YUDHRA’ REVIEW

Yudhra (UA) from Excel Entertainment tells the tale of an orphan with anger control problems.

Born minutes after his mother passes death during delivery, Yudhra (Siddhant Chaturvedi) meets with a terrible car accident with her police officer-husband. Two friends of Yudhra's father, Kartik (Gajraj Rao) and Rehman (Ram Kapoor), watch after Yudhra, the former adopting him as son. Yudhra suffers from anger control problems. Rehman, a police officer, begs Kartik, a military guy, to train using his wrath fruitfully Yudhra. Rehman then begs Yudhra to be his informer on drug boss Firoze (Raj Arjun), who succeeded Sikandar after the latter fled India to escape the arm of law. Rehman further informs Yudhra that drug lord Sikandar had really premeditated murder, the so-called accident reported to have killed his parents.

Yudhra starts the work but is it really simple? Nikhat (Malavika Mohanan), the daughter of Yudhra and Rehman, develops feelings as well.

Eventually what happens? With data given by Yudhra, will Rehman able to fulfill his goal of eradicating drug lord Firoze? Is Yudhra fit for delivery? Do Nikhat and Yudhra lead happy, ever after? What is the truth about the deaths of Yudhra's birth parents?

Shridhar Raghavan has developed a tale and screenplay that seem to be strewn more randomly than coherent. Not mentioned is why Yudhra is always enraged with his foster father (Kartik). Given Yudhra seems to be quite OK in his contacts with Rehman, this wrath beggars reason. Not even the connection and passion between Yudhra and Nikhat have grown suitably. At least this is the feeling the observer gets: the lava of rage within Yudhra appears to be produced so that the writer might fall upon it whenever he thinks it convenient. Rehman's anticipation on the password to access the file is not quite nail-bitting. Even the disclosure of another suspense aspect at the climax does not have the intended effect if only because it is tame and also very evident for many of the viewers. All things considered, the script never truly provides edge-of---the-seat thrills—something it ought to have absolutely given. The conversations between Farhan Akhtar and Akshat Ghildial lack half the intensity they should have had.

In the title role, Siddhant Chaturvedi is really good. The weight of the movie falls on his shoulders but he cannot bear it. As Nikhat, Malavika Mohanan does not evoke pity or affection. As Kartik, Gajraj Rao does an okay job; his looks to be lacking of passion. Ram Kapoor performs a regular Rehman role. As Firoze, Raj Arjun is good. With his quirky performance in the Shafiq character, Raghav Juyal leaves a remarkable impression. In a little part as the senior police officer, Shilpa Shukla does well. Joao Mario is regular like Sikandar. Others provide moderate support.

Ravi Udyawar directed with good accuracy. He has pretty well described the topic given the usual and not-very-engrossing writing. The music of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Sohni lagdi song written by Prem-Hardeep) is decent. The Sohni lagdi lyrics by Javed Akhtar (with Raj Ranjodh) are passable. Both Piyush-Shazia for Hatt ja baju and Bosco-Caesar for Sohni lagdi have quite good choreography. The background music of Sanchit and Ankit Balhara is very excellent. The photography of Jay Pinak Oza (with Manush Nandan adding for the Sohni lagdi song) is superb. Federico Cueva and Sunil Rodrigues choreographed action and stunt sequences; extra action by Nicholas Powell makes them appropriately vibrant and exhilarating. The production design by Rupin Suchak and the art direction by Karan Gupta and Bharat Jain fit. Editing by Tushar Parekh and Anand Subaya (with further work by Tushar Shivan) is really sharp.

Yudhra is often too average to accomplish anything significant at the box office. The National Cinema Day, which sees lower than normal admission costs, has helped it to start well; yet, it cannot be anticipated to continue at the theatres.