‘Fateh’ Movie Review: Sonu Sood Directs And Stars In A Not-So-Bad Actioner

Director: Sonu Sood
Writers: Sonu Sood, Ankur Pajni
Cast: Sonu Sood, Jacqueline Fernandez, Vijay Raaz, Naseeruddin Shah, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Shiv Jyoti Rajput

You can tell when someone—especially an actor—is directing their first action movie. The craft is more impressive than expressive. Sonu Sood’s Fateh, starring himself, has telltale signs.

For instance, there’s that ambitious mirror shot in the beginning: The hero looks straight at his reflection but you can’t see the camera; it then floats through the glass like a ghost. There are the over-excited transitions and snazzy editing. At least twice, shots of spilled blood cut to ketchup on a plate; a cop ordering a steamed momo cuts to a villain eating a momo (“my long-time weakness”); a victim opens his mouth to scream and you hear a honking car. There’s an interval slate that reads “Brace yourself, you’ll need this break”. A pointless overseas sequence is inserted only so that a Hans Zimmer-composed track can be flaunted. A random close-up of a henchman’s ear is seen seconds before his severed ear is served on a plate.

There’s more. A great supporting cast is assembled for no particular reason: Naseeruddin Shah is a bored cyber-crime boss in a hoodie and flip-flops (shot entirely in one room); Vijay Raaz is his bored accomplice; Dibyendu Bhattacharya is a bored and corrupt Delhi cop who disappears and appears at will. Most of all, the action is inspired—quite literally.

Read More | ‘Baby John’ Movie Review: A Weapon of Mass-movie Destruction

Fateh’s killing-machine choreography is semi-Animal and quarter-John Wick; a corridor onslaught is so Oldboy-coded that it’s nearly cute. Fateh’s patriotism is half-Pathaan and half-Tiger Zinda Hai.

A still from 'Fateh'

The retired super-agent, living a peaceful life in Punjab, is drawn back into action by the abduction of a village girl; he’s so asexual, it’s hard to tell if he loved her like a sister or girlfriend. Then, he gets so caught up chasing a nationwide cybercrime network—led by ex-agent Raza (Shah) and Satya Prakash (Raaz)—that a character actually has to remind him that he’s forgotten about the girl.

By then, of course, Fateh’s intentions are bigger: save India from evil online scammers with the help of an ethical hacker (Jacqueline Fernandez).

Sonu Sood is a solid action film-maker—in the vein of other actor-directors like Ajay Devgn and Sunny Deol. He has a knack for stylish violence, blood and gore. The combat sequences are nifty, too. He’s also a decent action hero; you know this is true because the scariest sequences are those that feature Fateh emoting rather than killing.

In fact, it’s sort of worrying when the man isn’t chopping up baddies in innovative and cold-blooded ways. Even the campiness is old-school. The moment you see a Chinese henchman named Lee eating noodles with chopsticks during an argument, you know it’s a matter of time before those chopsticks gauge out his eyes. You know a villain intro scene is bereft of ideas when a line like “Black coffee and chocolate biscuits, what a peaceful combination!” appears without irony.

The sight of old Raza winging it in a tech room with a secretary straight out of a bad porn fantasy is so unserious that it’s cool. I found myself wondering if Tahir Raj Bhasin’s bluetooth-wearing chiller from Mardaani (2014) just aged like fine wine.

A still from 'Fateh'

In terms of the new-age Hindi actioner, Fateh tries something interesting: It combines a Sandeep Reddy Vanga-coded kinetic energy (sans the toxic masculinity) with the Shah Rukh Khan-coded social energy (sans the meta-swag). On paper, the marriage should work.

But action cinema is about creating, not deriving and mixing. As a result, the dressing of Fateh—the clumsy technology-sucks plot, the forcibly eclectic soundtrack, the half-hearted romance, the shapeless motive, the desire to be all those movies and none of those movies—distracts from its slick bloodlust. It’s all very extra. The diversions to San Francisco (for a “Golden Gate mission”) and Dubai (to meet a former boss) must count as some of the most reckless budgetary decisions made in modern film.

Read More | 'Max' Movie Review: Herculean Kichcha Sudeep Barely Salvages A One-Note Actioner

As forewarned, I braced myself in the break for a wild second-half. But the emotional impact never came. The film never came alive beyond its high-octane deaths. That I came out disappointed and not dismissive implies that, at some point, Fateh showed promise.

Yet, the question, “Who is Fateh?” continues to linger. The question, “Why is Fateh?” is never answered either. Perhaps it’ll come in the next Sonu Sood directorial—which I’m now low-key excited for. I can see its famous transition shot already: the tight close-up of a villain’s scrunched-up face cuts to a swirling choco ice cream softy. The kakori kebabs and ketchup can wait.