Sarfira

Sudha Kongara's direction is effective. She tells an inspiring story, that too which not many are aware of as to how low-cost air travel began in India. The film is peppered with entertaining and dramatic moments that keep the interest going like the intro scene, Vir's first meeting with Paresh Goswami on the flight, Vir explaining the idea of low-cost travel to Prakash Babu in an Udipi restaurant etc. The scene of Vir struggling to collect money to reach home and the scene thereafter is heartbreaking. The intermission point is unexpected. The final 15 minutes are sure to make the eyes of the viewers moist.

Sarfira is a deeply moving and delightfully inspiring movie that gives you the kind of experience that very few films do. Akshay Kumar pours his heart and soul into playing Vir Mhatre and it wouldn't be wrong to say that this role will positively bring him his long lost goodwill, back. Sudha Kongara's filmmaking is as smooth as butter and one doesn't realise how seamless the movie feels, despite being longer than most films that release these days. The story is gripping, the screenplay is brilliant and the dialogues are hard-hitting. The strength of Sarfira lies in how engaging its drama is; filled with the right amount of thrill and tension. The emotional scenes pierce the heart and they shall stay with you, long after you leave the cinemas.

Madan doesn’t do too badly as an independent-minded Marathi mulgi who can teach a thing or two to her old man (you only wish she would stop speaking between her teeth), and the script takes care to insert her into as many scenes as it can. But it fails when it comes to the two men who were his closest partners and companions on the journey to create the airline: ‘Sarfira’ keeps them in the background, and they only come into their own, just a bit, towards the end. The excellent Seema Biswas, playing Akshay’s mother, is reduced to a wailing Bollywood maa; Belawadi is oily to the right degree, but is entirely forgotten after his short arc.

Having watched Akshay Kumar do the gig umpteen times, even his earnest attempts feel like they're operating on autopilot. It doesn't help that Konagra's hopes to faithfully adapt it for Hindi suffers from the same old problem plaguing most Bollywood remakes -- grammar. The indigenous sur of the Tamil original is completely lost in its overdramatic Hindi translation. Kongara shifts the action from a village in Tamil Nadu to one in Maharashtra as flashback within flashback within flashback document Veer's (Akshay Kumar) journey from a man protesting on railway tracks looking like Sonu Nigam on a bad hair day to air force officer rubbing off his senior in the wrong way to a Bhagat Singh supporter unable to mend ties with his estranged Gandhian father owing to shoddy landline services, exorbitant airfare, unreliable Indian road transport prompting him to resign and form his own airline.

Sudha Kongara's writing and her staging of scenes are the major highlights of the film. From the very first scene of a plane declaring 'Mayday' to deep diving into the psyche of Vir and his never-die attitude, the film has several high points. Kongara also takes Akshay Kumar back to the basics. The actor has made a solid comeback in a performance that is so rooted. His emotional scene when he breaks down in front of his mother, played by the brilliant Seema Biswas, is a reminder of how an actor should surrender to his director to be able to deliver an honest performance. Akshay's portrayal of Vir Mhatre shows strife and struggle that often makes for engaging cinema. Despite his superstar status, he becomes the common man and shines in several scenes that allow him to emote and perform.