Typical nods to serious issues in Terrorism based movies is general jingoism carelessly balanced with some supposed voice of reasoning on their behalf and great amount of playing to the gallery bashing. But of late movie makers are really out to enact the spirit of tolerance that still manages to pervade our country despite generous efforts by various factions to dissipate the positivity involved.
New York was a recent example and Kurbaan follows on heels. It is difficult not to notice the dream team of a writer-producer, director and the main cast all belonging to different religious backgrounds in reality. If this cannot guarantee a neutral movie what can? So what does Kurbaan do differently that other movies of the same genre in recent times have not.
For one brilliant casting and justification of that by some of the most terrific and true to life performances in recent times. It obviously helps that lead pair is obviously dating. Yet one should not take away the passion they put into their roles of professors with different religious backgrounds who meet and marry and migrate all in that order. The hero Ehsaan ( Saif) woos Avantika (Kareena ) with a drive that is actually alarming for a professor in India. But she is suitably impressed and even more so when he readily jumps up to migrate with her to US to help her pursue her vocation.
They eventually land in a neighborhood and then the events unfold within a short span of time as Avantika discovers a dangerous neighborhood with possible plots of terror being hatched with complicity of close ones involved. She accidentally comes across information of the bombing of the plane in which her acquaintance’ – a senior reporter with an US channel- is travelling. But she is too late and then begins a race against time and circumstances as she gets cornered and tries to escape and save the state with reasonable help from Riyaaz (VivekOberoi) . Riyaaz is the voice of reason representing the true spirit of the faith to which the terrorists happen to belong to.
Caught in a web of intriguing circumstances which look pretty real and claustrophobic, Avantika and Riyaaz collaborate with the FBI to try to bring a less catastrophic ending to the episode. Contrary to general views, the FBI is actually portrayed very realistically, of course one can excuse the side eyed glances that the security lady at the airport gives at the camera as a terrorist moves past. Unlike many other movies there are many real site shots taken with foreign actors who look less like caricatures as Hindi movies tend to make them look.
Kareena and Saif surely deserve a loud applause for their efforts though Saif tends to bravely step back sometimes allowing Kareena and in some scenes even Vivek do the talking. Vivek is good though he does over use his wide eyed emotion a bit. Diya Mirza in a cameo is relaxed and sweet. Om Puri and Kiron Kher try to lend credibility to their roles.
But the film easily belongs to two people Kareena and Rensil D Silva who makes his directorial debut. Rensil is pretty restrained and does not allow any scene to go over the top. Some of the street shots and actual location shots are brilliantly done without any chest thumping. He does slow down a bit in parts but that perhaps helps to build the characters. With a stronger script he can be a talent to watch out for. Karan’s script scrapes the runway of revolutionary outlook while flying the safe path. It has its moments without getting too mushy or unrealistic. But hello while we do enjoy the lead pair smooching away to glory it will be interesting to know which college is this liberal. Quick hide before the moral brigades search it out.
Kareena is brilliant and extremely inspired. To say she does it because her date is along, is unfair to this evolving talent. Watch out for scenes where she plays with her eyes, in the school while teaching or that brilliant scene in the end on the station. Not seen such a restrained scene in a very long time.
It is difficult to imagine commercial films getting bolder on this subject than this without rousing the ire of the vested interests. It’s good to see Karan inspiring young directors within his pool. Do watch it if you are game for a serious love story enmeshed in a tragedy that has webbed horror around the world today.