Well, I'm not often lost for words, but this is quite something out of left field. I don't watch anywhere near the amount of Hindi titles that I should to be any kind of authority on the genre, but I have to say I was completed bowled over by this. The whole thing. The story, acting, dancing, romance, the incredible action sequences and the glorious CGI wildlife. The characters are all highly engaging and as something of a newbie to modern Hindi projects, I found this to be almost entirely breath-taking throughout.
I guess although I may be missing a trick or two, I'm not naïve enough to miss the British occupied overtones and the understandable dislike in regard to their colonial occupation. There is no love shown of the British Empire here whatsoever and I understand the opinions shared most openly here. Represented mostly as idiots with power, there is at least one saving grace we can cheer for.
Over three hours we have the expected love story between a beautiful woman and leading man and all of the now familiar dance numbers associated with it. This is not your average 'show' however, with their relationship borne from the search for a missing local girl kidnapped by a British Governor. Add to this race against time motif thrown in after an hour, the story of trust and honour, subterfuge, brutal ultra-violence, revenge, duty, family values and above all, friendship. No wonder it took three hours, you might imagine, and you would be right.
This may be a little too predictable and formulaic for more wizened viewers of the genre in general, re-telling commonly visited tropes that even the likes of me are familiar with, albeit more by parody, if truth be known. If, like me, you're somewhat new to this and your experience probably reaches as far as Slumdog Millionaire, then you're in for both a surprise and a treat.
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