Parinda, Ghayal and the recent Animal all had lead characters who were offbeat, but their quirks were well-defined and justified. The same cannot be said for Siddhant Chaturvedi’s Yudhra. The boy cannot control his anger because he is an orphan. But then she gets a foster father Karthik (Gajraj Rao) who is probably the most kind and patient father she has ever met. But Yudhra’s rebellious nature and his inability to respond to his father’s concerns make no sense. The hero appears to be a rebel without a cause. As the second father figure in Yudhra’s life, Rahman (Ram Kapoor) provides context to Yudhra’s plight and her temperamental anger issues a little later in the film, but this is news to Yudhra as well. So it doesn’t really come together as to why his character is unstable all the time. There’s another explanation at the beginning of the film, which establishes the fact that Yudhra was born after her mother died in a car accident, so the situation will probably have an effect on her brain. But Yudhra is not a challenging person, she has anger issues which come out only when there is an action sequence going on. It seems as if the main protagonist situation is more of a screenwriting device than a real, believable situation.
Moving on to the story, it deals with a young man named Yudhra (Siddhant) who is a bit rowdy. Her father was a reputed policeman named Girish Dixit (Saurabh Gokhale), who was killed in the same car accident that took the life of Yudhra’s mother. Orphaned, Yudhra is adopted by Girish’s colleague Karthik. His other police friend Rehman (Ram Kapoor) and his daughter Nikhat (Malavika Mohanan) form Yudhra’s friends and family. The problem is that Yuddha can’t remain calm in any situation and he always gets himself into trouble. One thing leads to another and Yudhra finds herself in jail, where she gets acquainted with the handler of dangerous drug mafia Firoz (Raj Arjun). When Yudhra is released from jail, she makes way for Firoz and his son Shafiq (Raghav Juyal). This sets in motion the entire premise of the film in which Yudhra must fight his own demons in order to bring the bad guys to justice.
Yudhra’s character is a bit difficult to summarize. He’s a charming army cadet like Top Gun’s Tom Cruise, but then he’s also prone to aggressive outbursts like Anniyan’s Vikram. Apart from Dhoom’s John Abraham, Yudhra also likes to ride her bike on the streets of Mumbai. He is a crazy, violent inmate in the jail like Shahrukh Khan from Don 2. But when he is infiltrating Firoz’s gang and clashing with the gangster’s enemies, he is as cunning and stylish as James Bond. Yudhra has many shades of grey, maybe a little too much.
But there is no monotony in the action sequences of director Ravi Udayavar’s film. The action is abundant and every single second is stylish, intense and very clever. A showreel of Yudhra’s action sequences would fit seamlessly into any modern Tom Cruise or Henry Cavill film. If you are an action lover, the action of Yudhra will definitely get you excited and excited. But the stakes in those action scenes are almost beyond comprehension. The only time the action catches up with the drama is when Malavika Mohanan joins forces with Raghav Juyal and then later with Shilpa Shukla (playing a fiery female policewoman).
Not just the action, the technical aspects of Yudhra, including the background music, foley sounds, cinematography and CGI are all top-rate. To use an old cliché, this film’s style overpowers its substance, just as Goliath does with David. The mixed metaphor perfectly represents the spirit of Yudhra.
Siddhant Chaturvedi’s performance is a solid reason to watch Yudhra in theatres. The actor gives his soul in a performance that is heart-touching. Same goes for Ram Kapoor, Malavika Mohanan and Raj Arjun, who are all in excellent form. Raghav Juyal is the discovery of 2024, his performance in Yudhra has proved that his performances in Kill and Eleven Eleven were no shots in the dark. This young actor is a certified breath of fresh air.
Ravi Udayavar’s last offering was Mom, starring Sridevi in a film that could irritate even the most die-hard film lovers. Sadly, his long-awaited return to direction is not as consistent as his debut film in 2017. It’s got all the style and quirkiness, but it just falters with its all-too-convenient writing and dull editing.