Ae Watan Mere Watan review: Sara Ali Khan, Kannan Iyer compete to bore the audience to sleep; we end up as the losers

Director: Kannan Iyer

Cast: Sara Ali Khan, Emraan Hashmi, Sparsh Srivastava, Sachin Khedekar, Abhay Verma, Alexx O’Neil

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

Rating: 1.5 stars

Ae Watan Mere Watan is about a forgotten Indian freedom fighter Usha Mehta, who spearheaded the underground Congress Radio during the Quit India movement. So it is ironic that while retelling the tale of a forgotten hero, the film ends up being forgettable itself. Kannan Iyer’s tale of courage amid adversity lacks flair, conviction, and any sense of drama despite taking on a story that has all this. The end result is a disappointing snoozefest that is so much less than the sum of all its parts.

Usha Mehta was a freedom fighter who, along with her friends, took charge of an underground radio station during the Quit India Movement. The film stars Sara as Usha, along with Sparsh Srivastava and Abhay Verma as her friends and comrades. The story follows her rebellion against both the British and her Anglophile judge father (Sachin Khedekar) and how she aides Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (Emraan Hashmi playing against type) in the Quit India movement.

Sara Ali Khan has shown in the past that in the hands of a capable director (read Aanand L Rai), she can deliver a memorable performance. But in Ae Watan Mere Watan, the actress feels like a miscast, being made to embody someone that feels other-worldly for us. It is a failing of both the actress and her director that her Usha Mehta comes across as superficial and artificial, failing to connect with the audience. Despite the makeup and costume work transforming her physically into that woman from the 1940s, Sara never quite captures the soul of Usha here, which is her undoing.

But Sara isn’t what is all wrong with Ae Watan Mere Watan. The story of Usha Mehta should, on paper, make for compelling viewing. It is the story of a 20-something taking on the might of the British Raj against the threat of death and continues to strengthen the freedom struggle at a time when all major leaders were in prison. But the writing is so bland that you never feel the stakes. The times when Usha and her allies are close to being nabbed, the narrative lacks the tension. You never feel anxious or worried for the protagonists. It almost feels all academic, something with a foregone conclusion.

Ae Watan Mere Watan is a slow burn, but one that does not have any sweet payoff. In the recent past itself, we were given a delicious slow burn about a freedom fighter – Shoojit Sircar’s Sardar Udham. But that film – also an Amazon Original – managed to keep the narrative tight and ended things with a heartbreaking conclusion that should rank as one of the best climaxes in Indian cinema history. In comparison, Ae Watan Mere Watan is tame, never quite holding your attention longer than a few minutes. Even in the thrills department, it lacks the necessary finesse.

The biggest disservice the film does is to the British, reducing them to caricatures. Not that I have any sympathy with colonisers but by reducing the villains in the story to cartoonish bad guys, the film reduces its own stakes, making everything lighter. Alexx O’Neil tries hard to bring menace to the sadistic cop on the revolutionaries’ tale but the character is so unidimensional that he fails to do so.

I could go on about the cons of Ae Watan Mere Watan from the flat dialogue delivery to a protagonist you can’t empathise with but I do want to point out the two pros. The performances from Sparsh Srivastava and Emraan Hashmi make the film somewhat watchable but only when they are on screen. Hashmi is refreshing as the veteran freedom fighter, bringing some much-needed gravitas to the narrative. Young Sparsh continues his run of form after a memorable Laapataa Ladies and shines in his limited time on screen.

Ae Watan Mere Watan flounders a good opportunity – telling a good story that required a young actress to carry the weight of the film. It not only does disservice to Usha Mehta but also to Sara Ali Khan, who appears so out of place that one wonders where the girl from Atrangi Re has gone.