Kurbaan is acclaimed writer, Rensil D’Silva’s directorial debut, is produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma productions’, stars the very ‘it’ couple Saif and Kareena and has some great music by Salim Suleiman - but inspite of this great talent pool, Kurbaan fails to make an impact. The plot and storyline is obviously well intentioned, but after the big reveal about 45 minutes into the movie - the story just never really connects.
To begin at the beginning, Saif and Kareena are teachers who fall in love with each other and eventually move to the United States. As has already been revealed in the promos, Saif is actually a terrorist. Kareena discovers this but is forced into silence because her father in India is threatened by the terrorist group. To provide the plot it’s conflict, we now have Vivek Oberoi who is on a personal vendetta against Saif’s group.
At it’s core the movie is about Saif and Kareena’s love story, and the director tries to convince us that though Saif temporarily uses Kareena to further his group’s mission, he is truly in love with her. But with the plot forcing Kareena into ‘house arrest’ and with Vivek providing the conflict, there is not enough reason, or time, for the lead pair on screen. A terrorists’ love story was much better told in Fanaa and New York.
Another let down from a Writer turned Director, is the characterisation. The central protagonists’ motivations seem quite confused. At one level he seems liberal and progressive, while at another level he is essentially a fundamentalist. To maintain it’s intensity, the plot has minimal characters - which is OK, but, they are made so caricaturish, that it is not OK. Rather than being menacing, they are unintentionally comical.
The plot also has a lot of typical hindi film situations, and one expected some inventiveness in their resolution - for example when the terrorists are stopped and chased from a police checkpost, you hope for some inventive twist - instead, the hero just single handedly destroys a few police cars, kills some police officers and then walks away!
Even the climax, inspite of its supposed twist, is very plain and borderline dreary.
All in all, the script and direction completely let down a promising idea. On the technical side, the cinematography is good, but perhaps an inventive editor could have maintained the pace with the inventive use of a non linear timeline. The music is great, and manages to underline both the romantic and dramatic high points. On the acting front Dia Mirza cannot look serious for even a minute, even as the horrors of war are being described to her. Om Puri and Kiron Kher invest a lot, but are let down by their characterisation. Vivek Oberoi is good. Saif and Kareena put in a great effort and rise above the script, but they cannot hold together a confused plot.
All in all this is a confused movie which is not sure if it should be an intense romance or a thriller … in the end it is neither. But for Saif and Kareena’s spirited performances, we give it 2 stars.