Fateh Movie Review: Guns, blood and bore

It is the season of action flicks, it is the season of violent scenes, it is the spring of incessant gore, it is the winter of extreme blood. It is not the best of times; it is not the worst of times—wait, apologies for invoking the iconic lines of Dickens to make sense of the trend of actioners coming out of Indian cinema. But it is really a tale of too-much gritty(s). Sonu Sood’s debut directorial arrives after Ranbir Kapoor’s smug-fest Animal, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s visceral Kill, Allu Arjun’s flamboyant Pushpa 2: The Rule and Haneef Adeni’s unapologetic Marco. Fateh, however, stands in a league of its own. It constantly borders on being lethargic, its filmmaking rhythm staying off from the get-go. Much of its pretense of style feels dated, confusing shrill for thrill and commotion for emotion. It isn’t nearly as pointed, self-aware and virtually cohesive. In short, an inaction-er.  

It seems to always be in the process of becoming something which it can never be. There is little in its heavily inspired frames that feels original. Take the character of Fateh (Sonu), a veteran hitman, who wears a black suit, dons a thin black tie and comes out of retirement to get back into action. Wicked as it may sound but it does spring up the memory of a certain John. Yet, the inciting incident is not the death of a puppy here but the kidnapping of a loved one, Nimrat (Shivjyoti Rajput), a victim of cyber-crime. Fateh’s voiceover over-explains the perils of being on the internet and how naive commoners are looted by cunning businessmen, running rackets of online scams.

It isn’t difficult to fathom when Fateh stops and Sonu Sood takes over. The actor became a savior for many during the Covid-19 lockdown, as he helped in arranging for transport and food for migrants left helpless at the face of the pandemic. So, naturally, Fateh is philanthropic too. He helps a penniless father in paying the school fees of his children. Further, in a moment of awkward randomness, he pays a tea vendor and frees caged birds kept on a table. Fateh is going to save one and all.

Starring: Sonu Sood, Jacqueliene Fernandez, Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Raaz and Dibyendu Bhattacharya

Directed by: Sonu Sood

His voice is omnipresent in the film, yet there is nothing to make us root for him. When he engages in racy combat with goons, there is seldom a moment of tension. His blows don’t hit you in the gut and his angry, stone face seems bereft of any real pain. There is a serious lack of vulnerability in him, which leaves a lesser emotional ground for Sonu to cover as an actor. He has exhibited the shades of menace earlier in Dabangg (2010), but here it just doesn’t land.  

Sonu, as writer-director, appears perennially confused as well, leaving the film in bouts of identity-crises. It becomes too slow and unsteady for a slick actioner, taking a lot of time just to set things up. The entire film feels like a long set up waiting for a pay-off that never comes. Sonu’s vision makes even Naseeruddin Shah and Vijay Raaz seem lost, inducing unintended laughter on occasion. Shah is reduced to always looking at a gigantic screen and conversing with his heavily anglicised Hindi-speaking assistant, as he lets out an evil laugh that would put to shame even the actor’s high-pitched portrayal in the classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983).

In fact, there are glimpses of an unrealised spoof film in Fateh that has been lost to its overtly serious tone. It is even shot and edited in a way that makes it seem like one. Why else would you go to the Golden Gate in San Francisco to shoot a bag-exchange scene by the Pacific Ocean? It invokes Hollywood-like visuals for no reason at all. For instance, a car running through a desert with electricity poles in the backdrop, taken from David Fincher’s Seven (1995). There, the image became synonymous with the complex case that the protagonists investigate. Here, it is just an image without any ulterior significance. Another shot is taken from Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995), where Robert De Niro’s character wears big sunglasses and it reflects a car passing from left to right. What’s iconic there, becomes a fizzling affair here.

Even the editing style seems too insipid to be true. Multiple instances accompany visuals of tomato ketchup match-cut with blood, of a human scream followed up with a car horn— all of it designed to appear smart but ends up creating more of a gimmick instead. It doesn’t stop here; at interval point, a text comes on screen: Brace yourself, you will need this break. Okay. In another scene, Fateh writes the final word on his crossword: Slumber. I repeat, wouldn’t all of this be gold material for an edgy, spoofy, actioner? Come next week a certain singer might fulfill our wishes.