Mithran once again delivers a solid entertainer with Sardar. A pretty straightforward set up woven around the issue of "water mafia". Kudos to the research done behind the whole bottled water business as it presented a solid base for the spy story. With an entertaining first half, the characters and the conflict are well established. The songs did act as speed breakers but the captivating pre-interval scene ensured it ended on a terrific note.

The second half has the flashback about the titular character where the love story looked bit off considering the main focus was on a serious issue. Barring those few moments and the songs which simply didn't work, the movie got back on track post the flashback. Karthi excelled in both the roles and Chunky Pandey as a baddie was impressive too thanks to better dubbing in the third act.

Special mention to how effectively the water mafia angle is integrated to the commercial template. If the flashback was better handled, this would have ended up as a better entertainer than or on par Irumbu Thirai.

Definitely recommended.

Fails to keep the audience engaged throughout the movie due to songs, dance, romantic scenes and too much fight scenes (that looks so Unnatural). The movie should have sticked to a single genre (ie, a thriller). But there are moments which deserved an overall better movie. Some scenes have logical errors that are too obvious for the viewers to notice. Anyone who doesn't want to waste 2.43 hrs can fast forward from 1:30:00 and still understand the whole movie.

Overall Sardar (2022) has a good message but misses a good Direction from the crew.

Rating: 6.8/10

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A heavy-duty subject presented in a documentary style with a touch of spy-thriller elements sprinkled on it.

The old protagonist's character was the only one that was designed properly, everything else was just accessories. If the whole movie would've traveled with this old man's character, it might've become one of the decently made ones but the opportunity was spoiled with a useless heroine, and a baseless plot, especially with the main protagonists' characterization design.

There were a few emotional parts tried but nothing worked out

music/songs/BGM wasn't that enjoyable and didn't add much value to the film

the KGF style parallel story-telling kinda screenplay didn't work at all, it felt so artificial and didn't jell well with the content despite making revelations that both father & son have the same behaviors & mannerisms

and we cannot stop the thought of comparing it against Cobra with respect to the multiple getups of the protagonist

but overall it is a good enough one for a one-time watch for sure.