Warrior Vs Brothers – A Comparative Analysis

The official Hindi remake of the Tom-Hardy starrer Warrior released this Friday and if you haven’t seen any of these yet, I will personally tell you to go for Warrior instead and here’s why: 

Drama Vs Melodrama

The one main reason for which the film suffers is the over-the-top melodramatic representation of already quite dramatic plot. It has the sub-plots of family conflict, revenge,and compassion, an alcoholic father, the death of a very nurturing mother, and a dying child and fighting brothers and therefore you can’t make all the things so obvious that it becomes a 'Khichdi'. Warrior was very subtle in nature but evoked more emotions than Brothers. The background score too doesn’t help the cause. Even, the fighters in the tournament looked mostly caricatured.

Omissions & Add-ons

The director has kept all the major scenes of Warrior but the major difference between the two films is the deliberate display of the family’s past and how the two brothers were affected by it which has been missing in the original film. Apart from this, an item song, repeated flashbacks are some of the major add-ons which mostly disrupt the essence of the original film. Spoon-feeding sequences by the commentators and the supporting actors were another major drawback of the film.

Characters

The elder brother’s character has been kept almost the same at all the levels of detailing. The character of the younger brother is a loner much like Warrior but lack skills and proper training as a wrestler unlike the original. Also, he shares a good relation with his father as compared to the character of Tommy. The father was more explicit in his feelings of anger, sadness or happiness which wasn’t the case in the original which made the film more melodramatic for the viewers in the most of the cases. His affection towards the elder son is visible more than his younger one which was the opposite in Connor’s film.

Performances

What really stands out in the movie is the performance of Akshay Kumar. He plays a matured son, elder brother, husband and a father and portrays his internal emotions beautifully. Even the action sequences performed by him are up to the pro level. As for the role of the younger brother, Tom Hardy took the character to a whole new level which sadly Sidharth fails to do despite trying too hard. The aggression in the ring and emotions outside it are missing bigtime. Though, the character of Jackie as the father was too melodramatic, but whatever was given to him, he pulled it off quite well. Ashutosh Rana also doesn’t suit as an MMA coach when compared to important character played by Frank Grillo in the original.

Duration

The runtime of Warrior is 140 minutes and that of Brothers is 160 minutes. The extra 20 minutes could have easily been edited out or used to better efficiency.