Director: Deena Raj
Cast: Nirroze Putcha, Samaira Sandhu, Peden O Namgyal, Subha Ranjan, Sonam Thendup Barphunga, Rajeswari Chakraborty
Where: At theatres near you
Rating: 1 star
If your idea of fun is watching a three-long infomercial about patriotism and devotion to the motherland, even then Bharateeyans does not qualify as an ideal watch. Entertainment is nowhere in hindsight. Instead, you'd rather volunteer for jail time than sit through this Deena Raj directorial.
Six young Indians partake in a secret mission to unearth a conspiracy against India, in exchange of their freedom and private lives. At stake lies their lives and the welfare of their country, at large. In between, the audience is subjected to a colossal, painful bore.
Replete with cliches and stereotypes, looking for the bright spots in the film is equivalent to finding a needle in the haystack. From North-Eastern actors being cast as the Chinese to Telugu and Tamil characters sporting the most annoying twang in their Hindi, the film is riddled with ridiculous portrayals that are simply put, offensive.
This film is more of an insipid vanity project helmed by makers who had the required resources at their disposal but lacked vision in every technical aspect. May I also point out the shameless exploitation of every keyword that works in today's current socio-political climate to elevate the film's prospects. Bharateeyans is a seemingly desperate attempt to cash in on the wave championed by The Kashmir Files and The Kerala Story. Which isn't a bad idea. But, for a humble ticket-paying audience who seeks entertainment in return, at least can they have their money's worth?
From the laughable action sequences to the painful on-cue acting by the cast, practically nothing is redeemable about this film. Initial controversy caused by the Censor Board instructing the removal of the Shiv Tandav sequence to anything related to China being muted helped Bharateeyans stay in the news. Apart from the effort applied in the title, everything else fails to evoke emotion or interest of any kind.
