Sarfira Movie Review: Records state that directors who helm remakes of their original scripts almost always come up with a good film. Priyadarshan’s Khatta Meetha, a remake of his Malayalam film Vellanakalude Nadu, and Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Arjun Reddy remake, Kabir Singh, are a couple of examples. The latest addition to this list is Sudha Kongara’s Sarfira. Her retelling of Soorarai Pottru – that won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film – about an underdog dreaming big and finally achieving it against all odds is as sublime and heartfelt as the Suriya starrer.
Yes, this premise may seem to lack novelty. The slightly optimistic ones may dub it as old wine in a new bottle. After all, we’ve seen rags to riches story play out on the big screen far too many times. But just when you thought that this was a jaded template, comes Sudha in all her glory reiterating how the simplest of stories told well can create magic. And Sarfira starring Akshay Kumar is magical. It’s the kind of film that comes only once in a while but dishes out lessons on how a big-ticket commercial Bollywood film needs to and should get made. The last time most of us felt this way was perhaps when Shershaah had dropped on Prime Video in 2021.
Sarfira is a rather beautiful coming together of two schools of cinema – one that makes you whistle and clap and still silently appreciate its nuanced storytelling. It’s tear-jerking, inspiring, gratifying, wholesome and so much more. And it will most definitely help if you don’t let the extraordinary Soorarai Pottru colour your opinions. Watch Sarfira with a clear mind and a clean palette and you will come out feeling all kinds of good emotions.
Sarfira revolves around the story of Vir Jagannath Mhatre, who belongs to a small village in Maharashtra but harbours a big dream, that of launching a low-cost airline service (which he also refers to as one udta Udupi hotel) for the middle-class population of India that can also blur caste differences. He’s constantly at loggerheads with his father, a headmaster, who believes that non-violence is key to every problem. Vir, on the other hand, believes in fighting and protesting for causes close to his heart. The one thing, however, that connects them is the fact that both of them are revolutionaries and visionaries.
Following an ugly spat with his father who he calls a coward, Vir leaves home and enrolls himself at an aviation academy. While he proves his mettle there and emerges as a meritorious student, he gives that up to chase the larger picture. Thus begins his tireless struggle to fight the system, those sitting in the corridors of power, financial crunch, corruption and red-tapism. Joining him on this extremely daunting journey are his two friends and batch mates at the academy. Vir’s arch-nemesis is Paresh Goswami, the casteist and unscrupulous chairman of India’s biggest commercial airline, Jaz Airlines.
Back home, we see a rather unconventional romance brewing between Vir and Rani (played by Radhikka Madan), a chirpy, unapologetic and unhinged young girl from Sattara who aspires to run her own bakery someday. In a flashback sequence set in 1998, Rani after being rejected by twenty prospective grooms comes to Vir’s village with her family. And for those who feel triggered with the huge age-gap between Akshay and Radhikka, we’re happy to report that this age difference is diligently established at the outset.
So, anyway, his ambitious nature finds a resonance with Rani and while he – in awe of the big dreams in her twinkling eyes – agrees to marry her, she leaves him on a note that they can reconnect only after they receive NOCs (him from aviation authorities and she from her father) so as to go ahead with their respective businesses or passions, to put it correctly.
And though Rani eventually becomes the wind beneath Vir’s wings and an anchor to him, it’s refreshing to see how Sudha has woven a female character, who could very easily have become the second fiddle. But thankfully, she has a mind and voice of her own. She’s unyielding and enterprising and sets down some ground rules for Vir – so that they can be in a healthy and equal marriage – by taking to a microphone, thereby making the whole of Sattara aware of what she’s getting into.
Earlier in the second half, we also get a whiff of marital ego between the couple as Rani starts running a flourishing business and Vir still struggles to accumulate funds to get aircrafts on rent. Having said that, he immediately is apologetic of his behaviour and volatile temperament and a few sequences later, we see him requesting her to loan him Rs 15,000/- to get his dream venture Deccan Air up and running. Their relationship is rendered an element of verisimilitude and credit goes to Sudha, who makes sure that a woman character in a film isn’t relegated to being just the hero’s wife.
Sarfira opens with a sequence in Begumpet International Space in the year 2003 where Deccan Air’s first test flight comes crashing down, thus shattering Vir’s aspirations. And that immediately sets the tone of the narrative. Sudha wastes no time and dives into the crux of the story right from the first frame. At 2 hours 35 minutes, there’s hardly ever a moment when the film drops pace. Every sequence and every scene unravels the protagonist’s grit and gumption. And while you may feel that the makers have pumped up the dramatic quotient in the film a few notches, you’ll soon realise that it’s relevant to its tone and texture.
Sarfira marks the re-entry of Akshay, the actor, who has been delivering a plethora of commercial and critical duds. This, clearly, is his best performance in recent years. He cries earnestly, his failures are palpable and his win feels personal. You’ll root for his Vir throughout. For example, in a key sequence, he’s seen pleading co-passengers for Rs 5,200 at an airport because he doesn’t have the money to buy himself a plane ticket to go meet his dying father. It will truly move you to tears. In the next, he finally reaches home and finds out that his father has passed away and that his last words were ‘Vir’. He breaks down before his mother and you won’t be able to hold back your tears even then.
Yes, Vir is heroic. He’s selfless and he’s everyone’s favourite. His village folks are relying on him to better their lives. His friends can go to any length to prove their allegiance and love for him. And yet, Vir is extremely human. We see his emotional fragility and vulnerability coming to the fore many a times. And his scenes with Rani are truly brilliant. Their exchange and banters wherein they constantly try to one up each other are quirky and the lead actors do a fabulous job.
Radhikka gives up the tropes of a heroine (in a quintessential mainstream entertainer) and slips under the skin of a saree and nathni-clad Maharashtrian woman with ease. It’s heartening to see her gorging on plates full of daal-chawal, unaware of how she looks and unfazed as to how it goes against the prototype of a prim and proper heroine. While she’s extremely loving, she also calls out her husband for taking her lightly when she goes to him with a business plan. Her comic timing is impeccable too.
Paresh Rawal returns to reprise the role of Paresh Goswami in Sarfira and he does a fantastic job. He’s corrupt and can go to any length to snub those below him. He’s hell-bent on crushing Vir’s ambitions as he can’t stand the thought of a rich businessman sitting next to a fisherman or a sweeper in an aircraft. Profit, after all, is more important to him than principles and he believes that flights should only be reserved for the wealthy and affluent, so much so that he constantly keeps sanitising his hands every time he comes in close contact with a poor person.
Seema Biswas as Vir’s mother is extraordinary. She displays restraint in the right places and goes all out with histrionics when the scene demands so. Her scene with a crying and pleading Vir after his father’s passing is a heart-wrenching jugalbandi. In a nutshell, don’t miss out on this lovely film. It’s a masterclass on meaningful commercial films. And don’t let Akshay’s last few outings shake your conviction when it comes to Sarfira. It celebrates what’s most important in life – human spirit, dreams, simplicity and goodness and that’s all that matters.
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