Sardar Udham

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Shoojit Sircar directs. Avik Mukhopadhyay behind the camera. Shantanu Moitra scores. Chandrashekhar Prajapati cuts. A long sit — settle in. Produced in India. Dialogue in English, Hindi.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Clocks in at 162 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
• 2Released 5 years ago.
• 3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Hindi.
• 4Directed by Shoojit Sircar, shot by Avik Mukhopadhyay. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Shantanu Moitra. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Chandrashekhar Prajapati shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Vicky Kaushal and Shaun Scott and Stephen Hogan carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "An assassination which shook the British Empire".
• 9IMDB entry: tt10280296 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

Avik Mukhopadhyay

Original score

Shantanu Moitra

Editing

Chandrashekhar Prajapati

Production design

Mansi Dhruv Mehta

Makeup / hair

Pia Cornelius

Sound

Dipankar Chaki

Runtime

162 min · 2h 42m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

HI

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

Sardar Udham (2021) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

95% 🍅 Fresh

IMDB rating

8.3/10 · 51,434 votes

MPAA

TV-MA

Also by

Shoojit Sircar

• 
  Piku

  2015 · ★ 7.2
• 
  I Want to Talk

  2024 · ★ 7.0
• 
  October

  2018 · ★ 7.0
• 
  Vicky Donor

  2012 · ★ 6.8
• 
  Madras Cafe

  2013 · ★ 6.7
• 
  Gulabo Sitabo

  2020 · ★ 6.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Sardar Udham - Official Teaser | Vicky Kaushal | Shoojit Sircar | Amazon Original Movie

  Teaser · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2022-03-28
  ★ 7/10

  It is interesting to watch this film now, in a week where a British MP has been brutally stabbed to death doing his job, and to maybe ask ourselves a question. What has the killing of a man ever actually achieved? It never makes anything any better. It serves to galvanise both sides and retrench enmities and bitterness that can take many years to wain. This film depicts one such story. That of a man who also passionately believed it was acceptable to take a life. His motives appear demonstrably justifiable as we watch this beautifully shot, frequently harrowing, depiction of the lead up to the atrocity of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. It is told through the eyes of the assassin - Udham Singh (Vicky Kaushal) and over the course of the next two hours, we are exposed to the events that drove a decent man to commit the ultimate sin, and to pay the ultimate penalty. Whilst it does take a little while to get going, Shoojit Sircar develops a story replete with conflicting emotions, that offers a critique on the prevailing imperial attitudes and on the very value of life itself. It clearly, and succinctly, exemplifies the cruelty visited on people who just wanted to be left to govern themselves; and of the shockingly arrogant superiority complex of those who believed these people to be little more capable of such aspirations than pets, or sheep. The film looks stunning - the imagery of India from grand scale to violent aftermath; the settings in London - all add hugely to the gutsy integrity of this story. As with so much about the man himself, much is still be be made public about these events and about the true intent of the vice-regal, or British, governments in making an example of these unarmed protesters - but this surmising offers an entirely plausible assessment of man's inhumanity to man - and sadly, over 100 years on from this - we appear to have learned little about the merits of killing another human being - friend or foe.

  Read full review ↓
• badelf2022-10-05
  ★ 9/10

  It's quite the captivating story. Sadly, humanity seems to learn nothing from history, and so we are doomed to the fatal repetition of the past. This is one story that should have taught us a lesson, yet governments all over the world suppress and repress the truth. The non-linear film seems a little scattered in organization but picks up all the dangling pieces by the final reel.

  Read full review ↓
• WilhelmVO2026-07-25
  ★ 9/10

  My title is meant to be twofold. The atrocities of the British are unreal and this is an extremely important film. The massacre in particular is brought to live vividly and that scene in itself is classic. It'a a very powerful film indeed. My only criticism are the parts where Udham interacts with O'Dwyer. Udham Singh has indeed had multiple opportunities to kill O'Dwyer throughout the years but as far as we know he's never even had a conversation with him. So why add this air of unrealism to an otherwise almost perfect depiction? Don't let that deter anyone from watching though.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• KI

  Kino Works

  IN

• RI

  Rising Sun Films

  IN

• MD

  MD Trade

  RU

• AL

  Alchemie Overseas

  GB

Key crew

• ProducerRonnie Lahiri
• ProducerSheel Kumar
• Production DesignMansi Dhruv Mehta
• Casting DirectorJogi Malang
• DialogueRitesh Shah
• EditorChandrashekhar Prajapati
• Sound DesignerDipankar Chaki
• Sound DesignerNihar Ranjan Samal
• Production DesignDmitry Malich
• Casting DirectorShakyra Dowling
• Executive ProducerElena Belkova
• Music ProducerGeorge Joseph
• Makeup DesignerPia Cornelius
• Makeup DesignerPetr Gorshenin
• Executive ProducerValeriia Zingarevich
• Costume DesignerVeera Kapur Ee
• Executive ProducerKumar Thakur
• Sound Re-Recording MixerSinoy Joseph
• SoundGavriil Biryulin
• Action DirectorManohar Verma
• Action DirectorAleksandr Baranov
• Line ProducerAlpesh Zaveri
• Line ProducerDimitry Nedasekin
• Line ProducerMaria Avdonkina

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• biography
• historical
• punjab, india

Release history · US

When it landed

• Digital2021-10-16R· Amazon Prime Video (TV-MA)

Also known as

International titles

• Udham SinghIN
• ภารกิจสังหาร แค้นไม่มีวันลืมTH
• 사르다 우드함KR