What can one say about a series that has lofty ambitions, but after initial promise, slides into something else?
For one, while trying to narrate a counter-terrorist saga, the 5-episode series, often languorous and lengthy, ends up essentially as a family drama. Secondly, the series focuses on how someone with a cushy job in California quits and comes to India to enroll in the Army because of a gratifying experience in the past. And so all the strenuous procedurals for becoming a soldier are shown in great detail.
The sore point is that even these sequences are shown in a boringly extended manner (unlike in the recent film, Tanvi—The Great helmed by Anupam Kher or inthe gripping 1991 drama, Prahaar, directed by Nana Patekar). They are certainly not demotivating for a military aspirant, but for a normal viewer, it can lead to “Why not make all this shorter?”
Next, the relationship between Kartik Sharma (Vikram Singh Chauhan) and his father, Deendayal (Yashpal Sharma) becomes the focus of the story. Admittedly, the relationship souring for five long years is relevant because Kartik is his only son and dad wants to enjoy life with him. When Kartik comes back to India, deendayal and his wife are even making preparations for going to California to enjoy the rest of their lives with him.
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The script is clever in the sense that it does explain a lot of future sequences when both the son and father are captured on the basis of Kartik’s childhood memories with his father. But it does not explain the basic reason of how the father was present along with an entire ambushed Army platoon in the beginning, that too with a son with whom his relationship had not healed!!
Finally, when a determined terrorist shoots Deendayal from a distance and could have easily killed Kartik with one more bullet (the one that hits Deendayal is also meant for Kartik!) he does not finish him off! The climax where Kartik and his team decimate the terrorists is filmi and absurd to the n-th degree and the post-climax also suggests a cliffhanger.
That said, there are merits in the script like the strong emotional scenes between father and son, mother and son and more, while the action is also lensed well, despite the occasional needlessly gory sequence. The sequences between the Army soldiers and the recruits’ training are expertly lensed and edited, but for their length that only adds to the runtime of the episodes.
Another scoring point are the performances. Yashpal Sharma, in one of the best roles of his career, is fabulous as Deendayal, especially when he is regretting his behavior with his son, and is fantastic when he is confessing to his wife that he cannot face his son now and also while father and son are running away from the ultras. Neelu Dogra, as Deendayal’s compassionate and pragmatic wife Vidya, is outstanding. The army colleagues and the terrorists all put in consummate performances as well, with Rahul Tewari as Hamza standing out along with co-creator and co-writer Anandeshwar Dwivedi as Panda in another great turn among the army team.
Vikram Singh Chauhan, who plays Kartik, puts in a very accomplished and mature performance in his layered character. A complete natural as soldier, son and friend, he proves that he is one of the best young talents on the block.
The producers (TVF of Panchayat and other light fare fame) should have avoided the flaws and stuck to a well-scripted and focused idea. Sena: The Guardians of the Nation would have scored high, instead of being just average.
Rating: **1/2
Amazon MX Player presents The Viral Fever’s Sena: Guardians of the Nation Created by: Arunabh Kumar & Anandeshwar Dwivedi Directed by: Abhinav Anand Written by: Arunabh Kumar, Anandeshwar Dwivedi, Abhinav Anand, Vishwajeet Pratap Singh Starring: Vikram Singh Chauhan, Yashpal Sharma, Neelu Dogra, Rahul Tewari, Nihan Jain, Vijay Vikram Singh, Harinder Dhillon, Shyam Sharma, Naseem Mughal, Rajeev Bharwan, Anandeshwar Dwivedi & others