‘Sooryavanshi’ review: Nursing the other virus

The text packs a punch; it is the subtext of Rohit Shetty’s action-entertainer that is problematic

The decision to hold the release of Rohit Shetty’s most ambitious film till the pandemic went into remission was right. The sound and fury of the film demanded a theatrical release and it’s good that the audiences were not asked to negotiate with two pandemics simultaneously.

Like its hero, the screenwriters indulge in multiple somersaults to ‘balance’ the narrative but can’t save the Akshay Kumar-starrer from relentlessly planting seeds of suspicion against a particular community.

With Sooryavanshi, Rohit, known for conjuring mindless entertainment and visceral action choreography, attempts to deal with complex issues. He opens with the much-abused Gandhi quote: an eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind, but loses faith midway, and decides to reduce the ‘opponent’ to a pulp.