Tricked by Shudh Singh (Sanjay Dutt), a military general aligned with the British armies invading India during the 1870’s, Shamshera (Ranbir Kapoor) forfeits his ancestral home and sentences his entire tribe to life in exile as slaves in the walled city of Kaza.  Refusing to accept defeat, he tries to find a way to escape the city and buy his people’s freedom at the agreed price of 5000 pieces of gold, but he is captured, labeled a traitor, and stoned to death.  Years later, his son, Balli (Ranbir Kapoor in a dual role), slowly learns of his father’s legacy and he makes it his mission to see that the Khameran tribe is freed from their oppressors and returned to their homeland. 

Shamshera is a bombastic, action-packed period piece from director Karan Malhotra finding worldwide release from Yash Raj Films.  The film boasts wild set pieces and catchy music from Mithun Sharma.  Kapoor, at the front of the film, has an impressively large role as the leading man of the 178-minute-long spectacle which asks the actor to show off a wide range in his dual role that makes him a larger-than-life action star, but still human enough that the more emotional beats of the film’s romantic plot still land with some authenticity. 

The film opens with an extended prologue that introduces us to the Shamshera myth and allows for Kapoor to play a stoic warrior led by his loyalty to family and tribe.  Malhotra wastes little time introducing the audience to the highly stylized approach to fighting and violence that the film will adopt.  Kapoor is at his strongest as the brooding warrior, possibly given the grandiose nature of the script as it writes a legendary character, but this period of exposition moves a mile a minute and is incredibly exciting.  Its brutal action sets the stage for what is to come; a good vs bad narrative where the only thing larger than the immense, blindly evil forces against a Khameran is the fighting spirit of Shamshera who will live on through his son. 

The majority of the film follows Kapoor as Balli, a serviceable action hero with eccentric nature.  Unfortunately, the film treats him as a bit of a playboy and while Kapoor does manage to pull off good comedic timing, the slapstick-esque setups pale in comparison to the heroism of the film, though both share the same disbelief-suspending style.  He spends the early part of the film training to be a cop while teaching the youth to pilfer goods off of the officers that patrol the town.  It is unclear what the goal here is at this stage as Balli is ignorant of his father’s legacy until much later in the film.  What is happening, though, albeit a cumbersome example, is that Shamshera is setting up all the dominoes for the final act that will find an impressive amount of payoffs, both in plot points and visual motifs which will help elevate the finale from pure action to something with a little more emotional weight to it, even though the middle act is much more interested in being a work of set piece laden, spectacle filmmaking.   

That is not to say that the second act is devoid of development, like a good blockbuster Shamshera finds time to work in a romantic subplot with the introduction of Sona (Vaani Kapoor), a captivating singer and dancer who has caught the eye of both Balli and Shudh Singh.  It is an elegant and exciting performance, so it is no wonder the two men begin to additionally feud over her, too, but the film does not allow Sona to simply be viewed as a prize.  There are points in the latter half of the action where Sona is able to use her ability as a dancer to the benefit of Balli’s cohort, but she also stands up for herself and her own desires, too.  She is given agency so that she does not become some damsel waiting for Balli to save her so that she can swoon over her hero.  Their relationship is eventually based on mutual choice which is always nice to see. 

Filling the antagonist role, even more so than the oafish British army led by Colonel Freddy Young (Craig McGinlay) is Dutt’s deliciously evil Shudh Singh.  He fills an Ephialtes of Trachis arc as he turns his back on the Indian people to pursue the promise of riches and power from the British, but that is about all the backstory he is given.  Without the burden of nuance, however, Dutt can lay it on as a snarling, nasty, beast of a man who has no remorse, sorrow, or guilt in his soul.  For a character as black and white as Shudh Singh is, it is an impressive feat that Dutt is able to levy him as a real and haunting threat and not just a behemoth armored by the flow of the plot.  He is often able to wrestle free the upper hand against Balli, but with each passing altercation, Balli is also able to get closer and closer to Shudh Singh’s heart so that each fight has renewed excitement. 

Shamshera feels like a blockbuster in all of the best ways, but also in some of the worse ways, too.  The set pieces, to its credit, are remarkable, and the overall narrative has a lot to be enjoyed as Balli and his merry gang pull one over on the British army in a scheme that devolves into absolute insanity both in the choreography, but also just the twists that the adventure takes.  With a stronger script that helped to better define the character dynamics, audiences would really be able to engage with the film on a new level other than pure spectacle entertainment.  But, like a successful blockbuster feature, it transports us to a wild world of adventure and intrigue and does not require us to hold on to every whispered word or fleeting motif.  It fills the frame with flashing colors and exciting movement, all lively scored, and the performances are endearing enough to keep us invested in the world of Shamshera as Balli fights to redeem his father’s name and bring freedom back to his tribesmen.