Ravi Udyawar, who directed Sridevi’s last film Mom in 2017, is back with an action thriller, Yudhra, led by Siddhant Chaturvedi as a brooding, rebellious undercover cop. Though it sets out to be a high-octane action spectacle, with Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani as producers, Yudhra ends up being a lot of sound and fury signifying very little.
The film begins with Yudhra (Siddhant) getting shot on a ship while fighting a masked assailant and then plunging into the ocean. A flashback gives a glimpse of his parents dying in an accident, his mother right after giving birth to him and the lack of oxygen in the womb affecting Yuddhra’s brain (which is used to explain his anger issues). Yudhra is also bitter about his father’s colleague Kartik Rathore (Gajraj Rao), who adopted him after his parents’ death.
After several run-ins with the law and landing in jail multiple times, Yudhra is sent to a cadet training institute in Pune. There, he reconnects with his childhood friend Nikhat (Malavika Mohanan) and they fall in love. After the customary song-and-dance routine, Yudhra assaults a civilian in a cafe, resulting in his court martial. While in prison, another colleague of his father, Rahman (Ram Kapoor), assigns him on a mission to take down a drug cartel run by Firoze (Raj Arjun) and his son Shafique (Raghav Juyal). What follows next is anybody’s guess — Yudhra infiltrates Firoze’s gang, wins his trust and all hell breaks loose when a drug delivery goes awfully wrong, leading to a multi-continent chase as Firoze hunts for Yudhra.
The brutal fight sequences — choreographed with precision and flair, and shot by cinematographer Anuj Rakesh Dhawan — are the film’s primary selling point. The hand-to-hand combat is fast-paced and visceral, and the violence doesn’t seem to end. But the reliance on these sequences to carry the story doesn’t go well. You start to feel weary by the third act when the emotional stakes don’t quite match up to the intensity of the physical conflict. The plot dives headlong into the world of crime and corruption but seldom lingers long enough on any element to make an impact.
As an action hero, Siddhant Chaturvedi is confident and quick on his toes. His physicality is on full display and there’s a brooding intensity that works well for this role. Since the story doesn’t dwell much on his emotional wounds, his fists do all the talking.
Nikhat’s rational personality balances out Yudhra’s rage-fuelled presence and though Malavika Mohanan and Siddhant have considerable screen chemistry, the romance subplot is not fleshed out well. Nikhat gets relegated to the background, coming off more as a damsel caught in the chaos around her.
In contrast, Raghav Juyal as Shafiq is a standout. While his portrayal verges on the over-the-top at times, Juyal exudes a sinister charm that makes him a memorable antagonist and a formidable challenger. The tension between Yudhra and Shafiq serves as the film’s most compelling dynamic, with their rivalry headed for an explosive showdown in the end.
Raj Arjun’s Firoze also deserves mention for his transformation into a wild crime lord. Firoze is a worthy adversary, although the screenplay doesn’t give him the focus he could have had. Ram Kapoor and Gajraj Rao do their bit in predictable archetypal roles in the crime thriller genre. Their characters contribute to the overall chaos of the plot but don’t add much substance.
