Chauhan Studios’ Kesari Veer (UA) is the true story of a group of brave villagers who fought valiantly to save the Somnath Temple from an evil Mughal invader, Zafar.
Hamirji Gohil (Sooraj Pancholi) is a Rajput prince who lives with his family in a village in Saurashtra. Although his family thinks that he is not serious about anything after his mother’s (Barkha Bisht) demise, Hamirji rises to the occasion when evil Mughal invader Zafar Khan (Vivek Oberoi) tries to destroy the holy Somnath Temple in the village. Aided by warrior Vegda (Sunil Shetty), Hamirji and the villagers give Zafar Khan and his huge army a very tough fight.
Kanu Chauhan’s story is average but it has been written very shoddily. The screenplay, penned by Shitiz Srivastava and Kanu Chauhan, is terribly weak. The drama is so half-baked that the scenes don’t have half the impact they should’ve had. Emotions are conspicuous by their absence. Although there is a romantic track of Hamirji Gohil and Rajal (Akanksha Sharma), the romance is far from being heartwarming. Except for the three main characters of Hamirji, Vegda and Zafar Khan, no other character gets any worthwhile scope so that it looks like a very lopsided drama. Shitiz Srivastava’s dialogues are horrendously weak.
Sooraj Pancholi is alright in the role of Hamirji Gohil. Sunil Shetty is ordinary as warrior Vegda. He needs to concentrate more on the stress he lays on words during his dialogue delivery, and on his dialogues as well. For instance, in a scene, he mouths the dialogue “Aashirwad le ke zaroor jaana” instead of saying “Aashirwad zaroor le ke jaana”. As is clear, the meaning changes completely because of the sheer placement of the word zaroor. Vivek Oberoi is sincere as Zafar Khan but doesn’t appear as the threat he is made out to be, thanks to the weak scenes written in general and for him in particular. Akanksha Sharma is average as Rajal. Hitu Kanodia is okay as Dudhaji Gohil. Pratish Vora is dull as Arjanji Gohil. Ami Trivedi is fair as Hamirji’s sister-in-law. Barkha Bisht Sengupta makes her presence felt as Hamirji’s mother. Shiva Rindani is ordinary as Qazi. Himanshu Malhotra performs ordinarily as Rasool. Feroz Irani is okay as Kaka. Bhavya Gandhi is so-so as Lakha. Kiran Kumar hardly gets scope as Mohamed bin Tughlaq. Kabir Dhiman is routine as little Hamirji. Aroona Irani has her moments in a role (Charan Jagdamba) which seems inconsequential. Yuvraj Gadhvi (as Jairam), Sonu Pathak (as Shambhu), Birju Chauhan (as Meghji), Mukesh (as Badri), Vikas Bangar (as Ishtiyaq), Robin Almeida (as Damji), Parvesh Mishra (as Jethwa Rajput), Mysha Pitroda (as baby Rajal), Raaj Sangar (as Dharmesh Singh), Danisha Das (as the queen), Pankaj Upadhyay (as the king of Banswara), Nitin Grover (as Madhav Singh), Dikshant Rajput (as Sabir), Azad Ansari (as Gulfaam), Siraj Khan (as Senapati), Kuldeep (as Kaka’s son), Fareen Shaikh (as Rajal’s friend), Yajuvendra (as Khambhaji), Mamta Bajaj (as Khambhaji’s wife), Sanju Rajput (as Khambhaji’s son), Lalit (as Badri’s brother), Hritik Virale (as Karsan Rai), Vishwa Bhanu (as Mansur), Ishika (as the Bheel girl), J.D. Sharma (as Mursheed), Prashant (as Karim), Praveen Manjrekar (as Raqib), Dheeraj (as Wasim), Rajesh Dubey (as the pandit in Samadhiyala village), Vrushali Dandekar (as the old lady), Mohit (as the kid in Samadhiyala), Meenakshi (as Narmada Baa), Manish, Ramniwas, Rajnesh (all three as pandits), Sanjeev Sharma (as the Girnar pandit), Manish Thakur (as Shivji), Abhilasha (as Parvatiji), and the rest barely pass muster. Sharad Kelkar’s commentary is effective.
Prince Dhiman’s direction is weak and dull. Monty Sharma’s music is melodious but none of the songs has become popular. Lyrics (by Jhaverchand Meghani, Akshat Gupta, Monty Sharma, Keshav Rathod, Srijan and Sanchari Sengupta) are alright. There are too many Gujarati songs and this will not be liked by the non-Gujarati-speaking viewers. Song picturisations (by Sameer & Arsh Tanna, and Dev Thape) are routine. Monty Sharma’s background music is below the mark. Vikas Joshi’s cinematography is fair. Visual effects and computer graphics are below average. Kevin Kumar and Anand Shetty’s action and stunt scenes lack thrill and excitement. Priyanka Grover Dhiman’s production designing, and Baji R. Patil’s art direction are okay. Satya Sharma and Sumanth Sharma’s editing leaves something to be desired.
On the whole, Kesari Veer is a poor show all the way and will prove to be a non-starter.
Released on 23-5-’25 at Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Panorama Studios. Publicity: fair. Opening: weak. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.
