Abundantia Entertainment, Opening Image Films and Anil Kapoor Film & Communication Network’s Subedaar (A) is a good-versus-evil drama.
Subedaar Arjun Maurya (Anil Kapoor) is a retired soldier who wages war against the local villains — Prince (Aditya Rawal), Babli Didi (Mona Singh) and Softy Bhaiya (Faisal Malik). He has to also mend his fractured relationship with daughter Shyama (Radhika Madan).
Suresh Triveni and Prajwal Chandrashekar have written a story which doesn’t even pretend to be novel. However, the characterisations are interesting and hence the story captures the attention of the viewers to an extent. The duo’s screenplay is fast-paced and, therefore, keeps the audience’s interest alive. Although the drama does become predictable at places, the pace is what saves it from becoming boring. The track of soured relationship between Arjun Maurya and his daughter, Shyama, rests on a weak foundation because the misunderstanding (reason for the souring of the relationship) could’ve been avoided, if they had chosen to talk to each other. The climax could’ve been more exhilarating. Suresh Triveni and Prajwal Chandrashekar’s dialogues are quite nice.
Anil Kapoor breathes fire into the character of Subedaar Arjun Maurya. He acts with complete conviction. Radhika Madan is good in the role of Shyama Maurya. Aditya Rawal is suitably menacing as Prince. His ‘Big enjoy’ dialogue is entertaining. Mona Singh makes for an effective Babli Didi. Faisal Malik is very entertaining in the role of Softy Bhaiya. Khushboo Sundar leaves a mark as Subedaar’s wife. Saurabh Shukla has his moments as Prabhakar. Nana Patekar adds star value and does well in a tiny guest appearance as Nana Waghmare. Amit Jha, Vikram Pratap, Harsh Purwar, Lata Shukla, and the others lend the desired support.
Suresh Triveni’s direction is mature. However, he should’ve co-written a better script. Music (Shubham Shirule, Ana Rehman, Agram, Sanjay Pachauri, Rutvik Talashilkar, Raj Mawar, Akshay & IP, and Rohan Vinayak) is alright. Lyrics (Shubham Shirule, Pankaj Sinha, Raju Chaurasiya, Rohtash Gagsiniya, Amir Khusrau, IP Singh, and Rishi Upadhyay) are okay. The Ae ri sakhi (music by Akshay & IP; original lyrics by Amir Khusrau; recreated lyrics by IP Singh) song is quite nice. Rohan-Vinayak’s background music is reasonably effective. Ajay Saxena’s cinematography is eye-filling. Rahul Mohite’s action and stunt scenes afford thrill. Ajay Chodankar’s production designing is of a good standard. Shivkumar V. Panicker’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Subedaar is a fair fare for the OTT circuit.
Released on 5-3-’26 on Amazon Prime.