There is a scene in Nikkhil Advani ’s The Revolutionaries that is very evocative of SS Rajamouli’s RRR. As the British forces close their vice-like grip on some revolutionaries, our heroes leap from the shadows, overwhelming the Brits and turning the tables. The entire eight-episode series, based on true events from the Indian freedom struggle, is mounted like a massive action spectacle, further deepening the RRR parallels. Sadly, that is where the similarities end. Despite its attempts and aspirations to be a grand action film with ‘entertaining’ history, The Revolutionaries never fulfils those ambitions.
The biggest ick, for me, was watching Rohit Saraf and Gurfateh Pirzada appear like models in a 2026 fashion catalogue, rather than living, breathing revolutionaries from 1915. The uneven pacing of the show can be excused. After all, it is difficult to sustain momentum in a narrative that involves many subplots and characters, most of whom are real and many of whom are well-known. But what cannot be excused is how the show fails to elicit the emotion that a story on the sacrifice of freedom fighters should. Emotion has been the backbone of Indian storytelling, and that is wanting here. The chiselled body is a choice that can be understood for cinematic reasons, but the lip gloss and manicured beards do not help. It removes the suspension of disbelief so quickly that you can hardly connect with two of the four protagonists of the show. The stakes, after that, rarely seem real. Bhuvan Bam, to his credit, has done well. He has acted well and looked the part, even if the script did not always help him. Pratibha Ranta shines in the brief moments the show gives her, particularly in some scenes from the final two episodes. Apart from them, the two real scene stealers are Jason Shah and Paoli Dam. As the evil Col. (later General) Dyer, Jason Shah creates a villain worth noticing. He has both the aura and the menace to represent the threat of the British Empire. The show even brings in his stammer, which very few outside of history students know about. But it does begin to look like a shtick beyond a point. Paoli Dam, in her brief role, brings more humanity to the narrative than the four protagonists put together. The Revolutionaries is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
