Movie Review: Kesari

Kesari is an Indian historical war/action movie written and directed by Anurag Singh and released in 2019. The movie is based on the Battle of Saragarhi, a last stand battle between 21 soldiers of the 36th Sikhs of the British Indian Army and some 10,000 Pashtun tribesmen in 1897.

The movie doesn't claim to portray the battle with absolute historical accuracy. This is an action movie, not a slow-burn war drama. There are serious scenes yes, but there are a lot more scenes where people do slow-motion leaps in the air while a big "thwooooom!" sound plays. It's that kind of movie.

Havaldar Ishar Singh (Akshay Kumar) is part of a Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army guarding the Indian-Afghan border. Despite the prevailing diplomatic arrangements, the locals are itching for a fight. One day, a local mullah tries to kill a married Afghan woman who refuses to acknowledge her forced marriage. Before they could behead her, Ishar Singh intervenes against the orders of his superior. He fights the tribesmen off, killing the woman's husband in the process. The woman is grateful but Ishar unwittingly gives the tribesmen cause to rise up against the British. For his insubordination, Ishar Singh is sent away to Saragarhi Fort, a boring place where "nothing ever happens". Gee, I wonder what could possibly go wrong.

The Battle of Saragarhi is supposedly famous in India with poems and songs written about it. It's even commemorated annually. If you're Indian, you already know how it ends. Even if you aren't, you can probably guess. It's a story of sacrifice - brave soldiers giving their lives for their country. But we can't just skip to the end. There's more to the movie than the inevitable violence.

The story is told from the perspective of Ishar Singh. He is strong, wise, fierce, and courageous. He is portrayed as a larger-than-life figure. At the beginning of the movie, the stock racist British character makes snide remarks about how Indian people are cowards. Ishar Singh proves him wrong. He bravely takes on the odds no matter how hopeless.

But the movie also depicts his softer side. During the quiet scenes of the movie, Ishar is visited by his wife, Jeevani Kaur (Parineeti Chopra). They talk, laugh, and reminisce. Of course, the wife isn't really there; she is a figment of Ishar's imagination. But the way they interact is depicted as real and genuine, that it's almost like a flashback playing in and interacting with the present. It's a strange thing but I ended up really liking it. The quirk with many Indian/Bollywood movies is that no matter how grounded the movie is, there are always occasional breaks in reality and the viewer is supposed to roll with it. That's when they put the infamous song and dance numbers Indian movies are known for. In this movie, there's a pretty cool love song between Ishar and Jeevani that's worth a listen. It's catchy.

The sets of the movie are pretty good and realistic. The uniforms of the soldiers, however, are utterly badass. They have turbans with a chakram wrapped around it. It's seriously eye-catching, especially when Ishar dons a saffron colored one. Kesari means "saffron" and it's the color of bravery. CGI rears its ugly head once in a while but it's not too distracting. But just like my Detective Dee review, there's always this one iffy scene that threatens to take the viewer out of the movie. It happens in the end when the last soldier makes his last defiant stand. Let's just say that fire effects are always tricky to pull off. Let's leave it at that.

But what about the action? The action is pleasing to watch and whenever it goes over-the-top (and it often does) it's hilariously entertaining. But there's no wackiness here, just feats of strength and daring. It avoids becoming too ridiculous and thus undermining the solemn tone of the movie.

Speaking of tone, this is a very, very patriotic movie. The movie is clearly meant to appeal to its native audience and there's plenty of red meat to go around. Unfortunately, I'm not in the target demographic so a lot of the stuff went over my head but an Indian movie about this famous battle just has to be this way. Nevertheless, as an action movie, it's still enjoyable. The theme of bravery and courage against overwhelming odds is universal. It's easy to get into and is a decent watch even if the patriotic message isn't made for you or you don't know much about the historical event.

The movie avoids portraying the villains as complete caricatures. The evil mullah does plenty of objectively bad stuff to justify his comeuppance. There is, however, this really odd villain in the movie. He's an enemy sniper and he's there to pose a serious threat to the heroes. What's strange is that he's portrayed as very flamboyant and effete. He's clean-shaven and has eyeliner and painted fingernails. Maybe that's just villain coding. Personally, I found him hilarious and I wish he had more screen time.

Overall, I recommend giving this movie a shot.

Gorn

So I got this movie here, called Ichi the Killer. It's pretty violent and...

Ah, you know what? I'll put this aside for now.

Rurouni Kenshin Live Action Movie Review

 

You've read the manga and you've seen the anime series about a thousand fucking times on Studio 23, now it's time for the live action movie adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X! Lucky for us Filipinos, this movie is now available here for viewing if only for a week. I saw it yesterday at the earliest possible opportunity not because I'm some sort of super fan, but because I want to avoid, as much as possible, the super nerds who will no doubt be cosplaying in the theater and making "Squee!" sounds whenever something romantic happens.

The movie is historical fiction taking place in Japan right after the Japanese civil war. Himura Kenshin is a wandering swordsman, or "ronin", who used to be notorious killer "Battousai the Slasher", but has given up killing to walk the path of peace. Yeah, I know that's technically a spoiler but did you also know Snape killed Dumbledore and "Rosebud" was a sleigh? Christ, you should know this by now. 

Instead of telling you what happened, I suggest you go see it if you're a fan. Here's the quick: 

The Good

If you're a fan of the anime or the manga, you won't be disappointed. The movie here is faithful to the source material. Sure, there's very minor deviations but it's not the terrible and distracting kind.

The actors play the characters very well and convincingly I might add. The characters are exactly what you expect them to be. While all things were great, the performances of the actors playing Sanosuke and Kanryu Takeda were awesome and really stood out. I can't believe how movie!Sanosuke could be so much better than anime!Sanosuke. In the anime Sanosuke was just a boisterous brawler/jobber who, in fairness, had his moments but was always kinda... lame. In the movie, you'll whoop and cheer as you watch him swing his gigantic blade (yes they put that in) and punch people in the face. He's loads of fun. The villain Kanryu is just amazing. In the anime he was always kind of just a generic, corrupt "businessman". In the movie, he is the biggest scumbag I have ever seen. He was a slimy, no-good, loathsome weasel who had morals lower than a snake's asshole. He was so over the top, I laughed my ass off and thoroughly enjoyed watching him be evil.

The sword fights were pretty cool in retrospect. I didn't enjoy them at first but I guess my expectations were unrealistic. I was expecting Keshin to leap up in the air with wind effects while shouting, "Hiten Mitsurugi Style! Ryutsuisen!" while kanji flashed on the screen but they went the "realistic" route instead. I'm glad they did because I was stupid.

The fan service was kept at tolerable levels which is a good thing. I was worried that it was going to be over the top, like a fan service scene happens and the fans all cheer but the regular viewers would just shrug and wonder what it was all about. But really, the story is kept tight with no needless stuff taking up the time. Everything had a purpose.

The music was nice. No out-of-place crap like J-pop or stereotypical Japanese flute and shamisen. 

The Bad

If you're not a fan or don't know anything about Samurai X, you won't get a lot of enjoyment from this film. You'd probably find it good at best, average at worst.

I don't mind subtitles but did they have to make it bone white? I could hardly read it sometimes and the font size was  a bit too small. At least color it yellow or be artistic about it like Day Watch.

This is a story thing but I wish the characters Megumi and Sanosuke had at least one scene where Megumi would tease Sanosuke and stuff. I always found those little things interesting in the anime series. There should have been character interactions other than Kenshin and Kaoru.

I'm just gonna say this but although Saito was awesome in this movie, his big sword scene in the end was kinda lame. I won't say any more.

The sword fights could have been better. I know what I wanted was silly but I think that it could have been improved.

In conclusion, I enjoyed this movie and if you liked the series, you will too. It's a faithful adaptation and a lot of fun.

Watch it early and don't let inconsiderate jerks in the theater ruin it because there will be jerks.