Fateh Movie Review: With his directorial debut Fateh, Sonu Sood wears his Hollywood influences on his sleeve. The film feels like a love child of John Wick and The Beekeeper – with maybe a few distant cousins thrown in, even within Bollywood. A hallway fight scene, for instance, screams ANIMAL! Sood has borrowed Keanu Reeves’ fighting style for the brutal action scenes, while the plot channels Jason Statham’s action thriller. Replace bees with cows, phishing scams with fake loan apps, sprinkle in a pinch of Man on Fire and a bucketload of melodrama, and voilà – you’ve got the screenplay for Fateh. Unfortunately, there’s one crucial element Sood forgot to borrow: panache. Sonu Sood Prays at Shirdi Temple Ahead of ‘Fateh’ Film Release, Shares Video on Social Media; Says ‘Sabki Fateh Ho’ – WATCH.
The movie opens with Fateh Singh (Sonu Sood) cosplaying as either John Wick or Agent 47 – take your pick – while a score plays that sounds suspiciously like someone being strangled. (And yes, it plays throughout the film.) Fateh then goes all “one-man army” against a gang of baddies in their hideout. After a generous amount of stabbing, shooting, and body-dropping, he’s taken out by a blast. Naturally, this triggers a voiceover where he reflects on how he got here. Time for the first flashback.
We rewind to a month earlier in a quaint Punjabi village, where Fateh runs a dairy farm. He has no family but takes good care of his employees – so much so that he sneaks money into their lockers instead of, you know, giving them a raise. When one employee falls victim to a fake loan app and tragically dies, Fateh heads to Delhi to investigate, spurred on by the mysterious disappearance of a neighbouring girl who introduced the app to the village. Enter Khushi (Jacqueline Fernandez), an ethical hacker who helps Fateh uncover a criminal syndicate run by Raza (Naseeruddin Shah). Raza operates out of a CGI-drenched lair surrounded by screens straight out of Krrish, a detail that we wished Naseeruddin Shah probably remembered before signing to go through the same motions here. There’s also another main villain – Satyaprakash (Vijay Raaz), the Ronan to Shah’s Thanos.
Watch the Trailer of ‘Fateh’:
Of course, Fateh isn’t just a dairy farmer. Turns out, he’s a former agent of some nondescript agency. Cue flashback within a flashback to show a glimpse of what he can actually do.
Spoiler alert: Fateh doesn’t actually die from that earlier blast. He gets up, dusts himself off, and kills many more people. If you think that’s a spoiler, you probably need to watch more movies.
‘Fateh’ Movie Review – Bloody But Not Saucy Enough!
Violent action films are all the rage right now. Animal smashed box office records in 2023, Kill became an international sensation in 2024, and even the lacklustre Pushpa 2 was a financial juggernaut. Marco is holding its own despite one traumatising sequence, and we’re mere weeks away from Himesh Reshammiya slicing a goon in half in Badass Ravikumar. It’s no surprise that Sonu Sood wanted to cash in on the trend.
A Still From Fateh
To his credit, the action in Fateh does show effort, even if it feels derivative. The problem lies with the director, who – unfortunately for Sood – is himself. For a film like Fateh to succeed, it either needed a megastar whose charisma could gloss over the flaws (Pushpa 2, anyone?) or slick editing, gripping cinematography, and well-choreographed action (Kill is a prime example). Fateh, sadly, has neither.
The lighting is flat, and the dull colour grading makes the film look like it’s stuck in 2010. The editing is choppy, especially during fight scenes, and the shaky camerawork ensures you can barely follow the action. The brutal and violent climactic fight sequence where Fateh goes ‘Raid’ on the villain’s hideout – a sequence meant to leave you breathless – feels more like a poorly staged rehearsal. Somehow, Indian cinema has managed to make hallway fight scenes boring in just two years.
A Still From Fateh
Earlier in the film, a chase sequence through a crowded market suffers from the same issues. Fateh and Khushi are pursued by police and a hulking goon, only to inexplicably escape after some generic running and shoving. The film doesn’t bother explaining how they got away.
‘Fateh’ Movie Review – Dumb Characters
The characters in Fateh are ill-defined and, let’s face it, mostly dumb. At one point, a villain instructs his henchmen to follow Fateh, but instead, they try to kill him in his hotel room. Later, Khushi takes Fateh to her house, assuring him it’s “safe.” Just two scenes later, the same villain sends another batch of henchmen to her house to kill them both. The irony is amusing because, before Fateh became a thorn in their side, the villains were desperately searching for Khushi. Now, all of a sudden, they know exactly where she is.
A Still From Fateh
A corrupt cop reveals his dark side to Fateh to scare him off. Why? No clue. There was no need for him to take that risk and put his life in danger when one of the two villains could have done the same job. Even the main villains are daft. After Fateh shows his calibre to a villain by barging into his house and killing all his bodyguards, and then – plot twist – the villain destroys the one thing that could have saved him from Fateh. Genius moves all around. ‘Fateh’: Not Ranbir Kapoor’s ‘Ramayana’, Hans Zimmer Makes His Bollywood ‘Debut’ With Sonu Sood’s Movie With a Surprise Twist!
Also, can someone explain why the baddies are so intent on keeping some random village girl in Punjab alive? Apart from giving the story an excuse to send the hero after them, there seems to be no logical reason. Meanwhile, Fateh keeps delivering impassioned lectures on the dangers of online scams. He even tells Khushi he carries a diary because it can’t be hacked. Admirable logic, except he’s also lugging around a smartphone and a tablet.
A Still From Fateh
The dialogues aim for a massy vibe but often fall flat or leave you scratching your head. Take this gem from Fateh Singh: “Pehle, satyaprakash ke ghar chai piyunga aur dusra, woh bhi pehle hi hai.” If someone could explain what this means before the year ends, I’d be eternally grateful. The movie also jumps locations on a whim, from Delhi to Punjab to Delhi to Dubai to San Fransisco to back to Delhi, just so Sonu Sood can make cool poses in various locales.
Sonu Sood, the director, does deserve credit for one thing: convincing actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Raaz, and Dibyendu Bhattacharya to show up and phone their way through some badly written lines.
A Still From Fateh
And what about Sonu Sood, the actor? Well, he does a decent job channelling his inner John Wick. Despite the frantic editing and shaky camerawork, he manages to look reasonably convincing when reloading a shotgun or stabbing a man repeatedly with a pen. But when he tries to bring swag and charisma to the role, I couldn’t help but agree with a side-villain’s cutting remark: “Sab 6-footiye Amitabh Bachchan nahi hote!” Sorry, bro.
‘Fateh’ Movie Review – Final Thoughts
Fateh is a missed opportunity for Sonu Sood to reinvent himself as an actor or for us to take him seriously as an action star. Sood’s earnestness in the fight scenes is commendable, but his overreach as a first-time director is glaring in several places. For all its stabs at gritty action, Fateh lacks the finesse, coherence, and adrenaline-pumping thrill needed to truly make its mark. Instead, it limps along, weighed down by its patchy execution and the nagging feeling that we’ve seen it all before – and done far better.
(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of Today News 24.)
(The above story first appeared on Today News 24 on Jan 10, 2025 10:15 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website todaynews24.top).