When posters of the film carry not the face of the actor playing the titular character but the star backing the project, you know exactly what you will get.'Sarbjit' , based on the story of a man incarcerated in a Pakistani jail for over two decades, while his sister fought a dogged battle for his release, opts for high-pitched saccharine-laden melodrama : the star is equally high-pitched, leaving the actor to bring up the rear.Sarbjit's story has been well-documented. He lived with his family—old father, wife Sukh ( Chaddha), and fiercely loyal sister Dalbir ( Rai) in a Punjab village close to the Indo-Pak border. He strayed over the line one night, and was nabbed by the Pakistani patrol. That's when his ordeal started—thrown in a box for months, limbs contorted, hung upside down and flayed till bloody, till he was forced into a false confession, and jailed.The devastated Dalbir , ever protective about her 'bhai', takes up cudgels on his behalf. And she keeps going through the long and hard grind : her appeals to officials on either side of the border fall mostly on deaf ears, with only a few light-in-the-tunnel moments.There is heft in the story. The horror of a human forced to suffer physical and mental torture, and used as a political pawn between India and Pakistan and their see-sawing relations, is wrenching. The family is caught in a terrible cleft, neither able to forget, nor properly mourn. But the treatment is cloying and sentimental, and manipulates you into weeping without actually feeling.A real-life tale which is inherently so full of drama and heart-break has no need to be artificially revved up. But mainstream Bollywood doesn't know any other way to do things. 'Sarabjit' should have been called 'Dalbir', because it is Aishwarya doing all the heavy-lifting, but to distressing little impact.First off, she is all wrong for the part, her attempts at the rural Punjabi accent slipping up every so often. And then she goes full tilt at her lines, ratcheting up the volume, to such an extent that you want to tell her to hush. When she does go silent, even if precisely for two and a half scenes, she is able to convey her pain and anguish so much better. If she had modulated her act, 'Sarbjit' would have been a better film.And of course there is the superfluous 'giddha-shiddha' : when will Bollywood make a film on Punjabi characters minus this cliché ? Richa Chaddha hovers mostly in the background, with only one or two scenes which she owns. One noble Pakistani shows up, in the shape of a lawyer ( Darshan), who believes that Sarbjit is innocent. The rest is taken over by Ms Rai, straining every sinew, delivering loud lectures to both Indians and Pakistanis, and, heaven help us, Talibanis.I did tear up a couple of times, but only for Sarbjit. Randeep Hooda is mostly shown inside his dark, fetid cell, his hair filthy, his hands gnarled. He nails the look and the accent, letting neither overpower him, and is the only reason to sit through this sagging saga.

I saw this film only coz of Randeep. The guy is an amazing actor. What a transformation he did for this. He really looked like the part he portrayed. The movie is plain bad. Period. Randeep gets a 10/10 for his acting n effort but the movie gets only 3 from me. The direction by Omung Kumar is plain bad. Even his first film was pathetic. (Read my reviews of Mary Kom). At least in this film, Randeeps acting n effort was awesome. The screenplay is awful as well as the editing. The film is so melodramatic that at times it became a torture to sit thru it. Aishwarya cannot act for sure. She was jus shouting n screaming. Maybe she shud b given the scream queen award by Jamie Lee Curtis. Actually she robbed Randeep. This movie shud hav jus focused on Randeep. But on contrary, she was all over the trailers/promos/interviews/screen time. At times I thot m I watching a biopic on sarbjit or on his sister. After the failure of Jazbaa, she must hav told her agent get me some biopic, as biopics r the latest trend in bollywood. Biopics requires research, time, dedication n passion. Unfortunately, most of our Indian directors n actors don't have time n passion for it. The best example was Mary kom.

The least you can expect from a biography made by a former Production Designer is a sense of authenticity. The film has a complete lack of authenticity, be it production design or a sense of the age. Add that to the film having no sense of progression of time. The time has been marked by people stating it has been 10 years or 3 years or some other thing.To start with, the film takes a non-linear approach, so that in the beginning when we see Aishwarya Rai and Richa Chaddha crying, we feel no sense of sympathy for them because we have not seen their relationship with Randeep Hooda. After that we go into Aishwarya Rai's traumatic past to create a connection with her, in a manner which is very melodramatic and over the top. Randeep Hooda's capture is very unconvincing, and you never feel the time as it would have been felt by a person living in solitary confinement for years. The madness in his performance is also very inconsistent. His performance is good but hampered by the inconsistency. Aishwarya Rai's performance is over the top and does not evoke anything, it is the sort of performance we have come to expect from her. Richa Chaddha has not been utilized properly as she has to convey all her emotions through staring. Also hampering the narrative are the songs, none of them good and always trying to evoke something different from what is actually happening in the film. One of the worst biopics made in India.

Sarbjit Movie is memorable for me. This movie is speechless. I didn't expected such a great direction from the same guy who directed Marry Kom as well. I think because of great actors like Randeep Hooda and surprisingly Aishwarya Rai. Never felt so emotional, and heartbroken throughout any Hindi movie before. My favorite emotional drama movie so far after Tae Guk Gi.Randeep Hooda at his all time best. Indeed his best performance so far. This movie will surely set a new landmark for his future in Bollywood. Like what Bhaag Milkha Bhaag did for Farhaan Akhtar. I request all of you to go watch this movie as directors need inspiration to create more sensible and serious subject oriented movies.