Shankar (Sooraj Pancholi) is a soldier stationed at Kashmir who gets injured during a skirmish. It"s not a bad injury. He"s in the good books of his commanding officer after defending his post from the Pakistani firing single handedly. Hence, he asks for his eight days rest leave to be converted into regular leave so that he can travel down South and get his ailing mother operated for cataract.
The officer grants him the wish on the condition that he should be present at the parade ground in the morning at the end of it. Shankar is plied with gifts and parcels and letters meant for their relatives from his colleagues. They assure him that someone would collect them from him on his long train journey from Jammu to South. Unfortunately, he misses his train while helping an old couple. He embarks on a road journey, sacrificing his leave for the benefit of his colleagues, touching base with their families and solving their problems. He does many good deeds along the way, which get chronicled by an over enthusiastic video blogger (Palomi Ghosh), making him famous throughout the country. It seems that he might miss out his joining deadline and that"s when his new found fans across the country unite to save his honour.
Satellite Shankar"s premise is remotely like that of Bajrangi Bhaijaan. There, an Indian do-gooder crossed the border in order to unite a young Pakistani girl with her parents, sparking a mini people"s revolution on both sides of the border. Here too, a country gets united when they hear about the exploits of a common soldier. The film marks the return of Sooraj Pancholi to big screen four years after his much hyped debut with Hero (2015). South actress Megha Akash plays his love interest and the film marks her Hindi debut.
The film does have an interesting premise in the sense that it"s lead is a good voice artiste having command over multiple languages and as a result brings alive the spirit of any person he mimics. It tries to highlight how soldiers stationed at far away places can"t be there when their families need them but they happily bear the burden for their country. It asks you to put yourself in their shoes for a minute and see the world from their perspective.
The film takes time to grow on you. You begin to think it"s one of those one-man-army kind of movies where the hero changes the system through his fists but thankfully it doesn"t turn out to be so. However improbable the situations look like, they do echo real life concerns. It is definitely true that soldiers get duped out of their property by cunning relatives. Or that the army is called in during any emergency as the civilian authorities prove incompetent. It also comments on how we have become so obsessed with our smartphones that we would rather record a tragedy over our cameras instead of reaching out and helping our fellow human beings.
The film comes alive in the second half, when the romance between Shankar and Pramila (Megha Akash) starts to blossom. They make for a cute couple and their interactions were the nicest portions of the film. In fact, it makes you wish the film was more of a romance than a vehicle with a message.
It"s reportedly shot across 10 states and the cinematography does bring the beauty of the rustic outdoors come alive. Sooraj Pancholi tries to do justice to his good Samaritan character and his earnestness and sincerity can"t be denied. He"s good in fight scenes as well. Megha Akash makes a confident Hindi debut. Somebody needs to cast her in a meatier role soon.
Satellite Shankar meanders off course a wee bit, is melodramatic and OTT at times but its heart certainly beats for Indian armed forces alright.
