If Baahubali opened the doors for big-scale epics and Stree 2's humongous success has now paved a solid road for more horror comedies, Kill (and to some extent Animal) has generated a new trend in Bollywood: Action movies containing a profusion of blood, gore, violence. The action is getting smoother choreography, the limbs are breaking with more bloody glee, and sharp objects are piercing skins with a potent ferocity. However, the problem with following a particular trend is that filmmakers lose sight of creativity. A copy of Baahubali will have expensive sets, extensive visual effects, and a hollow story. A Stree 2 imitator will have more ghosts, more lazy cameos, and little to no elements of horror or comedy (Stree 2 itself is pretty weak). Many movie directors and some film critics point their fingers towards something like Pathaan and say, "This is the future of Hindi films." Meaning: Recycled spy shenanigans coupled with appearances from characters belonging to the same universe who have their own solo movie (a sequel, generally) in the pipeline. Bollywood filmmakers, in other words, have been provided with a license to flaunt their uninventive thinking. Amidst such a terrible cinematic environment, director Ravi Udyawar arrives with Yudhra and increases the junk pile. This is the kind of film that's so bad it has to blow its own trumpet, be its own hype machine.
Just look at the opening scene. Yudhra (Siddhant Chaturvedi), after getting shot by somebody, is seen drowning. Through voiceover, he tells us that we might be wondering how he reached this point. Yudhra also assures us that his story is so mind-boggling that you might not fully believe him. First things first, we don't wonder how Yudhra got to this point. We don't even know him, so why should we care about what happened to him? Second, when we return to this moment just before the intermission, we whisper, "Well, what was so 'mind-boggling' about his journey?" This generically conceived, predictable narrative is merely an excuse for injecting the audience with brutality. When the titular character was born, his brain didn't receive blood for almost five minutes. The doctor gravely mentions that this could give rise to trauma in the future. This is nothing but the movie's way of creating an unhinged, violent geezer. Yudhra looks crazy as if a screw has suddenly got loose in his mind when - to beat his enemies - he summons vicious energy. He charges towards his rivals with a knife, hot iron, sewing machine - basically, anything he can grab from his surroundings. This beefy bulldog melts in front of Nikhat Siddiqui (Malavika Mohanan). A character says Yudhra only listens to Nikhat, and his words are proved right during that scene where Nikhat orders Yudhra to stop his bike, take off his helmet, and sit on the bike's seat (Yudhra follows these commands almost obediently). I was surprised to see Nikhat with a man who looks like her boyfriend when Yudhra meets her at a Pune club early in the film. You think, "It's good that the girl was not 'saved for the hero' for all these years when they lived apart from each other." The boyfriend, however, almost immediately gets attracted to Nikhat's best friend so that the movie can, well, throw the girl in the arms of the main character.
Nikhat knows how to handle herself during grave situations and plays a crucial role in unlocking a computer. Mohanan, however, tries too hard to impress the audience. Instead of acting, she makes faces. Everything about her seems labored. When Mohanan's Nikhat comes to an institute to practice ball dance with Yudhra, all the men admire her. No sensual spark, though, radiates from the character. Yudhra forces us to see her as a goddess. Both Chaturvedi and Mohanan have an appealing body. When they touch each other and make out during the song, Saathiya, the screen doesn't explode with eroticism. The actors seem to be merely posing for a TV commercial. Speaking of songs, they are incredibly unmemorable. There is not a single catchy tune - you never feel like tapping your foot. The "background" songs like Kaala Chasma and - my favorite - Uff Teri Adaa are infinitely superior to whatever crap (Hatt Jaa Baaju should have really been kicked out of Yudhra) the characters dance to here. Chaturvedi is quite convincing as a violently unstable creature until Raghav Juyal's Shafiq enters the picture.
What Kill and Yudhra prove is that Juyal knows how to be comically demented. In front of him, all the villains look feeble. Chaturvedi is good in Yudhra, but his "crazy guy" trait becomes bland in Juyal's presence. Unfortunately, Juyal and the other bad guys are trapped in a material incapable of making their menace palpable. You go into movies like Yudhra confident that the hero will emerge victorious. This pattern never changes. Still, the least the filmmakers can do is render their villains with an aura of invincibility, which gives rise to some tension (learn something from Tiger 3, dear mainstream directors). Chaturvedi is so physically intimidating in Yudhra that you never, even for a second, believe he can be killed by any character (they are not as well-built as Yudhra). Notice how easily Yudhra manages to murder a criminal on his yacht. What's funny is that Shafiq describes this mission as extremely risky and dangerous.
Nikhat teasingly refers to Yudhra as a lizard. As a kid (Jared), the latter informs Nikhat (Drashti Bhanushali) that the lizard's leg regrows if cut. The animal heals itself and continues moving forward. Yudhra, too, is injured so many times in the film that he should ideally be covered in bandages. But immediately after an action scene, he is all healed and ready for the next challenge. The lizard's healing capabilities can be considered as an act of replacement. Given that after the death of Yudhra's parents, Karthik Rathore (Gajraj Rao) takes the role of his father (he replaces them), the lizard's presence in the film becomes more relevant. These thoughts, nevertheless, fail to rescue Yudhra from falling into the pit of blandness. Udyawar shows some feelings only during the action scenes - they are overwrought. But this feeling is too monotonous. Hence, Yudhra, after a while, turns into a mind-numbing experience. It starts as a wet dream for lovers of gory action thrillers, but I suspect even these fans will eventually end up feeling bored and indifferent.
Final Score- [3.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
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Publisher at Midgard Times