Maddock Films’ Ikkis (UA) is the story of India’s youngest Param Vir Chakra awardee, Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal.
Arun Khetarpal (Agastya Nanda) is a Second Lieutenant in the Indian Army, raring to go. He is called on the battlefield in the 1971 war against Pakistan. He is killed in the first war he fights even as he poses a tough fight to the Pakistani Army.
Years later, his father, Brig. Madan Lal Khetarpal (Dharmenda) comes to Pakistan for a school reunion. Pakistani Brig. Jaan Mohammad Nisar (Jaideep Ahlawat) hosts Brig. Khetarpal in his house. During his brief stay in Pakistan, Brig. Nisar recounts to Brig. Khetarpal how his son had laid down his life in Pakistani territory.
Sriram Raghavan, Arijit Biswas and Pooja Ladha Surti have written a story based on an army hero’s eventful life on the battlefield. The story is quite interesting because it underlines several points: that while wars are waged between countries, their people bear no grudges against each other; that every soldier does his best for his country; that an armyman’s family cannot and must not seek revenge on the rival armyman who may have killed their kin. The trio’s screenplay is interesting in parts but not throughout. For one, several individual scenes are heart-touching but the drama doesn’t make the viewers cry. Secondly, the drama dips at some points. Thirdly, it often becomes difficult to understand whether one or more armymen are Indians or Pakistanis. The trio’s dialogues are good but ought to have been more emotional and patriotic.
Dharmendra does well as Brig. Madan Lal Khetarpal. Since this is the late actor’s last film, people will watch his performance with more fondness. Jaideep Ahlawat acts with effortless ease and shines as Brig. Jaan Mohammad Nisar. Agastya Nanda is charming and very endearing as Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal. His performance is very natural and hence he will be loved, especially by young girls. Simar Bhatia makes an ordinary debut as Kiran Kochar. Suhasini Mulay is alright as Arun Khetarpal’s mother. Rahul Dev makes his presence felt as Lt. Col. Hanut Singh. Sikander Kher is quite good as Ris. Sagat Singh. Ekavali Khanna has her moments as Mrs. Nisar. Vivaan Shah is cute in the role of Capt. Vijender Malhotra. Avani Rai is ordinary as Saba. Saurabh Dubey is natural as the Pakistani General. Amit Jairath (as Lt. Col. Ajai Singh), Bahrul Islam (as Capt. Zafar), Kailash Gowtham (as 2nd Lt. Brijendra Singh), Aryan Pushkar (as 2nd Lt. Avtar Singh Ahlawat), Ranvijay Singh (as 2nd Lt. Altaf Alam), Vijender Poniyal (as Paresh Kamdar), and Abhijeet Singh (as Capt. Siraj (13 Lancer)) lend fair support. In guest appearances, Asrani leaves a lovely mark as Asghar; Deepak Dobriyal shines as Jahangir; Zakir Hussain makes his mark as the ISI officer; Mamik is alright as the Pakistani General; Adel Ibrahim is okay as Maj. P.V. Sahadevan; and Abhishek Duhan is alright as Maj. Hoshiyar Singh. Others are okay. Sharad Kelkar’s voice acting in the commentary is compelling.
Sriram Raghavan’s direction is quite good, but his narration doesn’t make the audience’s chests swell with pride and it also doesn’t move them to tears. White Noise Collective’s music is fairly nice. Lyrics (by Amitabh Bhattacharya; Tera aashiq song by Irshad Kamil) are weighty. Vijay A. Ganguly’s song picturisatons are okay. Tanuj Tiku and Ketan Sodha’s background music is decent but ought to have been more impactful. Anil Mehta’s cinematography is splendid. Action and stunt scenes (Alexander Samokhvalov and Amrit Singh) are exciting. Production designing (By Mayur Sharma, Mustafa Stationwala, Sujeet Subhash Sawant and Sriram Kannan Iyengar) is of a fine standard. Monisha R. Baldawa’s editing is fairly sharp but should’ve been crisper.
On the whole, Ikkis is an average fare.
Released on 1-1-’26 at Inox (daily 6 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Jio Studios (national multiplex chains) and August Entertainment. Publicity: very good. Opening: quite good because of the partial holiday today (1st January) and also because of lack of opposition this week. …….Also released all over. Opening was reasonably decent because of a partial holiday today.
