Subedaar Movie Review | Anupama Chopra | THR India

Anupama Chopra reviews Suresh Triveni's third directorial effort Subedaar, an action thriller streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The film stars Anil Kapoor as a retired army man navigating the lawless UP heartland, where his confrontation with local goons spirals into full-blown chaos. Anupama notes that Anil brings both gravitas and plausibility to the action, making us believe a man in his late 60s can take down opponents half his age, while also delivering genuine emotional moments. She highlights Mona Singh as the scene-stealing sand mafia boss Babli didi and praises Aditya Rawal's acting chops, though she feels the writing lets both him and Radhika Madan down with thinly sketched characters.

While the film has flashes of intensity — from its striking opening sequence establishing sand as a currency of power to some arresting visual compositions — Anupama finds that Subedaar ultimately trips over an overlong screenplay without much new to say. The basic one-man-army plot is enriched by a father-daughter subplot but weakened by a one-note villain. Still, she loves the idea of a desi action franchise led by Anil and is eager to see where the sequel goes, calling it time for a rooted Indian version of The Expendables.