Squad review: Rinzing Denzongpa's debut film is downright absurd

First-time filmmaker Nilesh Sahay’s Squad marks the the acting debut of veteran actor Danny Denzongpa’s son Rinzing Denzongpa. To say that his choice of film to enter the industry is a questionable one would be an understatement. This is an absurd film that fails on almost every level. 

The problems arise at the plot level itself. Six-year-old Mimi Banerjee (Dishita Jain) lives with her foster parents in Georgia. She is the granddaughter of a renowned scientist, Dr Banerjee [who is never shown], who had created something that could create havoc on a global scale if it lands in the wrong hands. Hence, various powers in the world are after Mimi.

One day, the girl gets injured offscreen in an unspecified manner while playing near their house. She is admitted to a hospital and we are told that she has a rare blood type that is possessed only by 25 people in the entire world. This information has zero bearing on the story though. When her foster father alerts the Indian government agency about her accident, a few other countries get to know about Mimi’s whereabouts. The little girl is then captured by Pakistani special forces. 

Strangely, we are never told what would these world powers gain by capturing Mimi. It is not known whether they meant to obtain the secret from her grandfather by holding her for ransom, because their actions betray no such motivation.

The task of rescuing Mimi is given to a group of National Emergency Response Operatives [NERO] officers, including Bhim (Denzongpa), Aria (Malvika Raaj) and a few others. The group is headed by Nandini Rajput (Pooja Batra) while Abhay Bhatnagar (Mohan Kapur) is the second in command, and the two of them never see eye-to-eye.

Of all the absurdities in the film, the one that takes the cake is the scientist's invention and its consequences. A few years back, Dr Banerjee apparently created a legion of cyborg soldiers each of whose strength is equal to that of hundreds of humans. 

In order to test the invention, the Indian government had sent 10 cyborgs [although the flashback scene shows hundreds of them] to destroy a group of Maoists in a village. However, the cyborgs also end up killing close to four thousand innocent villagers because the people handling them never realized that they can’t differentiate between good and bad people. The film treats this shocking genocide casually.  

Such a ghastly blunder would create shockwaves across the entire world. But strangely, Bhim and his squad members are unaware of the incident! This speaks volumes about the intelligence of the intelligence officers tasked with keeping the country secure.

There is not much difference in terms of common sense and competence when it comes to the soldiers' counterparts from other countries. Whenever Bhim and his associates come in close contact, they use their fists and rods to counter them despite having automatic weapons at their disposal. And during almost every action scene, the audience is made to endure lame rap songs about patriotism.

The international armed conflict takes place unfailingly in deserted places. There are just no people, even in places where houses are plainly visible. During one scene, Bhim walks into a house where he takes refuge with Mimi because just happens to be empty. Also, when the girl is rescued initially, she instantly starts regarding Bhim and Aria as her family as if she had known them for years. 

The performance of Denzongpa is directly proportional to the content. For almost the entire duration, he has the same uninterested expression. This becomes unintentionally funny during a romantic song. He is also unconvincing during the fight sequences. His team members are better at that. Malvika, who was last seen on the big screen in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001), makes a much better impression and so does Dishita Jain. Pooja Batra is the most confident of the lot. 

Squad is being streamed on Zee5