Movie review of Punjabi Film 'Sajjan Singh Rangroot' starring Diljit Dosanjh, Sunanda Sharma, Yograj Singh, Jagjeet Sandhu, Dheeraj Kumar & others. Directed by Pankaj Batra.

Star cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Sunanda Sharma, Yograj Singh, Jagjeet Sandhu, Dheeraj Kumar and Jarnail Singh

Director: Pankaj Batra

Producer:  Jay Sahni, Sona Sahni and Bobby Bajaj

Music: Jatinder Shah, Uttam Singh

Genre: Drama

Running Time: 143 minutes (U/A certified)

In what comes as a major surprise for many people, the movie starts with portraying a glimpse of the work of Khalsa Aid in Syria. From there starts a background story which goes as back as a century ago, peeping into the pre-independent India. Sajjan Singh (Diljit Dosanjh) is a archetype young boy, who like many of his peers wants India to attain freedom from the hands of the Britishers.

Sajjan's father is a loyal servant of a British officer and wants his son to join the Indian British Army. Adamant as he is, Sajjan doesn't want to work for the Britishers, but is somehow convinced by his father to do so. Those were the times of World War I. The Britishers had decided to send the Lahore regiment of the Indian British Army to Britain in a bid to fight the war against Germany.

The Indian troops mostly comprise of Sikh soldiers, who are known for their bravery and courage, especially during war-time scenarios. Under the leadership of Subedar Zorawar Singh (Yograj Singh), the Indian soldiers acclimate themselves in the foreign conditions. They face severe flak from their British counterparts because the latter consider them to be inferior.

As the movie progresses, this opinion of the Britishers is changed after watching the Sikh soldiers performing in war drills and even during the real-time war scenarios. The movie is about the valour and dauntlessness of these Sikh soldiers and how they never shy away from their duties and responsibilities.

The movie is a bit slow during its inception. There isn't an inch of doubt about the fact that the movie contains moments of mastery and prowess. But the connection between those moments is missing, at times. It seems that the the visuals and the VFX have been given special attention to for they appear alluring on the screen. It was one part of the movie that involved a lot of risk, but kudos to the team for delivering this quality of work.

That being said, the movie is predictable at several stages, which doesn't help its case. Agreed that audiences haven't watched anything of this sort in the Punjabi industry, but many sequences in the movie have been tried and tested in the past in other film industries. The war drill, which appears before the interval, lacks a bit of logic and could have been done in a more acceptable manner. The timing of the flashbacks and the song 'Peepa' is also questionable. Had all these bases been covered, the movie would have been much better.

Sajjan Singh Rangroot has ticked all the boxes, especially when it comes to acting. Diljit Dosanjh has put on display a stellar performance. The scene where he beats his British counterpart during a war drill is awe-inspiring to the extent that there were claps and chants in the cinema hall. Despite all what Diljit Dosanjh has done, Yograj Singh is the pick of the actors in the movie. Someone of his calibre was tailor-made for this role, leaving no stone unturned in making the role of Zorawar Singh what it eventually was. Goosebumps is a common feeling for a human being after watching him on the screen.

As has been the case with them throughout their limited career so far, the duo of Jagjeet Sandhu (Teja Singh) and Dheeraj Kumar (Dheera) have impressed yet again. Jagjeet Sandhu, in particular, was remarkable with his comic timing. The experience of Jarnail Singh (Mela Singh) also fares well for the movie for he improves the morale of the soldiers exceptionally well during torrid times. In the limited role that she has in the movie, Sunanda Sharma has done an apposite job in whatever limited screen time she got. The other support cast included many theatre artists as well as British and German actors. All of them played their parts to their potential and did an all right job lending good support to the lead actors.

Firstly, full credit to Pankaj Batra for coming up with Sajjan Singh Rangroot. Directors in our industry need to take such decisions which are full of perils, only then will our industry prosper. Sajjan Singh Rangroot has a variety of high points, which prove as to why Batra's belief in the topic has paid-off.

Written by Gurpreet Singh Palheri, the movie passes in showcasing on the screen what it had intended to do in the first place - A Dramatic War Drama, a 1st of its kind in Punjabi Cinema. Had there been more work done on the better coupling of some spectacular moments, the output would have been even better. The screenplay adds to the problems in the writing department. There were way too many cinematic liberties taken which are acceptable in films of comedy or romantic genre but the writer went too far taking too many liberties like the Germans playing the divide and rule policy in the middle of a war however, history never suggests anything of that sort.

Adding more nuances of the war to the movie could have also increased the involvement of the audiences. Also one more thing, which I didn't like was the over promoting of Khalsa Aid Organisation in the film. They are doing a great job helping people around the world and I don't think they need any more recognition or publicity than they already have. So I just think that they went a bit far promoting their cause through a film.

The music of the film is kept to a limited number keeping in mind that its a serious war drama. However, the songs there in the film are not completely upto the mark leaving the viewer wanting given the previous track records of the director, the lead actor and the music director. The songs are written by Raj Ranjodh, Veet Baljit and Rav Hanjra. Raj Ranjodh and Diljit Dosanjh have lent their voices to the songs which have been composed by Jatinder Shah and Uttam Singh.

All in all, Sajjan Singh Rangroot is a great inspiration for the Punjabi cinema. Perhaps, film-makers will watch this movie and aim at making movies of varying genres in the future. Watch this movie to witness a never-seen-before experience in the Punjabi industry.