Kesari movie review: Akshay Kumar in a still from the film
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Despite being one of the fiercest last stands ever, the Battle of Saragarhi is lost somewhere in the annals of history. In Kesari, director Anurag Singh brings alive on celluloid the incredible story of 21 Sikh soldiers fighting valiantly against 10,000 Afghan troops. Though the audience knows how it will end, the way the filmmaker tells this tale is worth a watch.
On September 12, 1897, the Afghan soldiers attempted to capture Saragarhi, which acted as a signalling post between Fort Gulistan and Fort Lockhart, with the intention of cutting off all communication between the two forts. Despite being low on ammunition and receiving no reinforcements, the 21 soldiers of the 36th Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army led by Havildar Ishar Singh (Akshay Kumar) put up a strong fight.
Kesari takes the audience where history textbooks did not, into the lives of the soldiers. If one soldier is away from his six-month-old daughter, another has been grappling with caste discrimination all his life. It is these little emotional touches - a letter from the family, a pair of shoes carefully preserved - which strike a chord.
At the same time, Kesari has its light moments, which provide a welcome relief from the intense battlefield sequences, which form its core.
Akshay Kumar is the proverbial glue that holds his regiment and the film together. He effortlessly switches from the emotional scenes to the high-intensity war sequences. Parineeti Chopra, who plays Havildar Ishar Singh's wife, has barely any scenes to speak of.
Kesari begins with a slide saying that though the film is based on real events, it is "a work of pure fiction" with numerous creative liberties. This is indeed the case when Akshay Kumar's superstar aura takes centrestage, to the point of pushing willing suspension of disbelief to its limits.
Picture this: 10,000 Afghan troops are marching towards Saragarhi, with several of them beating the war drum. However, it takes only one man playing the dhol to send them into an awed silence.
Havildar Ishar Singh also seems to be invincible; a gunshot to the chest from close quarters, a sword through his stomach and deadly injuries cannot take him down.
In an already heroic tale, such over-the-top displays look inauthentic and out of place. But then, it's Akshay Kumar.
Though Kesari is set in the 19th century, its commentary is extremely relevant at a time when religious fundamentalism is on the rise. A mullah instigating the Pathans to attack the 'infidels' in the name of religion is questioned.
"Aap kyun baar baar Allah ko beech mein laate hai? Use insaan ke katl aur jung se kya lena dena?" a tribal leader asks the mullah, who admits that religion is nothing but a weapon of instigation in times of unrest. "Jung bina hathyaron ke nahi lade jaate. Aap apna hathyar istemaal karein, aur mujhe mera hathyar istemaal karne dein," the mullah replies.
Though the first half of Kesari takes its own sweet time to build up, how Havildar Ishar Singh and his men make the impossible possible is every bit worth your time. Among the songs, B Praak's stirring rendition of Teri Mitti stands out.
Kesari is the rousing patriotic film that Akshay Kumar fans wait for all year round. But it is a lot more than just that and deserves a watch this Holi.
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