Subedaar

Subedaar Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Anil Kapoor, Aditya Rawal, Faisal Malik, Radhikka Madan, Mona Singh, Saurabh Shukla and others

Director: Suresh Triveni

What’s Good: Anil Kapoor and his Jhakkas action at 69!

What’s Bad: The story, the plot, and a villain who keeps pissing!

Loo Break: You will need one when you see the antagonist taking a leak every ten minutes!

Watch or Not?: You can miss it, but you should not for Anil Kapoor

Language: Hindi

Available On: Amazon Prime Video

Runtime: 2 hours 23 minutes

User Rating:

At 70, most actors settle into the roles of graceful patriarchs; Anil Kapoor is out here as Subedar, breaking bones, throwing punches, and proving that senior citizen is just a label that doesn’t apply to him. After the high-society drama of Animal and the thrills of The Night Manager, he returns to the screen as a fiery Muchchad Fauji, and boy, does he mean business!

Directed by Suresh Triveni, the man who gave us the sweet Tumhari Sulu and the haunting Jalsa, this film is a complete 180-degree turn. It’s raw, it’s bloody, and it smells rage from a distance as well. It’s not just an action flick; it brings a man who was trained to kill for his country but doesn’t know how to live for himself. Does it hit the bullseye, or is it a misfire? That is for you to find out by the end of this review!

Subedaar Movie Review: Script Analysis

Subedaar follows Arjun Maurya (Anil Kapoor), a retired soldier from the Indian Army who is struggling to transition back into civilian life. Haunted by the ghosts of his past and the trauma of war, he finds himself in a different kind of battlefield: a society rotting with corruption and the abuse of power. On one hand, Arjun is going through a strained relationship with his daughter, Shyama (Radhika Madaan), since he has been an absent father! On the other hand, he is living with the memories of his late wife and a last gift she presented him – a red gypsy gifted to him by his wife, who used to run a pickle business!

Arjun, on the insistence of his friend, finds a job in his hometown to protect a local goon and sand mafia played by Aditya Rawal! However, his protective mode kicks in when his gypsy is destroyed by the local goon Prince. What follows is a relentless, bloody quest for justice where Arjun must decide if he can remain a disciplined soldier or become the monster his enemies fear.

Subedaar Movie Review: Star Performance

Anil Kapoor is aging like fine wine, and his performance here is phenomenal. He brings both strength and soul to Arjun Maurya. Whether he is breaking bones or breaking down in a moment of vulnerability, Kapoor proves why he is a legend. He handles the physical demands of the action with the grace of a pro. Playing the antagonist support is Mona Singh, who does nothing spectacular with her limited screentime. It is such a waste of talent and opportunity to have her grace the frame but not write anything powerful to let her breathe through her character!

Radhikka Madan as Shyama is fierce and vulnerable. She avoids the damsel in distress trope, giving us a character who has her own agency. Her chemistry with Anil Kapoor is the highlight of the film, making the stakes feel real. I wish we could have seen the father-daughter bond eventually grow over time. Aditya Rawal plays the antagonist with a chilling, entitled arrogance. He is the perfect foil to Kapoor’s disciplined rage. But yet again, his villain is too caricaturish!