'Sky Force' movie review: Akshay Kumar, Veer Pahariya's mission almost accomplished

A still from Sky Force

Sky Force
Dir: Abhishek Anil Kapur, Sandeep Kewlani
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Veer Pahariya
Rating: 4/5

Stepping out of the Sky Force screening, one heard, "Were the expectations low, or was the film actually good?" The answer to which is both. A new patriotic film has arrived in cinemas. A fatigue for the genre has set in over time. And not unfairly so. So, one enters the press show of the Akshay Kumar-starrer expecting too little and nothing new. What one gets is a pleasant surprise.

Abhishek Anil Kapur and Sandeep Kewlani's directorial venture has a decent emotional beat, and thrilling aerial action sequences, and also brings its hero back in full form. Based on India's retaliatory attack on Pakistan's Sargodha airbase during the 1965 Indo-Pak war, Sky Force centres on two Air Force pilots, KO Ahuja (Kumar) and T Vijaya (Veer Pahariya in his acting debut).

In Ahuja, Vijaya finds a mentor, while for the senior, this team member reminds him of his late younger brother, a fearless pilot who was madly in love with his country. Vijaya goes missing during the airstrike, and there begins Ahuja's fight to find him and regain his lost glory. It's the first half that holds most of the film's action, both in the air and on the ground. From the pilots' training, to the two heroes doing a recce of the border, and the airstrike, there's plenty of mid-air action to look forward to, all of which has been fabulously shot to evoke a sense of thrill and tension.

Behind the action, we see Vijaya's pregnant wife Geeta (Sara Ali Khan) worry for his safety, while Ahuja's partner, Priya (Nimrat Kaur), manages to treat his job matter-of-factly. Patriotic films, in the recent past, have seemed like a joke. Sky Force, however, is an anomaly. It appears sincere, even though a share of dialogues promoting chest-thumping patriotism ("Ghar mein ghuske maarenge"), and scenes that mock a Gandhi-led India's belief in non-violence and tolerance were avoidable. Yet, they do not take away from the storytelling. An element of decency is made evident as the narrative acknowledges - even if it does so only towards the end of the film - the empathy that a soldier on the other side of the border harbours.

Sincere is also how one can describe Kumar's turn. While the character doesn't offer something new when pitted against Kumar's other patriotic acts, there's a fine balance of maturity and restraint with which he has played Ahuja, managing to lift an otherwise forgettable character. In fact, both Kumar and Kaur (fantastic, even though she's primarily seen reacting to situations) do well holding the film's emotional reins. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said about the debutant and his co-star. Pahariya gets a lot of crowd-cheering dialogues, and his delivery is not a problem. But, he fails to serve them with the emotional depth that may be required for a film of this nature. It's hard to connect with his character, given that he puts up a performance that may seem empty. As for Khan, she simply seems unable to become the character. Her interpretation of Geeta seems restricted to an actor placed in costumes belonging to an era gone by as she aims to imitate how people from the time may have behaved. It seems artificial, especially the dramatic bits.

Sky Force does leave a lot to be desired. The writing, especially in the second half of the film, is dull and uninspiring. Rather than building suspense around a lost Air Force officer, it kills it. The narrative is too convenient and superficial. The writers, Kewlani, Ameel Keeyan Khan, and Niren Bhatt, are also unable to flesh out characters that don't seem like prototypes.

Despite all that's good about Sky Force, one wishes the film industry could take a break from churning out patriotic offerings. Distance makes the heart grow fonder - let there be distance so that there is love, again.