‘A Flying Jatt’ – Star Tiger Shroff roaring or pawing?

August 30 2016

Fun and fanstastical or silly and crass, our reviewer weighs up the entertainment quotient in this family-orientated tale…

By Suman Bhuchar

SUPERHEROES, spirituality and Sikhism come together in this caper about a timid martial arts school teacher, Aman (Tiger Shroff), who is in love with another teacher, Kirti (the ditsy, Jacqueline Fernandez, pictured below) but is afraid to tell her.

At the same time, Aman is burdened by the legacy of his dead father – the first Sikh man to learn martial arts and acquired the nomenclature, ‘a flying jatt’ – which his whisky-swilling feisty Punjabi Sikh mum, Mrs Dhillon never fails to tell him about – played with great comedic skill by Amrita Singh.

The premise of “A Flying Jatt” is simple enough: big bad corporate villain, Malhotra (Kay Kay Menon) wants to drive his trucks across the shortest route, which means axing a years’ old tree (that has spiritual powers) and cutting through colony where our family live.

In order to achieve his objectives, Malhotra hires an incredible hulk type baddie, Raka played by Nathan Jones (an Australian actor, wrestler and general strongman), whom nobody can defeat to get the job done and mow everyone who stands in the way of his plans.

Raka derives his strength from breathing pollution, while our reluctant superhero has yet to discover his powers and is initially afraid of heights!

Directed by Remo D’ Souza, the film begins promisingly, with elements of comedy and it’s interesting to see how Indian superheroes always have elements of spirituality and religion associated with their persona.

There are some engaging themes, silly moments and clever songs and if you’re up for this form of entertainment, you’ll enjoy it and think it time well spent.

There’s an earthy charm to all this, so if you’re looking for something cerebral and finely balanced, you’re probably better off reading.

Tiger Shroff is an amiable performer with a growing fan base and exudes a very natural charm.

This is a decent morality eco-tale about human beings causing pollution and there being only one mother earth and the need to preserve it.

Perhaps a little more discretion when it came to the fight sequences would have moved things along quicker and made it more impactful, not less.

Overall, there is enough here to make this worth your while and money – provided you don’t expect too much and have a soft spot for this Tiger.

ACV rating: *** (3 stars)

A Flying Jatt is on release now