Raazi (2018)

A Kashmiri woman agrees to marry a Pakistani army officer in order to spy on Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.

Director:

Meghna Gulzar

Writers:

Harinder S. Sikka (based on the book 'Calling Sehmat' by), Meghna Gulzar (screenplay)

Stars:

Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, Rajit Kapoor

Top Rated Indian Movies #157 | 21 wins & 33 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alia Bhatt	...	Sehmat
Vicky Kaushal	...	Iqbal Syed
Rajit Kapoor	...	Hidayat Khan
Shishir Sharma	...	Brigadier Parvez Syed
Ashwath Bhatt	...	Mehboob Syed
Jaideep Ahlawat	...	Khalid Mir
Soni Razdan	...	Teji
Arif Zakaria	...	Abdul
Amruta Khanvilkar	...	Munira
Kanwaljit Singh	...	Nikhil Bakshi (Older)
Aman Vasishth	...	Nikhil Bakshi (Younger)
Veer Samra	...	Nafisa
Saloni	...	Nurse at Military Hospital
Deepak Saini	...	Tailor In Lahore
Sima Pari	...	Shyama

Storyline

Hidayat Khan is the son of an Indian freedom fighter and agent posing as an informant for the Pakistani government. He wishes to make his 20-year-old daughter Sehmat an agent and continue the family tradition of being in service to the country. Sehmat leaves college. She is hastily trained by senior RAW officer Khalid Mir. Her father uses his friendship with Brigadier Syed of the Pakistan Army to get Sehmat married to his son, Iqbal Syed, a military officer. Sehmat quickly settles into her married life, she falls in love with Iqbal. But everything starts to complicated.

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Plot Keywords:

woman | 20th century | 1970s | based on true story | 

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Taglines:

An incredible true story

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

In December 2016 it was being speculated that Alia Bhatt had been offered the lead role in Meghna Gulzar's next film, which was confirmed in April 2017.

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Goofs

A prochronism. The clothes and their design worn by people on screen seems more contemporary than of 1971 pre Elvis era.

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Quotes

Sehmat: My father has also taught me that there is nothing above nation, not even yourself

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Connections

Featured in 64th Filmfare Awards (2019)

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Soundtracks

Raazi
Lyrics by Gulzar
Music by Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa
Performed by Arijit Singh

User Reviews

Highly recommend it!

**Minor spoilers**

We often laud our soldiers who have died trying to protect our Nation from enemies.Poems and songs are written.Laurels are given.Deservedly so.However,what about the people who are unnamed(and will probably remain so),but still served a pivotal role in protecting the Nation..and maybe even died doing so? 'Raazi' tells the story of one such character.

Among other things,the central purpose of 'Raazi' is to outline the sacrifices spies make.As one character complaints in a rather vicious manner,"Na rishton ki qadar hai..Na jaan ki"(you neither care for relationships nor life) The Nation comes first for these people.So much so,that even some personal relationships need to be sacrificed(atleast in this movie's case)

It is very,very rare to find an Indian movie that doesn't callously demean the 'enemy'.Usually,the audience is just supposed to hate the other side.Our side is always the best and the people involved think the same.Manipulative music,spoon-feeding the audience,cliched dialogues and extremely one-sided narrations usually plague Bollywood's attempts at patriotic movies.'Raazi' steers clear of all these issues.On the contrary,this movie demands an attentive viewing.The viewer is expected to remember certain details.The movie is buoyed by a taut screenplay and a brilliant central performance.Interestingly,this movie respects the patriotism on both sides.Neither side is made out to be a villain or a Hero.All characters are trying to do what's best for their country(ies)

I am delighted that such a movie has come out of India.There are some minor plot holes,but they don't affect the movie in any important way.Kudos to Meghna Gulzar for trusting the audience with such a screenplay and Kudos for bringing such a story to the public.

P.S.: There is something for Breaking Bad fans here too.I also got Homeland vibes from some scenes.

Details

Official Sites:

DHARMA PRODUCTIONS

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

11 May 2018 (USA)

Also Known As:

Raazi

Box Office

Budget:

INR300,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,812,763

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dharma Productions, Junglee Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

138 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1