Vishnuvardhan is a young director who has made a name for himself in Tamil cinema in the last 16 years. Vishnuvardhan made his directorial debut in 2003 at the tender age of 27 under the guidance of renowned cinematographer Santosh Sivan. SherShaah, a war film based on the life of Captain Vikram Batra, who was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra for his bravery in the Kargil War, has been released on Amazon Prime Video. The Film’s only length of 2 hours and 15 minutes is the biggest plus point.
Two important peaks in the Kargil War, point 5140 and point 4875… Capt. Vikram Batra, who successfully led the operation to dust off the enemy by successfully took over these points from the Pakistani army. The events that took place in his life before and after he joined the army, are covered in SherShaah. His code word ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’ became a topic of discussion all over India. Shershaah takes the quick recap of Captain Batra’s life, who joined the 13th Jammu and Kashmir Rifle Battalion as a Lieutenant after passing out from the Indian Military Academy, his love story, his bravery in various anti-terrorism operations during the Kashmir postings before the Kargil war.
The Role of Captain Batra is played by actor Siddharth Malhotra and his girlfriend Dimple is played by Kiara Advani. Written by author Sandeep Srivastava, the story manages to captivate the audience from beginning to end. In the first hour Captain Batra’s childhood, his life up to the time he joined the Army, his love story, and his adventurous operations in Kashmir before the start of the Kargil War are covered till the film’s midpoint, while the next hour focuses on the Kargil War. Shershaah keeps you hooked for a couple of hours with a crispy screenplay that doesn’t go anywhere (which is typical in any war movie), captivating and eye-catching photography of Kashmir, and the adventurous scenes of local operations during and before the war.
For film’s crispy presentation, The credit also goes to the National Award-winning editor A Shrikar Prasad. The only downside to all this is the absence of inspiring and patriotic dialogues. It is noteworthy that the director did not spend much time on Captain Batra’s love story or the accompanying romantic lyrics. Moreover, the film does not stray anywhere as the story revolves around Captain Batra (i.e. without shifting the focus to the characters of other soldiers).
Actor Siddharth Malhotra has played the role of Captain Batra very easily and beautifully. He portrayed two exactly opposite sides of Captain Batra, a romantic-handsome young man deep in love with Dimple and a rough and tough brave soldier who sacrificed his life for the country with the same ease. There is no doubt that SherShaah will be a milestone movie in Siddharth’s career. Kiara Advani has also done full justice to her role. She has acted as restrained and beautiful as she looks.
It is always a lot of fun to go to the cinema on August 15 and watch such patriotic movies on the big screen with applause and whistles and off course with the chant of Bharat Mata Ki Jai. SherShaah’s making is also a grand of that level. But unfortunately, due to Covid-19, it will not be possible this time. Anyway… Even at home also, this beautiful portrayal of Captain Batra’s bravery is worth watching.