One of the happiest surprises in Indian mainstream cinema is how action sequences have improved. We still lag behind when it comes to the big, visual effects-filled set pieces: in other words, we won’t be seeing one of our ageing heroes climbing the Burj Khalifa anytime soon. But I have really come to enjoy the tight choreography of action in cramped quarters. We recently saw this in the Tamil film, Joshua, as well. Instead of going wide and giving us spectacle, the camera goes real close and captures the combat as though we – the audience – are a hair’s breadth away from the people fighting. Yodha has many such bursts of exciting action. They don’t overstay their welcome. Even better, they don’t make the hero look like a superhero. We know he is going to win. But he's also going to bleed. I was reminded of the Die Hard films, where Bruce Willis gets as good as he gives, as opposed to the Equalizer films, where Denzel Washington barely breaks a sweat. It helps when a hero seems… vincible.
Of course, mere bursts of action – however well-executed – cannot sustain a two-and-a-quarter hour movie. So it helps that the directors Sagar Ambre (also the writer) and Pushkar Ojha have a few narrative tricks up their sleeve. They ask the most important question: “When the trailer is going to give away the fact that this is a hijack thriller, how do we still keep the audience surprised?” So we get a hijack situation, sure, but it is not what we think it is and it does not end the way we think it will. The hero, Sidharth Malhotra, is no Superman. Despite his best efforts, he is not faster than a speeding bullet. The casting works well. Sidharth has a vulnerable face, and he gives us a lithe action hero – named Arun – who we can instantly root for. Like many action heroes, Arun does not take orders easily – he has a dash of the vigilante spirit. But if it helps, he is an earnest vigilante, not a cocky know-it-all. If he breaks rules, it’s because he knows people could die otherwise.
Yodha is quite enjoyable, but it’s not perfect. I wish Arun’s mother had been axed from the movie. She has nothing to do, and in a thriller, every wasted minute is flab. I wish Arun’s camaraderie with his Special Ops team – named Yodha – had given us a better sense of brotherhood and bonding. I wish the stewardess played by Disha Patani had been written in a less cartoonish manner, given her importance in the proceedings. I wish the patriotic bursts of music and the patriotic visuals (even the flares are saffron, white, and green) had been replaced with… other nods to the nation. Aren’t there other ways to show that a man cares for his country? Why do we always get these broad strokes? I wish Arun’s scenes with his wife, played by Raashii Khanna, had had more weight. She is a government servant who goes by the rules, and when he accuses her of not supporting his flouting those rules, she says, reasonably, that she was doing her job just like he was doing his. This could have led to some good and sustained interpersonal tension, but that opportunity is squandered.
Post-interval, the narrative takes a dip. There is still a lot of action in store, but the twists get a tad cheesy. But then, we are consuming junk food, after all – so why question the extra topping of cheese? There is solid plotting around a bearded man, for instance, that makes us rethink the on-screen image of the Bad Muslim. There’s enjoyably trashy stuff involving sulphur, magnetic strips, and the target of a 9/11-like attack just as India and Pakistan are negotiating a peace accord. There’s also a dash of Kashmir thrown in for good measure. Thankfully, none of this politically charged material is used for anything but action. With so much going for it, I wondered why Yodha was generically watchable, with frequent action high points, as opposed to being a true nail-biter! I guess we have learnt to stage action well, but we still have to learn how to be purer to the genre, the way Hollywood is. We’ll get there. And for now, Yodha will suffice.