Yodha

“Saddled with a wayward screenplay that fires a string of blanks, Yodha fights a losing battle… Pandemonium unleashed by wobbly planes and failing hydraulics. Everything in Yodha, an insufferably scrappy thriller, is a bewildering blur. Figuring out what is going on is best left to troopers who have no fear of the unfathomable.”

Rating: 1.5 stars | Full review

“Evokes Hollywood terrorism-themed thrillers that have casually cool leading men, country-in-peril hijinks and pulsating action… A vanilla plot is served with layers of cheesiness and a dash of pop patriotism (Kashmir! Where would the movies be without you?)”

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“Patriotism never goes out of flavour, and Yodha has its share of dialogues that stir that pot. However, it gains over recent hypernationalistic releases that paint the neighbour as the enemy into a slightly more nuanced version—that terrorism is a business and having peace between the two nations would mean the end of it. For just that, Yodha deserves an extra star.”

Rating: 2.5 stars | Full review

“If Sidharth’s nimble show of hand-to-hand combat accelerates the fast-paced action to the hilt, his implacable irritation at being thrown under the bus for doing his best makes him the only character in Yodha that’s not cardboard. I enjoyed the first 40 minutes or so of Yodha — upfront, old school action is always a breeze.”

Rating: 2.5 stars | Full review

“You may or may not emerge unscathed from this cartoonish rigmarole, but our Yodha, fittingly, gets off with the best line in the movie: iss picture ka hero main hoon. Clap, clap.”

Rating: 1.5 stars | Full review

“The opening 15 minutes of Yodha are pure military-patriotism porn… Malhotra doesn’t have the expansive skills of Shroff or Jammwal, but he’s a very convincing no-nonsense fighter. There’s barely any slo-mo or stop-start action—a welcome change for an Indian film… This is solid genre fare without a single deep thought. In 2024, in Hindi cinema, it’ll do.”

Rating: stars | Full review