​Sajjan Singh Rangroot review – Sikh first world war drama has mud and guts

A commemoration of British Indian army soldiers directed by Pankaj Batra is solid if undemanding viewing Pankaj Batra’s Punjabi melodrama combines a new angle on the the first world war with an old-fashioned appeal: a broadly fictionalised commemoration of those Sikh soldiers who served in the British Indian army, it flits between the usual barrack-room bonding and memories of girls back home before launching into final-reel shows of heroism and sacrifice. Musical megastar turned actor Diljit Dosanjh – in a move we might now call “doing a Styles” – plays the eponymous Singh, a free thinker schooled to fight the cause of independence but forced to do his bit by his father, a grovelling lackey of empire, in the hope of achieving greater career progression.Rachid Bouchareb’s second world war film Days of Glory may have been an inspiration: our heroes must navigate the xenophobia and condescension of those who would have them march at the back of the battalion and thereby prove themselves first among equals. The script floats one intriguing historical supposition – that men such as Singh signed up because they thought the Brits were more likely to grant them freedom if they fought together – but Batra generally prefers working with tried-and-tested war movie tropes: the trench dance number is a novelty, but when one recruit speaks longingly of future plans, we instantly know he’s done for. Continue reading…
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