I knew this movie is inspired by "A Few Good Men" and I would state this in the begining, "A Few Good Men" is one movie which I have seen like 25 times, I know the dialogues by heart now. This movie was one of the reasons I came to law school.
Having said that, let me say this. I did not walk into the audi hall expecting much from this movie for the following reasons –
- For starters I don’t know to which genere this movie belongs - is a legal thriller, a court room drama, a general drama, a commercial movie or an art movie. There are too many characters in the film which do not make any sense.
To begin with the character of Kavya(something) who is a reporter played by Minissa Lamba. This character is understandably a substitute of Lt. Cdr. Joe Galloway(played by Demi Moore in A Few Good Men). Kavya is the first person, in the movie, who says things to Major Sidhant played by Rahul Bose, which brings a conscience attack to the fellow and consequently inspires him to go deep into the case.
And then the character of the prosecutor, played by Javed Jaffrey, is a complete waste. Now Javed Jaffrey and Rahul Bose play two very good and very close friends in the film. And they find themselvef on the opposite sides, with Bose as the defense attorney and Jaffrey as prosecutor over a very sensitive and very debatable issue. With such high voltage issues, it would have been great to see at least passionate out-of-court debate type of scene between two friends who, perhaps, believe two different things. I am sure that would have put the immense acting talent of both actors to test and the results would have been profound!
- Second, this movie is very lose on legal technicalities. See, I am not suggesting to put elaborate discussions on law of criminal procedure or evidence because I’m certain even the audience with a legal background would feel bored. But you can’t go around showing things which do not make any sense at all.
Consider for example, the climax scene, which according to me is the only scene where sparks fly high and KK gives a mind blowing performance almost convincing(at least he almost convinced me!) that what he is doing and what he has done is correct. Now, as expected, after his passionate speech when the Brigadier is about to walk out of the court room to return to his command post and resume his duties - he is ordered to be taken into custody by the Judges. WHAT THE HELL! See, I’ll save you the suspense. Captain Javed Khan is accused of murdering a superior officer and wilfully disobeying orders. First, his superior did not gave him any orders so I don’t understand why people keep on repeating Sec. 69 of the Army Act at least 10 times in the movie. Second, assuming Brigadier Singh really hates all Moslems and wants to kill them all, which he believes is the necessary cleaning up the country, he did not give any order to the Major who was killed, so still there are no charges which can be validly framed against him. Third, Captain Javed Khan said to the Major(whom he later on killed), that he would relieve him off duty because Major is not following the necessary army procedure. This act of the Captain amounts to mutiny which is a very very grave charge. Yet we see legal people in the movie shouting Sec. 302 of RPC and Sec. 69 of the Army Act but no one is talking about any section on mutiny!
I can go on pointing out several such big gaps in the story.
- A Few Good Men was not about human rights violation in Guntanamo Bay, Cuba. It was about senior officers having wrong perceptions and inspired from them giving wrong orders. Now, this always has been a question of intense debate - what should a junior officer do if he is given a wrong order and he is not sure whether it is a legal order? Orders cannot be questioned, war time or peace time because that would seriously undermine the value of those orders. That was the crux of the issue in that movie, depicted beautifully by the way of a court room drama where the Colonel comes and confesses that - Yes he gave the order, and Yes he does not gives two ss about who dies because he has to preserve the very democracy which gives you the right to say what you are saying right now! A very persuasive statement indeed. To quote a character of Denzel Washington(in "The Siege") – “General, if you torture this man, then everything that we have fought and bled and died for is over.”
I think this last statement captures and essense of what they are trying to say in Shaurya. That you cannot go around killing people just because you think they should be killed. The last dialogue by Rahul Bose, after the intense speech by Brigadier(KK) has a soothing effect and I would congratulate the director for this very sensible move - you have to show both sides of the issue when talking about such debtable issues!
In this movie, the director has tried to create an Indian version of A Few Good Men, and that is precisely where he has gone wrong. We don’t have situations like USA has in India. Indian Army is not a US Marine Core, their values and other basic stuff which make an institution, their history and philosophies are completely different. For that matter you cannot compare any two national Armed Forces because they essentially have to go through different phases and face different ideas.
The problem with Indian Army is not a Guantanamo Bay or an Afghanistan. The problem is clearly evident in the long intense and passionate speech of KK in the climax. I think to that extent, the movie was able to convey the message accross and very correctly too. But for those 10 minutes of great screentime rest of the movie is a waste of celluloid. There are songs at places where they are least required. The conscience attack of Major Sid is so sudden you don’t even know from where and why the hell is it coming in the first place.
Conclusion -
Full marks to KK - 5 on 5 - for a simply brilliant and magnificient performance. Absolutely stunning.
To Rahul Bose - 3 on 5 - he is done a decent job but could have been better and MUST have been given more screen time
To Javed Jaffrey - 2 and a half on 5 - poor chap MUST have been given more time but where he had the opportunity he has done his job nicely. Only one thing I could not understand - half of the times he is sporting military style short hair and half of the time he has bigger hair. Goes to court with a perferct military crew cut and is having a drink with his friends and wife and has bigger hair. Somebody please explain that!
To others - as I have stated above, except for character of Captain Javed Khan and the Major he kills, rest characters are an absolute waste of time. Of course, the five judges should be excepted, for there can not be a court room with a bench of judges, now can there be!
Finally - It is a movie Worth Watching. One should see it at least once.
Enjoy. And Think when you come out. What would you have done if you would have been in position of Brigadier Singh(KK).