The best thing about Shershaah is that it doesn\'t star Akshay Kumar
Deccan ChronicleCast: Sidharth Malhotra, Kiara Advani, Shiv Pandit, Nikitin Dheer, Shataf Figar Direction: Vishnu Vardhan Rating: **1/2 Streaming on Amazon Prime The best thing about Shershaah is that it does not star Hindutva’s ubiquitous lickspittle Akshay Kumar. In his presence and under his aegis, Shershaah -- which tells the story of Captain Vikram Batra, the 24-year-old soldier and brave heart who died fighting Pakistani soldiers in Kargil -- would have just been about him and his insufferable I-come-first-in-lehraoing-the-BJP-flag preening. To establish how special and dogged Vikram always was, we get one scene from his childhood when, even during a game of bat and ball, he said, “Meri cheez mere se koi nahin cheen sakta.” Then the film moves on to establish what a dashing lover he was. But, instead of humanising the man and his story, the film’s trite, lazy writing drags this exceptional story down to the level of, “Ek desh bhakt hero tha, ek sweet si heroine thi… Phir jang chid gayi…” Shershaah essentially rides on our rage and grief at losing 527 soldiers in a needless battle.