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Sky Force review: Who needs a story when Akshay Kumar’s heroics take center stage?

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Aishwarya Srinivasan
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Sky Force review

Sky Force is the quintessential Republic Day release that’ll bring out mixed emotions out of you. Here’s why!

Sky Force review: In 2024, we had Hrithik Roshan’s Fighter as a Republic Day release. The film tanked because of a weak narrative that was taken over by constant high octane stunts which defied gravity. Carrying forward the same tradition with toned down Indo-Pak aggression, a new debutant and Akshay Kumar’s hero syndrome, we have Sky Force this year. The story is based on the 1965 India-Pakistan air strike during which Maharvir Chakra awardee A.B. Devayya (T. Vijaya in the film) lost his life. Astonishingly, the movie isn’t told from his POV at all!

Akshay Kumar plays Vir Chakra awardee O.P. Taneja, in the film his name is changed to Om Ahuja. Truth be told, he hasn’t attempted to play the real life hero at all, he is just himself like in every action movie he has been a part of. He is the main character, he preaches to his squad about right and wrong, he thinks of the best strategies and he takes credit for someone else’s thinking as well. It's, as usual, the Akshay Kumar show through and through. The intros for both Om and Vijaya look like they’re inspired from Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick. Leather jacket, sunglasses, and looking suave on a bike have Tom Cruise written all over it. Om is the mentor and Vijaya is the rebel who likes taking risks.

When Pakistan strikes the Indian air base and kills many of their team members, it’s a given they are shocked and taken aback. Hence, to give an answer, the Indian Air Force decides to strike back within days and get revenge for their martyrs. It was the biggest air strike between India and Pakistan that has ever taken place and Om’s star striker Vijaya, was asked to be on standby. We all know what happens next. Vijaya goes behind his back, doesn’t listen and gets into the aircraft anyway to make sure his team is not being chased by any of the Pakistani aircrafts post combat. In order to ensure their safety, Vijaya goes missing, and hence begins a 19 year long search to find him.

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None of the team members want to help Om because Vijaya broke protocol but through hints found in a book and a retired Pakistani air force officer who was questioned throughout the film, Om is able to find out what really happened to Vijaya that day. It is amusing to see that during the 19 year old search, everyone is aging except Kumar. He still looks as fit as he did 19 years ago. Veer Pahariya, on the other hand, surprisingly did not disappoint with his performance. It’s a shame that in a movie that should’ve been about him, he wasn’t given as much screen time.

Vijaya’s wife is played by Sara Ali Khan, who has no role apart from being worried about her husband, crying and delivering melodramatic dialogues. Sky Force begins as a patriotic film and ends as an investigative drama. The first half and the second half are two different genres entirely which make you feel like you just watched a mixture of Fighter and Tom Hanks’ Sully. One also expects this film to have overly dramatic dialogues between the Indian and Pakistani soldiers but while it’s not non-existent, it’s definitely reduced to a major extent which is rare. 

Produced by Maddock films, which has a rather successful horror-comedy universe, it seems like action and patriotic just isn’t their genre. Sky Force gives you nothing that you haven't seen before. Maybe, just maybe, now is the time to leave the IAF alone and think of something new! Just because Vicky Kaushal’s Uri brought the josh amongst the audience, quite literally, it doesn't mean that this formula will work well on every other Republic Day release after that.

Sky Force is currently streaming at a theatre near you!

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akshay kumar Sara Ali Khan Maddock Films Sky Force Veer Pahariya