Samar Khan woke up one day and decided he would follow up his previous disaster "kuch meetha ho jaaye" with a courtroom drama. Like a true Indian film maker, he walked straight into a dvd store and got himself a dvd of "A few good men" to get "inspired". He "indianized" the script beautifully and got himself some power house performers to get the job done. He even spent 3 years in the IMA and hired himself some army officers to get his basics right about the army. You would think he had a winning hand this time.
However, he chose the wrong movie for inspiration. Classics such as those only come around once in a generation. I have never been such a big fan of movies or film makers that are "inspired" by previous classics. His valiant effort to remake "A few good men" for the indian audiences fails to recreate the same magic, not because its not brilliantly made, not because the movie falters in the script, not because the performances aren’t good enough. but simply because it will invariably be compared to the original, which was an epitome of intense cinema, big star cast, rivetting script and powerhouse performances.
Shaurya is the strory of GCM(General Court Martial) where beliefs are challenged, pride is redifined, spirit is reborn and faith restored. Shaurya is a detailed and different take on the Indian army. No other Indian movie has every peeked into the psyche of an indian soldier who stands on the borders of our country. This movie emphasizes that being a soldier in the indian army does not mean walking around with an AK 47, and shooting terrorists yelling "YEEEHHAAAAAA!" away to glory. Being in the indian army stands for dedication towards a country that pays you peanuts, it stands for protecting the masses that often show disrespect and even cause personal tragedies to you, it stands for courage to face the bullets of an unknown enemy, and perhaps, even battle the daemons within to do so.
Rahul Bose delivers an amazing performace as a over grown boy called Sid, who matures in a span of 1 month into an amazing lawyer called Major Sidharth. Its such a treat to watch Rahul finally make the plunge into commercial cinema. He chooses the right movie to do so. But for me, the winner in this movie is Kay Kay Menon who sets the screen on fire as Brigadier Pratap Singh. Being an Army officers kid, I have seen plenty of "hot shot" senior officers who think they own the world.perhaps, when they sit on the highest battle field in the world and make decisions every day that decides who dies and who lives, they even do. Kay Kay brings such an officer to life with such surprising ease that it leaves you in awe of him.
Shaurya does have a few loose ends. Its a movie where a female journalist regulary walks into an army mess just by pretending to be an officer’s cousin, where a Brig stands in sniffing distance from the LOC and hits golf balls towards the pakistani bunkers, where army officers drive around in civil vehicles in srinagar. Anyone who knows anything about the indian army will tell you these can never happen.
This movie also tends to be a little slow. It makes you wait a lot before the final court room drama is unleashed on to the screen. It gets 3 stars from me desipte many flaws I have stated, only because it has its heart in the right place. It raises questions in your mind that you would usually not think of. And above all, for the performances of Kay Kay and Rahul that could serve as examples for aspiring actors in this country.
Go ahead, watch this movie if you like intense court room dramas. and if you havent seen "A few good men". you might enjoy it a little more.