronit Roy, founded the unit. Yawn: Task forces are the ideal job for a hormonal pre-teen, so please, creators, consider alternatives. Raashii is his wife, Priyamvada, a senior ministry bureaucrat who subsequently works as the Indian Prime Minister’s secretary, looking rather glum and wimpy.
On the other hand, Arun is a brash one-man army who just goes on risky extraction missions at random and returns victorious, trailing tricolor smoke grenades in his wake. His wife Priyamvada is a grumpy, responsible woman who seems to be constantly preparing to file for divorce. After a background-setting opening scene in which Arun eliminates six Bangladeshi infiltrators in the Sundarbans, a generic Vishal Mishra song about the couple’s unstoppable romance plays.
The movie throws the protagonist right into his unmaking right away: a plane hijack, which he barely survives in spite of several battle scenes throughout the entire flight. Following an investigation, Arun is convicted of insubordination, and the task force is dissolved.
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Critical details omitted
Though it doesn’t seem like the biggest flaw, Yodha ignores other aspects in favor of its spectacular crash-landing finale, which is packed with impressive stunt work. The protagonist’s fall from grace and the breakup with his wife are the script’s two most important plot points, and they are handled with such unfeeling imminence and frivolity that you feel bad for the script when it smugly reveals Disha Patani’s character toward the end. It is annoying that Sidharth gave such a flat portrayal of a character that could have been written as conflicted or beleaguered, given his physical characteristics and background playing decorated war heroes, army men, and spies. Such characters come across as sloppy when he delivers cringe-worthy one-liners while clumsily mimicking SRK’s open arms to manipulate his wife.
The Tiger and Pathaan movies have previously tried to appease both parties while eschewing the overtly patriotic model. However, Yodha’s cheesy and smug appropriation of it, along with his superficial analysis of terrorism and the Kashmir dispute, leave this movie lacking anything original. The very brief suggestion that the hero has turned rogue offers a glimmer of hope, but even that remote possibility is swiftly dismissed. After that, the movie throws itself into piecing together the broad strokes puzzle it created. I hope the experts accept the aeronautical explanations and Sidharth’s strength of character, as most people would find it difficult to remove their oxygen masks in the plane’s belly. That’s Bollywood for you, though.
The shows
It’s disheartening that screenwriters still rely so heavily on easily found insane antagonists to add tension to their characters’ characterization and provide the hero with the moral obligation to destroy them completely. The antagonist finally says, “Agar dono mulkon ke beech shaanti samjhauta ho gaya toh hamaara karobar kaise chalega,” for the benefit of all those in the audience who have been dozing off up until that point. The audience gets no relief from Sunny Hinduja’s (Sandeep Bhaiya, The Family Man) utter incompetence and lack of creativity in this part until Sidharth rips him to pieces at the very end. Raashii’s character isn’t allowed to fully engage in conflict with her conceited husband, for example, as her script promises.
To sum up
Finally, a couple of queries: Why does Chittranjan Tripathy portray a random Punjabi and what is the purpose of his character? In 2006, how could Blackberry devices play 1080p video? Where was Disha’s character trained in hand-to-hand combat? (Because she does knock Sidharth out cold). When it’s time to fire, why do the villains always talk so much? Go ahead and board the flight if you can answer these questions.
Read Also: Sidharth Malhotra’s Yodha Makers and Pratilipi Comics Present Comic Book Adventures of Yodha
