By Navya
The heartbreaking stories of pre and post-partition Indo-Pak pacifism never fail to move audiences. “Sardar ka grandson” attempted to resurrect pre-partition Punjab emotions that had been buried in the depths of hearts. However, the attempt was rather dull and failed to impress the viewers in this regard. Let us look at how the film “Sardar ka Grandson” fared with the audience in this article:
First and foremost, the plot revolves around Sardar (Neena Gupta) and her NRI grandson. Amreek (Arjun Kapoor) returns to India after learning that his beloved grandmother is suffering from a tumour. Sardar is the family matriarch and the owner of a bicycle manufacturing company who resides alone in Amritsar.
Despite the fact that the grandmother and son live distant apart, the love between them is beautifully displayed in the way the grandson feels affectionate towards his granny. Even though he visits his grandmother after a long time, he appears to be willing to go to any length to make his grandmother happy in her final moments.
Sardar pours her heart out about the suppressed feelings she had although the years for their ancestral home back in Lahore, where they used to reside before partition. She shares her last wish with him that she yearns to revisit their old house in the town of Lahore in her last days and Amreek promises to fulfil her wish as every good NRI grandson does in all the emotional Bollywood dramas.
The story then completely shifts to the shenanigans of Amreek who struggles in Lahore. Although Amreek tries hard to fulfil his granny’s last wish, he undergoes a mix of experiences on his path to success.
Although the film celebrates the relationship between a grandson and his grandmother, it may take you 15 to 20 minutes to get into the mood of the film. To repay his grandmother’s love, Amreek finally decides to relocate their ancestral home from Lahore to Amritsar in Punjab using a technique known as relocation engineering.
The term and idea appear surreal, the storey manages to entertain the audience with occasional comedy and a constant flow of emotions.
Loads of love, warmth, and admiration throughout the film take you on an emotional roller coaster that you will carry with you. Even though there is no thrilling element in the film, the director’s portrayal of the warmth of relationships must be admired.
The display of affection between Sardar and Amreek has been clever yet subtle, and it has found its way into the hearts of the audience.
To add colour to the story, the author chose to collocate two love stories in order to demonstrate how love has changed over time. While Amreek and Radha’s love story failed to elicit any emotions from the audience, the age-old story of Gursher Singh (John Abraham) and Rupinder (Aditi Rao Hydari) perfectly depicted the pure innocence of love in the past.
The director chose to show two love stories from different eras to contrast the evolution of the definition of love both then and now. Although Arjun and Rakul Preet Singh have played their roles admirably, the couple’s chemistry has been a difficult pill to swallow.
In terms of the film’s central theme, a grandson attempting to fulfil his grandmother’s final wish, the film has beautifully depicted the depth of familial relationships in Punjabi families. The rush of emotions in the familial drama will undoubtedly move you as an audience member, whether you are a Punjabi or not.
The film’s familial values are something that the audience would like to see again in theatres. The film allows you to reminisce about happy times you’ve shared with your entire family in the past. It is a good movie to watch with family, especially for Indian audiences, because there are no adult scenes or even minor public displays of affection.
So, on a scale of 0 to 10, the film gets an absolute 10 for cleanliness and neatness, and it can be considered a complete family entertainer on this front.
Despite displaying such strong values, the film failed to establish its brand at the box office due to poor storytelling and performances. The most important factor, partition, was underemphasized and thus failed to emotionally connect with the audience.
Neena Gupta, Kanwaljit Singh, Kumud Mishra, and Soni Razdan, as well-known actors, draw a lot of attention and scrutiny from the public. However, they appeared to be a little off-track in terms of meeting the audience’s expectations.
Although the talented actors and actresses are known for owning the screen, the poor screenplay limited their ability to blend in with the characters.
Aditi Rao Hydari, out of all the renowned actors, has done a commendable job in terms of both appearance and performance. By capturing the dialect and accent, she was able to connect with the audience.
Aditi has done an excellent job as the younger Neena Gupta. Although John Abraham has done an admirable job as Gursher Singh, he has been limited by screen time and depth.
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is the importance of human relationships. This film attempts to delve even deeper into the hearts of the audience in order to emphasise this point. As has been discussed numerous times, current generations are failing to maintain that beautiful rapport with their grandparents, and the film will serve as a gentle reminder of the current generation children’s lack of emotional connection with their grandparents.
The film did a good job of making the audience empathise with the concept of giving back to grandparents. In this pandemic-induced lockdown, it would be a good choice to watch “Sardar ka grandson” with parents and extended family, as it provides an excellent opportunity to hang out with your family this summer, when you have nowhere else to go, as in previous times.
To summarize, the film is worth watching with your family as it allows you to spend time together while reminiscing about the good old days.
Woah! Amazing review😍