Want to visit real Kashmir and not tourist Kashmir then here is a sensible film The look of the film is undoubtedly impressive and it become its USP. Adfilm-maker turn film director Shoojit Sircar made a landmark debut by handling a touching subject of Terrorism in Kashmir with a love story woven into it with freshness and finesse. The breathtaking visuals, the locations, the costumes, the dialect, the local flavor, the action sequences, the premise, the background, the ambiance everything is apt and it scores in all the technical Dept. All this manages to give film a different, an authentic look. Homework is good so is the effort. Full marks to Cinematographer Jakob Ihre, Editor Shekhar, Art director Keshto-Mustafa, Audio mixing engineer Ajay Kumar. Not just that even Gulzar-Shantanu Moitra in good form with songs such as "Poochhe jo koi meri nishani". It is definitely one of the best films released so far this year but it could have been a memorable film if it is matched equally with content. When the plot and characters have to operate within the parameters of commercial cinema, the narrative falters. Thanks to weak storyline, the pace slackens especially post-interval so much that as the film approaches its climax, things go helter-skelter. The result- it does not add any new dimension to the terrorism-stuck Kashmir but again this can be argued as it is used as a backdrop. Even love story comes out is quite a common one, not unconventional in today times when audience is dying to see that uncharted territory. Hence, it does not rise above a regular bollywood pot-boiler content wise with very little surprises. Now some loopholes- Why Capt. Verma (protagonist) does not try to prove his innocence when he is implicated in treason? When Adaa (heroine) writes to PM about her woes and a TV channel is ready to take up her cause, what purpose it solves towards climax is not very clear. Adaa mentions to Aman while giving him bidis that she overheard the conversation between him and her Dadi, how can she do so when she must be at least at a distance of twenty plus feet at that time. Why Adaa's brother starts taking innocent lives, when earlier he was against it, is also not covered well. One can see only a bunch of terrorists who are representing the Kashmir's voice and all this looks at Kashmir problems in a very simplistic way without going into intricacies. The characters look uni-dimensional. The required drama and conflict towards end is missing and so is the build up in the love-story with the absence of those tender, warm, magical moments. Among the actors, Jimmy Shergill has done well whereas others are just effective. Never mind all this, at least it provides a much relief and required break from all that nonsense cinema we are generally subjected to these days. Definitely, worth a watch.
5 out of 7 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink