Desi-fication should come with more intention

This review is my opinion and contains spoilers.

“Sherdil” is a 2019 Pakistani film about pilots in training. The film is a mixture of tropes with musical numbers (a slow romantic song and a mehndi song). Its storylines are reminiscent of other flighter school movies like “Top Gun” (1986), but one shouldn’t try to substitute Mikaal Zulfikar for Tom Cruise. Both films strive for a nationalist message, but Sherdil is more glamourized and less coded. Top Gun leans more into its romantic and buddy storylines, whereas Sherdil portrays them as devices.

This approach goes as far as to show a frenemy relationship between the starring Pakistani flight lieutenant, Harris (Mikaal Zulfikar), and Indian flight lieutenant, Arun (Hassan Niazi), who “meet” in the sky where they both manage to escape each other. They meet again during an international flight exercise where they begin bonding, eventually going to dinner at a Bangladeshi restaurant and discussing the 1947 Partition. Arun orders various subzi and whisky, while Harris is shown to be more considerate by not ordering meat, having what Arun is having lassi instead of whisky. The owner of the restaurant comes over after hearing them speak his language and expresses wanting to personally wait on them with the food he learned to make from his grandmother. Bangladeshi representation ends there when much more could have been explored. Arun talks about how great it would have been if all the countries were still one, unsure of the need to separate. Harris ends the conversation with a “Well, we’re here, and we’re not going anywhere,” which Arun accepts. Arun hums along to an Indian anthem playing in the background, which Harris says was written by Allama Iqbal, a Hindustani poet who dreamt of Pakistan.

One would hope that the film dreams of a union, but these gestures of creating boundaries more liberal than their borders appear to have a limit themselves. Arun is more expressive in what he is willing to do and sacrifice for his country, but when the two meet again in the sky, Harris takes the plunge and shoots at Arun’s plane. It’s a moment that isn’t regarded in its sadness either by Haris or in the story’s pacing. Perhaps the buildup of the two trying not to face each other immediately shows how human they see each other and feel it has done the job of telling viewers that everything was done to avoid this moment. But it doesn’t make sense that Harris expresses no remorse later. At the very end, Arun is found to have landed in Pakistan, otherwise unharmed. The film shows Harris to be someone who is a few steps ahead of his peers; maybe he knew that he took down Arun’s plane without harming him. Shortly after landing, Harris sees his copilot is completely fine, minus a few bruises after his plane was shot down. Even though how it shies away from speaking about the diversity of Bangladeshi culture and history, Sherdil tries to avoid anyone having solid feelings about joining a military other than the fact of being a part of it.

Sherdil’s main dramatic interests rely on family tensions when joining the military. It seems confused as to what to put in the military storyline. Though not apolitical, all it does in this arena is portray the flexing between Pakistan and India with simply a preference for the former just because it knows it’s a Pakistani movie. Leaning on stereotypes of characters and portraying political issues in obviously caricatured ways (like ingredients to throw in), the film makes it possible for anyone to feel as strongly about the conflict as they want. It’s more likely that people will have a solid reaction to how the characters and conflicts were portrayed rather than reflecting on their ideas because the film truly does not add anything new to the conversation that people haven’t heard before.

All that was new for me was learning that the Sikh pilot was exempt from having his hair trimmed. What’s unfortunate about this representation is that he was portrayed as more silly than the others, part of the outcast group that Harris isn’t expected to hang around. He also wasn’t seen in any of the national missions. It would have been great to hear more about the experiences of a minority voice within Pakistan and to see how his career played out like everyone else. This may give rise to more complex discussions. Still, it’s worth talking about the different backgrounds and experiences of all backgrounds shown in the film as they are part of the nexus of Pakistani army history, just like anyone else. Film is a medium that can chronicle history, not just tell a few jokes and generalize an experience that relates to one of the most severe institutions affecting a population.