Rahul Desai
Yodha is helmed by newcomers Sagar Ambre and Pushkar Ojha. Yodha is not exactly a shaken-and-stirred blend of all these movies, Pathaan (2023), Uri: The Surgical Strike (2018), Mardaani 2 (2019), War (2019), and Kick (2014). but the mishmash of influences is hard to deny.
A hijacked Indian plane defies the laws of physics against the earthly backdrop of an India-Pakistan peace meet in the mid-2000s. Arun Katyal (Sidharth Malhotra) is believed to be a traitor who might have turned on his own country – but you know that’s just a cool smokescreen.
There’s no blatant Pakistan-bashing – which is a credit to any patriotic action thriller these days – but even its dignity is laced with condescension. It is Arun’s single-handed mission to save Pakistan from itself – under the guise of saving cross-border peace.
Only logic and laws of physics were harmed in this rowdy but entertaining action adventure. It is so goofy and chaotic that it’s sort of enjoyable. It has no shortage of unintentionally silly moments.
The audacity to range from The Surgical Strike to SRK convinces the viewer that perhaps every man-made catastrophe – be it physical or diplomatic or cultural – is equally inane. The common man is forgotten while everything else plummets to the ground.
In a strange way, this lack of guile and total commitment to the dumb-fun template rescues Yodha – and situates the movie squarely in between self-parody and self-reflexive. It’s like drinking a cheap cocktail of life and cinema.