{"id":4399,"date":"2016-07-21T15:56:30","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T10:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4399"},"modified":"2026-07-17T21:03:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:33:37","slug":"kesari-review-saragarhi-akshay-kumar-sikh-soldiers-afghan-tribesmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=4399","title":{"rendered":"Kesari Review: The Akshay Kumar Movie Manages to Make the Feat of 21 vs 10,000 Look Boring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span><\/p><\/div>

t\u2019s been a long time since Akshay Kumar has looked this uncomfortable. In Anurag Singh\u2019s <\/span>Kesari<\/span><\/i>, the actor is hidden under a thick layer of a frizzy, fake beard that sits awkwardly on his face, and he \u2013 by the look he wears throughout the film \u2013 can\u2019t seem to get around. By now, the actor\u2019s presence in a movie is enough to give away its intentions: To celebrate a chest-thumping brand of patriotism. And lately, it\u2019s hard to tell one Akshay Kumar film apart from the other, except <\/span>Kesari<\/span><\/i> stands out for easily defeating his other nationalistic dramas in being utterly contrived.<\/span>\n\nSet in 1897, <\/span>Kesari <\/span><\/i>is a retelling of the sombre events of the Battle of Saragarhi that was waged between 21 valiant soldiers of the 36 Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army and 10,000 Afghani tribesmen in modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of <\/span>Pakistan<\/span><\/a>. The incident is a proud part of Sikh history and just a routine reading is enough to cause goosebumps. If you merely relied on your imagination, you’d probably be able to conjure up the terror, confusion, and ultimately, the courage of the cornered Sikh soldiers. But imagination is not something you can accuse the Anurag Singh film of.<\/span>\n\nKumar\u2019s presence ensures that the movie amps up themes of bravery, valour, and nationalistic fervour to a decibel level that is almost too jarring. There\u2019s also <\/span>Parineeti Chopra<\/span><\/a>, hidden somewhere in a role that feels like it\u2019s angry at itself for existing: Maybe her preparation involves thinking of what constitutes the bare minimum in a role and then dialling down on that too. \u00a0<\/span>\n\nKesari<\/span><\/i> could have been an inspiring war film, but the movie attempts to manipulate nationalistic fervour: The opening sequence makes it evident that our sympathies lie with the moralistic Ishwar Singh (Akshay Kumar), who saves an Afghan girl from being beheaded by her abusers. It also quickly reminds you that he\u2019s an underdog: Ishwar Singh is punished for disobeying orders and promptly transferred to a different province. Since, it\u2019s also a film with ample British characters, there\u2019s the stock mistreatment of an Indian <\/span>soldier<\/span><\/a> as well. <\/span>\n\n\"kesari\"\n

\n

Kesari does not seek to educate \u2013 the film tells you nothing that a quick Google search will not.<\/p>\n

Image Credits: Dharma Productions<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nAll of this is metaphorical buildup, before the film actually proceeds to the battleground to present a cautionary tale of revisionist cinema. Essentially, <\/span>Kesari<\/span><\/i> exploits the pages of history to craft a film that glorifies the idea of violence against any possible <\/span>enemy<\/span><\/a>. A brave battle between the 21 soldiers and their 10,0000 opponents, is converted into a battle of two faiths. It revels in the black and white. The Afghans are kohl-eyed savages who \u201cinsult religions\u201d. Even Kumar\u2019s trademark ability to make middling films slightly entertaining is no match for <\/span>Kesari<\/span><\/i>. The camera, for the most part, gleefully focuses on bodies being dismembered and swords and bullets being one with skulls and limbs.<\/span> Kesari <\/span><\/i>does not seek to educate \u2013 the film tells you nothing that a quick Google search will not. The dialogues are so juvenile that they remind you of two teenagers stubbornly fighting in the playground over lunch. <\/span>\n\nEven the film\u2019s big draw \u2013 the hyped battle \u2013 is unnecessarily long drawn-out and manages to make the feat of 21 vs 10,000 look boring. From the beginning, it\u2019s evident that despite the numbers, it\u2019s not a level playing ground. The <\/span>Afghan<\/span><\/a> battalion is reduced to a bunch of dimwits whose war cry involves beating drums and who are so inattentive that they easily get fired upon while marching toward the fort, with no clue how to defend themselves. <\/span>\n\nThe biggest drawback of the film is that it eventually is a disservice to a historic event. It\u2019s hard to justify a film like <\/span>Kesari<\/span><\/i> that only seeks to recreate a fantasy of bloodlust, in times of war-mongering. <\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kesari, a retelling of the events of the Battle of Saragarhi, tells you nothing about the clash between the valiant 21 Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army and 10,000 Afghan tribesmen that a quick Google search will not. The battle is uninspiring and unnecessarily long drawn-out, and there is little imagination in the fight sequences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":4402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3114],"tags":[7814,1589,7815,7780,7816,7817,264],"class_list":["post-4399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bollywood","tag-afghan-tribesmen","tag-akshay-kumar","tag-british-indian-army","tag-kesari","tag-sikh-soldiers","tag-soldiers","tag-war"],"yoast_head":"\nKesari Review: The Akshay Kumar Movie Manages to Make the Feat of 21 vs 10,000 Look Boring<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kesari, a retelling of the events of the Battle of Saragarhi, tells you nothing about the clash between the valiant 21 Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army and 10,000 Afghan tribesmen that a quick Google search will not. The battle is uninspiring and unnecessarily long drawn-out, and there is little imagination in the fight sequences.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4399\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kesari Review: The Akshay Kumar Movie Manages to Make the Feat of 21 vs 10,000 Look Boring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kesari, a retelling of the events of the Battle of Saragarhi, tells you nothing about the clash between the valiant 21 Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army and 10,000 Afghan tribesmen that a quick Google search will not. 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