Zee Studios on Friday debuted the first trailer for the upcoming Hindi language action film Om: The Battle Within, starring Aditya Roy Kapur as an amnesiac soldier who goes on a mission to protect his country and prove that his father, who has been branded a traitor, is innocent.
But first, we must back up. We watch as Om wastes an entire platoon of faceless enemy soldiers single-handedly. But the mission goes wrong, and Om ends up in hospital, without any memory of who he is. There is one thing that he does remember, though: his father, who was framed as a traitor to the nation and sent to prison. Om is determined to prove his father’s innocence, while also proving his own allegiance to his country.
“The force has never been able to produce a more powerful para-commando than Om,” someone says in Hindi off-screen, over shots of Om taking out a fresh batch of faceless goons. “Some battles have to be fought over and over again,” Om says in Hindi, as he whips out a Gatling gun and fires at some more enemies. But he’s also apparently adept at hand-to-hand combat, and delivering corny catchphrases.
The trailer ends with Om seemingly pulling at an airborne chopper with his bare arms, which is the kind of thing you'd expect to see in a Dwayne Johnson movie. But the shirtless Om instead gives major Tiger Shroff vibes in this trailer, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the movie is produced by none other than Ahmed Khan, the choreographer-filmmaker behind three recent Shroff vehicles, including the critically panned Heropanti 2.
The film’s patriotic spirit and religious overtones also suggest that it’s going to follow in the footsteps of several recent Hindi films, which seem to have been designed to cater to the Hindu majority in the country. Needless to say, these films are viewed as rather problematic by certain sections of society. While the recent Telugu language hit RRR has been popular with Western audiences, particularly in the U.S., people have been in such a rush to praise the film that they've missed its rather divisive political subtext, especially in the context of modern-day India. Om: The Battle Within is clearly trying to ride the same wave of nationalism. For instance, Om’s last words in the trailer are, “Till the last drop of blood, I will protect my nation, Jai Bhavani.”
This might even alienate fans of Roy Kapur. He generally plays heartthrobs, and this is a major departure for him. He broke out with a starring role in the romantic musical Aashiqui 2, and has appeared in films such as Jeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Malang and Ludo. He will next be seen in the Hindi remake of The Night Manager.
Directed by Kapil Verma and also starring Sanjana Sanghi, Jackie Shroff, Prakash Raj, Ashutosh Rana, Prachee Shah, Om: The Battle Within will be released in theaters on July 1. You can watch the trailer here: