People who believed that there are filmmakers in Bollywood who have the ability to deliver a splendid product, which would be different from what we have been viewing all these days, now have all the reasons to smile. I am one among them. The latest release ‘D-Day’ gives them all the reasons to have the last laugh. And rightly so, as the product is undoubtedly the finest spy thrillers made in India so far. Moreover the subject chosen to narrate the tale gives us an opportunity to know what are the duties and responsibilities of a RAW agent and what could be the repercussions if things go wrong.
Dear friends, be prepared to give standing ovation to the entire team of ‘D-Day’ for giving us a meaningful film, which introduces us to the reality to great extent. Director Nikhil Advani gets full credit for it as he believed in the subject, chose his stars carefully who in return didn’t let him down & as a result produced an excellent film.
Iqbal Seth is a terrorist responsible for the bomb blasts & several other terrorist activities in India is presumably residing in Karachi. RAW has sent their undercover agent to Pakistan to keep an eye on him & bring him back to the nation. After the patience of nine long years the time to strike arrives when Iqbal Seth insists that he will attend the marriage of his son, even though the ISI warns him & asks him not to attend the marriage. Three more RAW agents are sent to Pakistan to ensure the mission goes well as planned. Iqbal Seth attends the marriage but the plan to arrest him fails at the last moment and all hell breaks loose. Why and how did that happen? Where were the loose ends in this foolproof plan?
Iqbal Seth & ISI want the RAW agents caught; Indian government too decides to eliminate them in Pakistan, whereas these four RAW agents are left in Pakistan to survive. What happens then? Will they survive? Does the mission get completed for which they have waited patiently for nine long years? See the film to know the answers to these questions.
I have always believed that the writers do play a very significant role in shaping up the film because it is their responsibility to create strong characters to make an impact in the story telling. The efforts of writers Suresh Nair and Ritesh Shah must be applauded for choosing the subject that needed utmost sincerity & immense research because they have come up with a script that is a winner in all respects. Well done.
At times good scripts can be murdered by the director if he fails to execute the material to the standards that the script demands & the final result can be as bad as soda without fizz. But not this time as Nikhil Advani is in full form behind the camera & since he is also the editor, he did complete justice to the subject & as a result this combination of writers & director have done a wonderful job with the pen, scissor and behind the camera.
Though the happenings take place in Pakistan but the entire film was picturised in Gujarat, which again propels the viewer to appreciate the research as the locations chosen to shoot the film appears so natural that not for once you feel you are not in Pakistan. The surroundings, the atmosphere, the crowd, etc. are so carefully chosen & executed that they succeed to give the film an authentic look.
The music is not for the people who prefers ‘Sheela ki jawaani’ or ‘Munni badnaam’ kind of stuff but is good enough to suit the mood of the film. The songs are very situational & do not act as a hindrance in the story to keep moving forward as things keeps happening behind the scenes while the songs are being displayed on the screen. ‘Alvida, Duma Dum Mastkalandar, Murshid khele holi’ are superb songs.
The dialogues are razor sharp & impactful. They reveal so much at times if you listen to them carefully. Tushar Kanti Ray’s photography is top class matching the standards of the film. The camera angles, the close ups, everything has been captured with utmost sincerity. The action scenes are composed by Tom Struther a well know name in Hollywood & they are executed to the standards required for a spy thriller.
Sriswara who plays the role of Irrfan Khan’s wife does well. She has sparkling eyes & adorable smile, which added value to her character when required. Shruti Hassan though has a small role but makes an impact. The grief on her face was crystal clear when Arjun Rampal throws the money on bed & walks out of her room. Nasser as RAW director is good yet again. K.K. Raina as ISI chief is passable. Aakash Dahiya as Aslam who is one of the RAW agent is good.
Huma Qureshi as Zoya Rehman playing RAW agent is excellent. This is her best role so far by all means. She was good in ‘Gangs of Waseypur’ & ‘Luv Shuv Te Chicken Khurana’ but the role she had to play here was absolutely different from what she has been doing till date. She emerges as a winner with a brilliant performance as she proves her versatility with panache.
Rishi Kapoor, the new bad man in Bollywood is fantastic in the role of Iqbal Seth. He never ceases to surprise people. A very controlled performance because the character had all the chances that can force the actor to go overboard at times but the experienced Mr. Kapoor pressed all the right buttons.
Irrfan Khan is a man who may not be called a super star but whenever he is given a role, he has the ability to give many so called superstars sleepless nights. A genuine performer once again delivers a performance that has high standards written all over it. What an actor. Well done Mr. Khan.
Arjun Rampal undoubtedly gets the best role of his career so far, which will only take him to places. Here is a performance that deserves an award for sure. His brooding eyes, body language, silent love for Shruti, ruthless killing, well delivered dialogues; everything is done with so much of maturity that one wonders where this actor was hiding all these days.
The production values are good as the producers have not compromised on anything. Nikhil Advani who has given us ‘Kal Ho Na Ho (good film), Chandni Chowk to China (horrible), Salaam-e-Ishq (not seen, can’t comment), Patiala House (very good film) in the past has suddenly switched gears to a different genre of films, which is no easy task. But Nikhil Advani has surprised everyone with his growth as a film maker with D-Day. The only loophole I found was showing the PM as a puppet, which could have been very well avoided because this cannot be accepted in a ’A’ Grade film.
At the end all I can say is “Take a bow Nikhil Advani and his entire team”. Well done.
My rating; 4.5 out of 5 stars