Arjun Kapoor’s latest film Sardar Ka Grandson premiered on Netflix today, and the actor took to his Instagram to dedicate the flick to his grandmother. Arjun Kapoor is essaying the role of a grandson who is on a difficult journey to fulfil the last wish of his ailing grandmother.
The story revolves around the 90-year old Sardar Kaur, essayed by Neena Gupta, who belonged to Lahore but had to move to Amritsar during the blood-drenched partition of India. Although she is living in Amritsar with her sons and grandchildren and has championed a family business, cycling on this side of the border, she still has one part of her heart in her house in Lahore.
Arjun Kapoor plays a grandson, Amreek from Amrika, who has landed in Amritsar to appease his grandmother to stop insisting on visiting her Lahore’s house since she has a tumour. However, on hearing his grandmother’s side, Amreek has a startling realization that the hurt he has been experiencing for a few days after breaking up with his fiancée (the role essayed by Rakul Preet Singh) was what Sardar had lived with for 70 years. Amreek, then decides to fulfil his grandmother’s wish to relive her memories in her house in Lahore.
If Sardar can’t travel to her house in Lahore, can the house be brought to Sardar? This is the question Amreek Singh asks himself when his 90-year-old grandmother expresses a desire to visit Pakistan after 70 years and see the house she built in the 1940s with her husband, Gursher Singh.
In its light moments, Amreek’s cousin Lovely attempts to score a goal with his high-end, ‘The future is Lovely’ campaign for their family business of Champion Cycles and to impress Sardar Kaur to become the CEO of the company as per her will. But it is juxtaposed with a heartbreaking Partition track when Amreek and Sardar Kaur both are seen crossing the India-Pakistan border. While Amreek crossed over to Lahore to fulfil his grandma’s cherished dream, the scene mingles with a young Sardar fleeing in the opposite direction into the safety of Amritsar after her husband got murdered in the riots of Lahore.
The movie has been written & directed by the writer-director Kaashvie Nair, who told the media that the idea of writing this story came to her when she watched an Al Jazeera documentary about an old man revisiting his home in Pakistan after a gap of 70 years.
The film desires to dispense a message as transparent as glass, i.e. “love conquers all.” It is shown when even after so many obstacles created by the Government officials (esp. Mayor of Lahore) and the police officials, Amreek succeeds to take his grandma’s home across the border with the help of the locals. He also got the support of the builder, Mr Khan, who was there to demolish the building and reconstruct the same.
The “moral of the story” is articulated thus by Amreek while addressing the Mayor of Lahore as the film draws to a close: “Nafrat se zyaada taqat na, pyaar mein hoti hai. Tum chaahe jaise bhi ho, par tumhare mulq ke log na, bahut acchhe hain.” (Love is more powerful than hate. Despite the sort of person that you are, the people of your country are very nice.)
Sardar Ka Grandson felt like an Aesop’s fable for a kindergarten child with a “moral of the story” spelt out in the end. However, it also has some bubbly feel in its dialogues, like when the young tea-seller in Lahore (Mir Mohammed Mehroos) telling off Amreek that chaiwalas in your country aren’t given due recognition.
The movie is simplistic, basic and the emotions are well-fitted. The feeling of goodness persists even if it takes on petty ego battles on both sides of the border. The resistance from the Mayor of Lahore (Kumud Mishra) for permission to take the house across the border since he has a history with Sardar also doesn’t really whip up bitter tension.
Rakul Preet provides the mandatory dose of romance in a Bollywood film while being a flagbearer of empowered women. But it’s the feisty Sardar Kaur from Lahore, who’s the true gender champ of the story.
We rate the Arjun Kapoor and Neena Gupta starrer 3.5 out of 5. Do share your reviews of the film with us in the comment section below.
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