The religious conflict between Hindus and
Muslims is one of India’s gravest fault lines.
Commando 3 offers a simple solution 
Vidyut Jammwal in a manbun.
As Karanveer Singh Dogra, Vidyut is a 
remarkably efficient killing machine.
He dispatches bad guys, 
often without weapons.
Because when you have those fists 
and that agility, who needs guns?
Before a big fight, Karanveer pauses 
and adjusts the manbun
almost as though it holds 
the secret of his energy.
But Karanveer is also a patriot 
and a statesman.
One heartfelt speech from him 
is all it takes to set India right.
He’s not just a commando.
He’s our secret superstar.
No wonder the ladies 
can’t get enough of him.
In Commando 2, the encounter specialist 
with the annoying accent - Bhavna Reddy,
played by Adah Sharma,
is enamored by Karanveer.
As is a femme fatale, 
played by Esha Gupta,
who seductively tells him: 
Tumhein resist karna mushkil hai.
Nothing has changed.
In Commando 3, Bhavna is back and this time,
her rival is British agent Mallika Sood, 
played by Angira Dhar.
The ladies exchange notes on how 
they might someday share him ,
minutes before they 
embark on a dangerous mission.
Thankfully, Mallika has 
the sense to roll her eyes.
Silliness is embedded into 
the DNA of the Commando franchise.
These films are designed to  showcase 
Vidyut’s incredible physical prowess
and logic is not a priority.
Here, he’s introduced in a scene in which
a pehelwaan from an akhada
is lifting up a schoolgirl’s skirt.
We see a flash of thigh 
but before the skirt gets too high,
our savior arrives and pummels to pulp
not just this pehelwaan but also
all of his akhada-mates.
The sight of a bulky man in a langot slowly
pulling up the dress of a girl with pigtails
is perverse and tone-deaf.
Isn’t it time that writers and directors
found new ways of establishing heroism
other than rescuing abla naaris?
Right after Karanveer sets right these wrongs,
he is summoned by High Command
because, India main bahut 
bada attack hone wala hai.
An anonymous Jihadist leader is converting
Hindu boys to Islam and brainwashing them
into spreading terror , 
all via videotape.
Of course Karanveer is the only one who can
unravel this mystery and stop these attacks.
Which brings us to London and the usually
reliable Gulshan Devaiah, here playing Buraq,
the sophisticated mastermind 
behind this dastardly plan.
Buraq’s black heart is supposed to 
chill you so Gulshan speaks slowly
and stares people into submission.
But his British accent 
is unintentionally funny.
Incidentally, Vidyut doesn’t blink either.
All grand statements like,
 mera zameer aur zameen izazat nahin dete
are made with 
ferocious gaze in place.
The women also follow cue.
The story, written by Darius Yarmil and 
Junaid Wasi, is attempting to speak to
and cash in on the present political climate.
Commando 3 is more ambitious 
than Commando 2
but that film set a pretty low bar.
Director Aditya Datt tries to construct tension
with a countdown, secret locations,
friction between the Indian security services 
and the British forces
but Commando 3 just plods on
without any surprises.
It doesn’t help that there are consistent
doses of action to remind the viewers,
one more time, of Vidyut’s 
amazing fighting abilities
the actor does his stunts himself.
After a while though, all the kicking, pirouetting
and slicing starts to look the same.
My eyes glazed over and I wondered: 
Why doesn’t somebody bring a gun to these fights?
it would all be over sooner!
Commando 3 is a celebration of 
hyper-masculinity and hyper-patriotism.
That’s not a good combination,
either in cinema or in life.
