Son of Sardaar 2 Review

The first part of Son of Sardaar was released back in 2012, and it was a remake of SS Rajamouli’s movie Maryada Ramanna. Rajamouli has evolved into a phenomenal filmmaker, with his canvas becoming much bigger. But unfortunately, the current scenario of the Hindi film industry is such that they are making sequels to content that others created. Much like how Dhadak 1 was Sairat and Dhadak 2 was Pariyerum Perumal, Son of Sardaar 2 is also an adaptation, and this time they have taken the idea from a Turkish movie named Aile Arasında (Between family). The obsession with sequels is so much that if you look at the filmography of Ajay Devgn, his last release was Raid 2, his current release is Son of Sardaar 2, and his upcoming releases are De De Pyaar De 2, Drishyam 3, and Shaitaan 2. The reputation of the kind of original sequels they have created is so bad that director Jeethu Joseph had to seek legal ways to prevent the Hindi makers from creating their version of Drishyam 3. Coming to Son of Sardaar 2, it’s just a lot of random gags in the disguise of cinema, and I would say watching Sunil Grover in the Kapil Sharma show offers you better entertainment in the same format.

So this spiritual sequel has a different Jaswinder Singh, aka Jassi. He was married to Dimple, who was in London. But when Jassi eventually reached London after several delays in getting the visa, the long-distance relationship had taken its toll, and his marriage fell apart. What we see in the movie Son of Sardaar 2 is a series of things Jassi gets involved in order to stay in the UK for some more time.

The movie’s name is Son of Sardaar, and we have this title song at the beginning that projects the hero as a saviour, and there is even a dialogue from the hero’s mother that a real Sardaar would help others. On its periphery, the movie claims to be something that respects the Sikh community. However, the desperation to find humor in this lame plot is such that you would see the film going after the stereotypical Santa Banta jokes that sort of make everyone laugh at the Sardars we see on screen. The first part of the movie was a scenario where Jassi couldn’t literally escape from a house. In the second part, they are trying to use this “real Sardar” emotion to entrap him in that clown house. And the things they add to the movie to keep the Story in that house are basically skit-worthy stuff.

There is an area in the movie where the film sort of mocks the jingoistic sentiment in our country against Pakistan. It was kind of weird that a silly, sloppy comedy made here has a broader world view than some of the celebrated mainstream films. In a way, the overall mediocrity of Son of Sardaar 2 may have been the reason why it has not faced any ban threats from the censor board or all those hyper-sensitive organizations. Aseem Bajaj’s cinematography is on the flat side to maintain the comedy mood. The production design and the cinematography, along with badly rendered CGI set extensions and green screen shots, make it look like a poorly written sitcom.

It’s been a while since we have seen Ajay Devgn in a comedy film. So this movie somewhat gives an opportunity for a different set of facial muscles in Ajay’s face to move. Well, the script wants the character to shuttle between being a buffoon and a braveheart. So when you look at that demand, the performance was sufficient. Mrunal Thakur as Rabia is able to get to the pitch of the performance the outlandish Story here demands. When the promos were released, there was talk about the staggering age gap between Devgn and Thakur. But the makers have pulled off a UNO reverse here by making 33-year-old Mrunal play an older character who is like a stepmother to a 23-year-old Roshni Walia. Ravi Kishan has played the role of Raja, which was initially supposed to be done by Sanjay Dutt. Talented actors like Deepak Dobriyal and Kubra Sait are reduced to mere background artists. The elaborate ensemble has names like Sanjay Mishra, Vindhu Dhara Singh, Chunky Panday, Sarath Saxena, and the late Mukul Dev.

The idea of director Vijay Kumar Arora seems to be focusing only on making each scene funny rather than having a coherent script. We have scenes where CGI is used to show Ajay Devgn as the hero of the film Border. And there is even a scene where Ajay Devgn is giving a lecture to a room full of people about dance and its diversity. That’s like listening to one of the Khans talking about driving safely on the road. And we are getting to see this speech about dance in a movie that has “Pehla Tu Duja Tu.” I mean, the days they shot that song would have been one of the best days in the lives of those background dancers; less effort, more money. Son of Sardaar 2 is yet another example of Bollywood depending on existing IPs, as it is unwilling to invest in original ideas.