At one hand you have constraints of a fictional approach towards story telling, to be packed with requisite drama and emotions required for a commercial product. On the other hand, you have a subject that requires a mature, realistic treatment showing harsh realities, political issues plus much more. Now when one has to strike a right balance between the two, quite often the film-maker stumbles, making it look like a half-baked product or half-hearted effort. But fortunately, and surprisingly, even if this coming from hard-core commercial pot-boiler banner Yashraj films, debutant writer-director Kabir Khan this time manages to strike a right balance between the two without going much overboard. The result-a sensitive, sensible, fresh path-breaking cinema, which not only covers issues both social as well as political related to a war but keeps the narrative interesting with subtle humour thrown in between.
Here we have a fictional account of two TV journalists at War-ravaged Afghanistan in post-Taliban times, trying to get interview of a taliban soldier in hiding, interspersed with film-maker’s real life experiences. Though one shortcoming is that most of the narrative comes across from the interaction between the five main characters but it is to the credit of taut screenplay and witty dialogues that breaks the monotony of the situation. Direction, Performances (Not just Arshad, John but other three foreigners too), Cinematography, Sound design, Background score, everything is apt, in place, and save it from becoming a routine documentary stuff. Even the emotional situations are handled with panache. Film has no songs and has a length of about 110 mins all of which complemented to the narrative. All in all, it is a welcome relief amidst all those escapist fantasies and is definitely one of the best films of this year. Well done!
Sandhir Flora