Dawood Ibrahim---Doyen of the Dons in the Indian subcontinent.....
A nightmare for the security establishment of India.....
A man who is India's most wanted but its possible to get him back only in our dreams....
.....For not only Pakistan will never let us capture him but our nation lacks the courage and the chutzpah needed to execute such dangerous operations---that's the cold truth.....
But it's the movies---all dreams and fantasy.....
Here we can do the things we could never do in real life....
And director Nikhil Advani has spun an excellent fantasy out of every patriotic Indian's dream---that of bringing Dawood to justice....
It tells the story of four RAW ( India's spy agency ) agents sent to bring Dawood back---all of whom look like real agents rather than the filmy spies who are impeccably clothed and who do superhero like stunts in movies . The places they stay in also have dingy feel about them and are totally unlike the expensive suites in posh hotels that filmy spies stay in .
In fact the whole film has a realistic feel about it---except for the romance between Arjun Rampal and Shruti Hassan , the impossibly beautiful prostitute with the scarred face .
For one thing , Pakistan is shown as the epicenter of all terrorist activities in India . This will gladden those like me who feel that Bollywood has acuired a **** appeasement habit in the last few years and shies away from showing Pakistan in a negative light .
As events unfold , places where actual attacks have taken place are mentioned continuing the film's realistic feel .
And the location of the film's story is in Karachi , which has been extremely well recreated by the film's makers---though obviously the film's shooting has been done in India .
So what's the story ??
One of the four RAW agents ( Irfan Khan playing the role of Wali Khan ) has been planted almost a decade ago in Karachi , and he has got so much involved in life there that he has acuired a Pakistani wife and has had a child from her there . And as events unfold , Wali's emotional attachment to them forms a major hindrance to the fulfillment of his life's mission---for his wife and child's safety remains uppermost on Wali's mind rather than the success of the mission , or so it seems....
The other three agents are newly brought from India---Arjun Rampal playing Rudra Pratap Singh who is an ex army officer , Huma ureishi playing Zoya who is an explosives expert and Aslam who was formerly a thief .
The parallels of this film with ' Zero dark thirty ' the Hollywood film on the killing of Osama Bin Laden can be drawn as both are based on similar themes---that of bringing to justice most wanted islamic terrorists of both nations . But what are more clear than the parallels are the differences....
.....For ' Zero dark thirty ' is film based on a real event as America really managed to kill Osama , while this film is wholly fictional as we haven't managed and will never manage to bring Dawood to justice....
And Maya , the main protagonist of ' Zero dark thirty ' was shown to have forsaken her personal life for her mission . On the other hand , our Bollywood characters are fully involved in their personal lives . Not only Irfan Khan has a wife and child , but Arjun falls in love with Shruti Hassan who is a prostitute . He even takes revenge on the man who scarred her face putting aside his work for a short period . Zoya ( Huma ureishi ) sees or rather hears her marriage break down on phone . Mercifully , Aslam the thief is too small a character for his personal life to be shown .
But what about the operation to bring back Dawood ??
As is true in real life , it's not so easy to get to him and the attempt to capture Dawood when he is attending his own son's wedding with the daughter of a Pakistani cricketeer gets botched up .
.....And like a real life agency , RAW ditches it's agents at the first hint of being exposed and the Indian govt ( headed by a titular Prime minister who is constant at the beck and call of ' madam ' ) declines to take responsibility for the operation....
The four agents are left out in the cold !!
Not only that , but their loved ones are also endangered....
The mafia is out to take revenge for Rudra's killing of the man who scarred the prostitute's face....
And Wali's plan to send his wife and child out of danger to London fails and his family falls in the lap of Pakistan's notorious ISI....
What to do ??
It's upto the agents to draw into their reserves of the capacity for survival , and draw even deeper into their reserves of patriotism to continue the mission without external support....
So can four benighted spies achieve what an entire nation cannot and does dare to do---capture Dawood and bring him back dead or alive ??
Go and watch the movie for that....
It would be an experience well worth your money spent....
The one unrealistic thing in the movie ( amidst all the realistic atmosphere of the movie ) is the attempt by the Pakistanis themselves to get rid of Dawood---he is the goose that is laying golden eggs for them , assuming correctly that Pak is crazy enough to think that killing innocent human beings through terrorist attacks is akin to laying golden eggs . So why would they try to kill him ?? Not believable....
Music however is not only good but hauntingly so , and I tried unsuccessfully to memorize the songs....
Acting by Irfan is good , decent by Arjun and Huma ; But Rishi Kapoor plays Dawood with aplomb---especially when he turns to his native marathi language in moments of anger . Shruti Hassan looks and feels sensuous and I kept regretting why she had a scar on her beautiful face---I wanted to run my hands on her non scarred cheek and feel its silken softness....
The movie gets better towards the end , and you get a feeling that events are really happening in Pakistan as they unfold . Action is gritty and the punches and kicks and bullet shots seem real . And so does the movie....
Verdict---impressive .
A nightmare for the security establishment of India.....
A man who is India's most wanted but its possible to get him back only in our dreams....
.....For not only Pakistan will never let us capture him but our nation lacks the courage and the chutzpah needed to execute such dangerous operations---that's the cold truth.....
But it's the movies---all dreams and fantasy.....
Here we can do the things we could never do in real life....
And director Nikhil Advani has spun an excellent fantasy out of every patriotic Indian's dream---that of bringing Dawood to justice....
It tells the story of four RAW ( India's spy agency ) agents sent to bring Dawood back---all of whom look like real agents rather than the filmy spies who are impeccably clothed and who do superhero like stunts in movies . The places they stay in also have dingy feel about them and are totally unlike the expensive suites in posh hotels that filmy spies stay in .
In fact the whole film has a realistic feel about it---except for the romance between Arjun Rampal and Shruti Hassan , the impossibly beautiful prostitute with the scarred face .
For one thing , Pakistan is shown as the epicenter of all terrorist activities in India . This will gladden those like me who feel that Bollywood has acuired a **** appeasement habit in the last few years and shies away from showing Pakistan in a negative light .
As events unfold , places where actual attacks have taken place are mentioned continuing the film's realistic feel .
And the location of the film's story is in Karachi , which has been extremely well recreated by the film's makers---though obviously the film's shooting has been done in India .
So what's the story ??
One of the four RAW agents ( Irfan Khan playing the role of Wali Khan ) has been planted almost a decade ago in Karachi , and he has got so much involved in life there that he has acuired a Pakistani wife and has had a child from her there . And as events unfold , Wali's emotional attachment to them forms a major hindrance to the fulfillment of his life's mission---for his wife and child's safety remains uppermost on Wali's mind rather than the success of the mission , or so it seems....
The other three agents are newly brought from India---Arjun Rampal playing Rudra Pratap Singh who is an ex army officer , Huma ureishi playing Zoya who is an explosives expert and Aslam who was formerly a thief .
The parallels of this film with ' Zero dark thirty ' the Hollywood film on the killing of Osama Bin Laden can be drawn as both are based on similar themes---that of bringing to justice most wanted islamic terrorists of both nations . But what are more clear than the parallels are the differences....
.....For ' Zero dark thirty ' is film based on a real event as America really managed to kill Osama , while this film is wholly fictional as we haven't managed and will never manage to bring Dawood to justice....
And Maya , the main protagonist of ' Zero dark thirty ' was shown to have forsaken her personal life for her mission . On the other hand , our Bollywood characters are fully involved in their personal lives . Not only Irfan Khan has a wife and child , but Arjun falls in love with Shruti Hassan who is a prostitute . He even takes revenge on the man who scarred her face putting aside his work for a short period . Zoya ( Huma ureishi ) sees or rather hears her marriage break down on phone . Mercifully , Aslam the thief is too small a character for his personal life to be shown .
But what about the operation to bring back Dawood ??
As is true in real life , it's not so easy to get to him and the attempt to capture Dawood when he is attending his own son's wedding with the daughter of a Pakistani cricketeer gets botched up .
.....And like a real life agency , RAW ditches it's agents at the first hint of being exposed and the Indian govt ( headed by a titular Prime minister who is constant at the beck and call of ' madam ' ) declines to take responsibility for the operation....
The four agents are left out in the cold !!
Not only that , but their loved ones are also endangered....
The mafia is out to take revenge for Rudra's killing of the man who scarred the prostitute's face....
And Wali's plan to send his wife and child out of danger to London fails and his family falls in the lap of Pakistan's notorious ISI....
What to do ??
It's upto the agents to draw into their reserves of the capacity for survival , and draw even deeper into their reserves of patriotism to continue the mission without external support....
So can four benighted spies achieve what an entire nation cannot and does dare to do---capture Dawood and bring him back dead or alive ??
Go and watch the movie for that....
It would be an experience well worth your money spent....
The one unrealistic thing in the movie ( amidst all the realistic atmosphere of the movie ) is the attempt by the Pakistanis themselves to get rid of Dawood---he is the goose that is laying golden eggs for them , assuming correctly that Pak is crazy enough to think that killing innocent human beings through terrorist attacks is akin to laying golden eggs . So why would they try to kill him ?? Not believable....
Music however is not only good but hauntingly so , and I tried unsuccessfully to memorize the songs....
Acting by Irfan is good , decent by Arjun and Huma ; But Rishi Kapoor plays Dawood with aplomb---especially when he turns to his native marathi language in moments of anger . Shruti Hassan looks and feels sensuous and I kept regretting why she had a scar on her beautiful face---I wanted to run my hands on her non scarred cheek and feel its silken softness....
The movie gets better towards the end , and you get a feeling that events are really happening in Pakistan as they unfold . Action is gritty and the punches and kicks and bullet shots seem real . And so does the movie....
Verdict---impressive .
