WHY THE ‘SOLDIER’ IS THIS WEEK’S PICK
- Lord Bobby has been trending online ever since the trailer of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s ‘Animal’ was released. Bobby Deol’s look in the upcoming film is making the netizens go gaga. As his legion of fans eagerly await his return to theaters, we revisited ‘Soldier’, one of his most popular films. The 1998 Abbas-Mustan film also stars Preity Zinta, Rakhee Gulzar, Suresh Oberoi and others.
New Delhi: Imagine a mix of romantic comedy, family drama and heroic revenge thriller with a touch of slapstick. This is exactly how one can describe Bobby Deol’s 1998 film ‘Soldier’. Bobby shows a surprisingly wide range of emotions, manipulator, lover, fighter and killer.
An Indian guy Vicky (Bobby Deol) goes to Australia to take revenge for an incident that started in his country. Considering the movie is set in Australia, you might be wondering why the characters speak Hindi and everyone is Indian.
Vicky is the son of an army officer who was wrongfully convicted of treason. His socially outcast mother (Rakhee Gulzar) takes refuge in a shrine. We don’t understand why the makeup artist felt the need to make Rakhee look ghostly to convey her grief. she looks scary in the last scene.
Vicky’s true identity remains a mystery until the end. While in Australia, he meets Suresh Oberoi’s rich and powerful daughter Preeti (Preity Zinta) and develops feelings for her.
For all the 90s filmmakers out there, I have a real question: why the hell would you cast an actress if they were just going to dance in the movie? As soon as Preity Zinta appears on the screen, a song starts playing. The directors cast a stunning actress to attract the audience, even if her character’s perspective is completely inappropriate in the film.
Many of the songs in the film are basically filler, even if some of them are memorable, catchy and effectively performed.
Preity Zinta is introduced with a dance number. Bobby watches her crawl using binoculars. To put it simply, Bobby appears to be a stalker. Meanwhile, we can’t help but fawn over Bobby Deol in a leather jacket, black sunglasses and long hair.
We couldn’t help but notice a sexist statement in the film. Bobby reacts with “kapde rita ki aur baatein sita ki.“In response to Preity’s ‘how dare you touch me’? So when you touch a woman without consent, she can’t defend you, right? For the simple reason that he wears western clothing.
Preity totally bombs in that scene when she gets a chance to show off her acting chops. Bobby and Preity look pathetic when they have to act drunk.
The suspense of the film is not high enough and you can guess the identity of the villain before the script says his name. There is no originality in Bobby’s approach to killing bad guys. That said, the film’s story twists were both clever and surprising.
As far as the fight scenes go, ‘Soldier’ does a good job. His well-choreographed scenes and stunts would like to see it again. Action movie standards have changed over the years, but ‘Soldier’ is still fun to watch because it makes you miss the action movies that were popular in Bollywood in the late 1990s.
The positive aspects of the film were the opportunity to see Farida Jalal’s acting and hear her powerful dialogues.
There isn’t much to say about the humorous parts of the film apart from OG Johnny Lever, who gets boring beyond a point, and Bobby Deol’s funny dance steps.
The narrative is unique and informal in its approach. However, there are several issues with this film, including an overly dramatic climax.
Looking back at “Soldier” in modern times is like opening a time capsule. It transports us to a bygone era where Bollywood action films had compelling leads, surprising narrative twists and infectious soundtracks. For those who fondly remember the golden age of Bollywood action cinema, “Soldier” will always be a classic, even if it doesn’t live up to the standards of modern filmmaking.
