Subedaar
Action Crime Drama Hindi
Haunted by loss and drifting away from his daughter, a retired Subedaar Arjun Maurya’s newly found civilian life is jolted by one reckless act. As old wounds reopen, he must summon the warrior within to face a new kind of war - one that hits too close to his heart.
| Cast: | Anil Kapoor, Radhikka Madan, Aditya Rawal, Saurabh Shukla, Mona Singh, Faisal Malik, Khushboo, Nana Patekar, |
|---|---|
| Director: | Suresh Triveni |
| Writer: | Suresh Triveni, Prajwal Chandrashekar |
| Editor: | Shivkumar V. Panicker |
| Camera: | Ayan Saxena |
Guild Reviews
Suresh Triveni Rewinds the Clock in his Flawed, Renegade Masala Potboiler
Most of the cliches in Subedaar carry a tinge of irony. One can almost imagine the glee on director Suresh Triveni’s face after canning a campy, unsubtle scene. The film feels like a very deliberate hark back to the disillusioned lone wolf of the late 1980s, early 1990s — a genre that was largely cornered by the successors of Bachchan’s angry young man – Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff and Sanjay Dutt. It’s no surprise then that it’s one of their contemporaries, Anil Kapoor, playing Retired Subedaar Arjun Maurya in this First Blood (1982)-meets-Prahaar (1991)-meets-The Equalizer (2014) concoction. Triveni is a sophisticated filmmaker dabbling in what’s considered a pulpy genre.
Offers nothing new
Anil Kapoor leads gritty throwback to Bollywood’s heroic thrillers
A mid-level Armyman up against the powerful mafia in a small town in North India: this one-line premise spreads across a fast-paced two-hour film, bringing alive the menace of a decaying town and its mai-baaps (overlords) in a way that Hindi cinema had forgotten about, and giving us a seasoned actor in his prime showing how it is done. Subedaar reminds me of the kind of old-fashioned crime thriller fronted by a hero clashing with the corrupt system, and individuals, that used to give mainstream Bollywood its heft. This Suresh Triveni atmospheric directorial brings back that mojo, even if it can’t quite stave off its occasional bumps.
The start of a new franchise for Anil Kapoor?
A Spotify Review
Subedaar fools you into watching a ‘70s-style neo-Western about corruption and caste by presenting it as a South Indian remake. We discuss Anil Kapoor’s refreshingly muted lead performance, the film’s pointed nods to John Wick, and whether its disguised social commentary makes up for its tonal missteps. We also discuss Mona Singh and Aditya Rawal’s characters and who they represent in the context of contemporary India.
A Spotify Review
Subedaar fools you into watching a ‘70s-style neo-Western about corruption and caste by presenting it as a South Indian remake. We discuss Anil Kapoor’s refreshingly muted lead performance, the film’s pointed nods to John Wick, and whether its disguised social commentary makes up for its tonal missteps. We also discuss Mona Singh and Aditya Rawal’s characters and who they represent in the context of contemporary India.
Soldier On A Crusade
When two village kids look up at a plane and wonder how people inside an aircraft poop up there, it’s sweet, it’s innocent but it’s been heard many times before. That sums up director Suresh Triveni’s one-man fight against corruption, a sirf ek bandaa kaafi hai kind of battle with the backdrop of a cruel sand mining mafia, insensitive government employees who repeatedly tell citizens to “come back tomorrow”, and policemen who look the other way, refusing to file an FIR. You’ve seen it before.
फिल्मी ‘सूबेदार’ बड़ा रिस्की
‘प्रहार’ में मेजर चव्हाण बने नाना पाटेकर मुंबई में हफ्ता वसूलने और आम आदमियों को आतंकित करने वाले गुंडों को मारने के बाद कोर्ट में कहते हैं-‘आर्मी में हमें सिखाया जाता है देश के लिए लड़ना… अगर लड़ाई के मैदान बदल जाते हैं तो इसमें मैं क्या कर सकता हूं…?’ इस फिल्म ‘सूबेदार’ (Subedaar) का सूबेदार अर्जुन मौर्य भी यही कर रहा है। पत्नी की असमय मौत के बाद फौज से रिटायर होकर आए अर्जुन की अपनी जवान बेटी श्यामा से नहीं बन रही है। बन तो असल में उसकी किसी से भी नहीं रही है। फौज की ज़िंदगी से अलग अपने शहर के जंगलराज की अव्यवस्थाओं और मनमानियों को वह चुप्पी से झेले जा रहा है। शहर में बालू माफिया बबली दीदी का राज है। बबली का भाई प्रिंस सूबेदार को उकसाता है तो वह भिड़ जाता है। उधर श्यामा अलग ही उलझी पड़ी है।
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