Frankly, I never knew that this is a movie by Subhash Ghai. I started watching the movie & then saw "Mukta Arts" & thought will have something related to LOVE etc as usual. But movie failed with this expectation & started building with good story line & then characters around it & then packed me.
Movie starts with a disturbing shot & then a Muslim (actor Anurag Sinha - quite ok played by the young man) who believes very strongly in ISLAM, quran-e-pak & who is a terrorist or a JIHADI. His aim is a suicidal bomb blast in Delhi on 15th Aug. Despite of some hurdles initially where he looses his leader who is in turn a Muslim businessman in India, unshaken he focueses the ultimate goal & starts using Anil Kapoor (An Urdu professor) as his tool to reach the destiny which is according to Anurag is set by Allah for him.
Being a terrorist he makes smart moves & soon makes a place in the hearts of a Hindu couple (Anil Kapoor & Shefali Chhaya) & obviously starts his plans for red fort. No one can stop him now but with the same strong beliefs of his in ISLAM & Quran-e-pak; he starts realizing that whatever he is doing isn’t the one intended by Allah. Disturbed with the politics between Hindu & Muslim youth leaders for their own benefits & where Shefali Chhaya calls him as his brother amongst an angry mob of Hindu & Muslim, Anurag starts disintegrating with his goal. On the night of 14th Aug when he sees Shefali killed & yet finds Anil with him at the Red Fort, what he does on the morning of 15th Aug is really interesting to see. This is what the movie is in nutshell.
There are certain scenes in movie which are worth mentioning like killing the freaked comrades (the determination of a terrorist), Broken Anil Kapoor after his wife’s death (Anil, no doubt is superb throughout the movie), the chemistry between Shefali & Anil (very well done by both of them), The PRASAD offered to Anurag by Hindu Police, Habeeb Tanvir(initial host to Anurag) are good throughout the movie.
The cinematography in the movie is good.The use of Chandni Chowk, Delhi, the portrayal of Red Fort is superbly done.Music by Sukhwinder is good e.g. Jogi Aaya & Sufi songs at the start of the movie. This type of movie requires an excellent background music where Ranjit Barot never disappoints us.
Another plus point for the movie is dialogues especially one liners.
1) woh marata to aur ek terrorist mar jaata.
2) baat ek terrorist ki nahi hai; woh kyon paida hota hai us ki hai..
3) jo log khud par yakeen nahi karate woh kabhi jitate nahi.
4) na to main apane wajood ko bardasht kar pa raha hoon na log muze bardasht kar pa rahe hai
Needless to say movie required a good use of Urdu & dialogue writer is upto the expectation. The pushto language used at the start of the movie is also good & depicts the efforts taken by the writer.
Showstealer of the movie is neither any actor nor the director but the story & its end & it makes impact on the thinking brains.
If you are a typical moviegoer who likes to see romance, a masala movie, who are fans of movies like Gadar or where lot of screaming, shouting is done against Pakistan or who likes to see people being stabbed, killed then better not to see this one.
Even I don’t see a point comparing this movie with Maniratnam’s or any other terrorist movie like Black Friday. This movie has its own intentions & last few scenes portray them very well. There are no long lasting speeches by Anil nor the lead actor but a simple movie driven by emotions & a change in the attitude to see towards India by a terrorist. The movie says that the world isn’t pictorised between only BLACK & WHITE colors but there are others too & learn to see them.
Totally unrequired romantic subplot between the debutantes, a bit harsh screenplay, some larger than life scenes throughout the movie & a little slow pace of the movie after the interval towards the climax are the main causes of this movie from being a classic one. Anurag could have been better with the eyes.
But if you are the one who can encourage or at least appreciate good efforts or at least can give moral boost to a director like Subhash Ghai who are trying something different than their traditional way of film making then - PLEASE GO, WATCH IT.