Kurbaan, noticeably, is set on the same plot of New York - the pun involves both the city and the cinema. And while in any other case this could have been a setback for the ulterior release, Karan Johar’s film, on the contrary, scores for being a more convincing and compelling version of the Yash Raj production that released few months back.
Avantika Kareena teaches at the university and falls in love with colleague Ehsaan Khan (Saif Ali Khan). The duo marries and shifts to New York City. There Avantika becomes witness to some terrorist operations in her neighbourhood headed by a Muslim fundamentalist (Om Puri). Soon she realizes that she is a pawn to a huge conspiracy. She secretly seeks help from a television reporter Riyaaz (Vivek Oberoi) who attempts to infiltrate the terrorist outfit to foil their big plan.
Kurbaan starts as a love story, swiftly changes identity to a film and keeps the viewer engaged throughout with its thriller treatment. Sensibly the romance is kept short and succinct without losing out on the chemistry of the characters.
Once the terrorist activity comes to forefront, the love story is fittingly given a backseat as the story intends to highlight and discuss serious issues related to global terrorism. And while dealing with dignified social concerns, the film doesn’t compromise on entertainment by adapting a thrilling story-telling technique. The pacing is brisk with sufficient twist and turns never letting the viewer lose interest. With the theme that the writers have chosen, it’s important that the narrative be clear-cut, coherent and credible.
On that note, Rensil D’Silva’s story (co-written with Karan Johar) is well-defined, unambiguous and not convoluted. His approach to screenplay is effective as he enters late in every scene and makes an early exit, penning short and crisp sequences.
Technically the film is proficient in all departments. Salim-Sulaiman’s background score with Arabic overtones to it enhances each scene. The soundtrack is soulful with justifiably no lip-sync songs, which work efficiently in the background. Hemant Chaturvedi’s cinematography is competent and at no point overpowers the story. The plane crash sequence is credibly executed while the bombing action sequence (by Parvez Khan) in the climax has intensity.