REVIEW: BHUJ THE PRIDE OF INDIA

Producers- Bhushan Kumar, Abhishek Dudhaiya, Ginny Khanuja and Vajir Singh

Director- Abhishek Dudhaiya

Star Cast- Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha, Sharad Kelkar, Sanjay Dutt, Ammy Wirk, Nora Fatehi , Ihana Dhillon and Pranita Subhash

Genre- War film

OTT Platform- Disney Plus Hotstar

Rating-**

Engaging in parts!

Jyothi Venkatesh

During 1971’s Indo-Pak war, 300 Bhuj women risked their lives to restore the bombed Indian Air Force airstrip in Bhuj, so that it stays operational to defend the incoming Pak air and land assault.

Encouraging the local women to help repair the airstrip on a war footing was Squadron leader Vijay Karnik (Ajay Devgn).

This is the major premise of this so-called war film which does not at all boast of a plausible plot.

Ajay Devgn steps into the shoes of Indian Air Force squadron leader Vijay Karnik in this so called war film, where his character is said to be modelled on the Indian Army officer who played a crucial role in warding off the Pakistani army as Karnik and 300 women from a Gujarat village rebuilt an airbase in Bhuj during the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

If you watch the film, expecting to stumble into a cohesive plot, you will be sadly mistaken, because it is entirely about the disaster that happened during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and the elaborate story starts by explaining the division of Pakistan into West Pakistan & East Pakistan, and it covers the brief period which helped in the latter turning into Bangladesh.

The sudden attack on Bhuj’s air base is led by IAF squadron leader Indian Air Force Squadron leader Vijay Srinivas Karnik (Ajay Devgn) and his team consisting of Ammy Wirk (Vijay Baaz) and .Lt. Col, Nair (Sharad Kelkar)

Aseem Bajaj’s brilliant camerawork fails to survive the damage done by many VFX blunders throughout.

Dharmendra Sharma’s editing is all across the board as it lacks seamless continuity dampening any possible intrigue.

The abrupt cuts in between make you get the feeling that this must be a really long film, which has been edited down to just about 110 minutes hastily

As far as performances go, Ajay Devgn tries his level best to get into the skin of his character but fails to a large extent to etch out the Marathi Squadron leader in flesh and blood while Sharad Kekar impresses as Lt Col Nair though he gets just about a scene or two to score.

Sanjay Dutt as the local Pagi Ranchodbhai seems to be a misfit and it is disgusting to see him jump into the area of the armed forces with gay abandon to fight with the enemies. Amy Wirk is good as Vikram Singh Baaz

While Sonakshi Sinha is not able to muster any strength on her own to imbibe her character any semblance of realism, it is Nora Fatehi who walks away with her meaty role which is akin to what Alia Bhatt did in Raazi, as a spy in disguise.

The less said about Pranita Subhash the better. She has been wasted as Ajay Devgn’s wife in the film and does not have even a single scene to stand out in the film, which is her second in just about a month after her debut film Hungama 2.

And last but not the least, I wonder why on earth has Ihana Dhillon agreed to do a role which does not last till you blink and open your eyes.

To sum up, the film Bhuj The Pride of India is just about engaging in parts!