Sarbjit

SARBJIT REVIEW

A dream to become a wrestler to make his family known by his name, only ending up in wrestling with his own fate which discarded and threw him into the hands of the ruthless, inhumane, miserable fortune, Sarabjit Singh had been a fighter for the conditions he was subjected to, a layman wouldn’t survive a second more.

Sarbjit, the movie is nothing less than a testimony to his hardships, despondency, hopelessness, suffering, desolation, melancholy and misfortune that this poor farmer had, who at a young age was put behind bars in the confined walls of the jail only to curse his fate.

Director Omung Kumar has ably and effectively portrayed and showcased the miseries of Sarbjit, from the moment he was tied into a box with rats thrown at him to the manner in which he was hanged upside down to brutally assault and flay with metallic chains and leather belts so much so that the quantum of blood flowing down his body showed exactly how he had gone resistant to more pain. The emaciated body with gnarled hands, twisted affected teeth makes the audience sympathize with Sarbjit, shedding tears for the cold blooded treatment as shown.

Although the story has been well portrayed and elaborately depicted, the film has shown the struggle of Dalbir and family more than Sarbjit’s heart wrenching life. Randeep Hooda is the best thing that could happen to the film for every nuance and emotion he emoted seemed absolutely heart felt and real.

The devastated Dalbir, who toiled her sweat and blood and experienced her dogged hardships is a strong character, but Aishwarya Rai Bachchan could not live up with her lack of authentic Punjabi dialect and over-the-top shouting almost blaring out to show the strength in her voice. She has been decent in her acting in scenes with Sarabjit while he was incarcerated, but eventually gets it difficult for the audience to empathise in a way they do with Sarabjit with the ordeal he was subjected to.

Richa Chaddha, playing the character of Sarabjit’s wife hovers sporadically in a few scenes, but similar to Aishwarya, she lacked the emotions quite distinctly. There have been scenes showing the Punjabi influences with the songs ‘giddha-shiddha’ and the language spoken throughout.

In toto, the movie successfully depicts the torturous life of innocent Sarbjit Singh, who was coerced by unreasonable force to admit he was Manjit Singh, while in reality, he wasn’t.