Sarfira REVIEW: Akshay Kumar starrer has a few bumps in an otherwise sky-soaring drama filled with love and perseverance

Film:
Sarfira

Director: Sudha Kongara

Writer: Sudha Kongara, Shalini Ushadevi

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Radhikka Madan, Paresh Rawal, Seema Biswas, R. Sarathkumar, Anil Charanjeett, Krishnakumar Balasubramanian, Prakash Belawadi, Saurabh Goyal

Runtime: 155 minutes (2 hours, 35 minutes)

Platform: In theatres

Sarfira Review

Sudha Kongara’s Sarfira is the Hindi remake of his 2020 Tamil hit, Soorarai Pottru starring Suriya, Aparna Balamurali and Paresh Rawal in lead roles. While Paresh reprises his role, Akshay Kumar and Radhikka Madan step in as the protagonist. The film – just like the original, is inspired by the events from the life of G. R. Gopinath – the founder of the Indian low-cost airline Simplifly Deccan, as described in his memoir Simply Fly: A Deccan Odyssey.

Sarfira follows the story of Vir Jagannath Mhatre, a former Indian Air Force pilot hailing from a small village in Maharashtra who harbours a big dream – to launch a low-cost airline service and make it accessible to the middle-class population of India. The film sees Vir lock horns constantly with Paresh Goswami (Paresh Rawal) – the arrogant and egoistic owner of Jaz Airlines. The 2.5-hour-long film encapsulates the difficulties Vir faced in making his dream a reality. Scroll below to read our Sarfira Review.

What Works

Akshay Kumar’s performance, the dialogues and Radhikka’s performance as Rani are the biggest magic-workers for Sarfira. The drama’s attention-grabbing aspect also works in its favour.

What Doesn’t Work

The story is over 2.5 hours long and could be done with some editing to reduce its runtime. The fresh pairing of Akshay Kumar and Radhikka Madan fails to create the magic we see between Suriya and Aparna Balamurali in Soorarai Pottru – the age difference is noticeable despite the actors trying their best to showcase a sweet romance.

Technical Analysis

Story

Based on G. R. Gopinath’s memoir Simply Fly: A Deccan Odyssey, Sarfira opens with an attention-grabbing sequence in Begumpet International Space in the year 2003 where Deccan Air’s first test flight comes crashing down. With this scene, Sudha Kongara sets the tone of the narrative of a fast-paced narrative that wastes no time in diving into the crux of the story. The story of Sarfira is a heartwarming film about an underdog who has a big dream and finally achieves it against all odds. The film follows the journey of Vir Jagannath Mhatre – who after an ugly spat with his father, leaves home, joins an aviation academy and becomes an Indian Air Force pilot.

However, he faces a life-altering event that makes him give up a career in the Force. Thus begins his tireless struggle against the corrupt and red-tapist system. Vir is joined by two of his Air Force batchmates as he faces off against his arch-nemesis Paresh Goswami – the unscrupulous chairman of India’s biggest commercial airline, Jaz Airlines. Aside from focusing on his struggles in making his dream a reality, the story also gives importance to his personal life and the rather unconventional romance between Vir and Rani (Radhikka). Throughout the film, she proves herself to be a green forest while also focusing on accomplishing her own dreams and being a self-sufficient woman.

Screenplay & Dialogues

While Sarfira’s screenplay is written by Sudha Kongara and Shalini Ushadevi, the film’s dialogues are penned by Pooja Tolani, and Pooja deserves a round of applause for it. They beautifully fit the themes of the film be they the flirty interaction between Rani and Vir or the breakdown scene when Akshay’s character returns home – they are perfection. However, they are a few predictable dialogues as well as a few that seem forced into the narrative.

Editing

While the story is indeed fast-paced, the consistency fluctuates at times and makes you wish a couple of seconds were cut here and there that could have made the film at least 5 minutes shorter. Sathish Suriya has done his job well, but a little more attention would have helped make the experience more fulfilling.

Sarfira Music

With composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, Tanishk Bagchi and Suhit Abhyankar, Sarfira has something for everyone to enjoy. From foot-tapping tracks to ones that will leave you with goosebumps with their emotional tunes and lyrics, the Sudha Kongara has it all. However, the song and dance seem a little excessive at times, especially the frequency with which it appears in the first half.

Sarfira Star Performances

Akshay Kumar is back and Sarfira proves it. The actor – who had a couple of commercial and critical dud releases recently, has delivered one of his best performances in recent years. His cries, his failures, and his successes are palpable. While his acting is commendable, Akshay struggles to maintain his Marathi accent throughout. He speaks with the same accent he does in every film, except when he utters a couple of Marathi words here and there.

Radhikka as the saree-wearing, nathni-clad Maharashtrian woman – who is also a successful baker, is a treat to watch. While she is cuteness-overloaded owing to her carefree and contagious personality, she also depicts the strength of Rani when strongly calls out her husband and offers him her unfaltering support. Talking about the chemistry the lead actors share, the age gap between Vir and Rani is present and despite the makers addressing the matter tactfully at the start, it does give off a little weirdness.

Paresh Rawal as Paresh Goswami has delivered a deliverable performance as Vir’s nemesis in the limited screentime he has. Supporting characters, such as Seema Biswas, R. Sarathkumar, Saurabh Goyal, Krishnakumar Balasubramanian, Iravati Harshe Mayadev, Anil Charanjeett, Prakash Belawadi and Rahul Vohra leave an impact despite being on screen for just a couple of minutes.

Conclusion

Sarfira is a good watch – especially for its story, Akshay and Radhikka’s performances and dialogues. While first-time watchers are sure to enjoy this film inspired by the life of G. R. Gopinath, founder of Indian low-cost airline Simplifly Deccan, aka Air Deccan, those who the Suriya-led Soorarai Pottru will find the Akshay Kumar-starrer repetitive. Hope our Sarfira review was insightful.

Watch the trailer of Sarfira here:

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