26/11/2008 will go down in history of modern India as a day when our citadel of democracy was attacked brazenly by terrorists from Pakistan. They specifically targetted the landmarks of Mumbai, The Taj, Oberoi, CST station, Madam Cama Hospital, Nariman House, Leopold Cafe and Vile Parle Car bomb. Conspiracy theories point to perfect ground work done before the attack was carried out ruthlessly by Fidayeen terrorist, who were doctored to believe that they will achieve martyrdom in the cause of jihad. The co-ordinated attacks were obviously hatched with an aim to teach the Israelis a lesson for targeting their brothers in Palestine.
Inorder to avoid reprisal they included Indian landmarks and citizens is quite obvious to any intelligent analyst. This point is grossly missed by RGV in the movie. Further the counter terrorist NSG squad lead by heroic Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s fightback was grossly missed in the film. It would have been a great action sequence along with many ordinary citizens helping out the victims of the attack to reach the hospital. Further the blaze of Hotel Taj Mahal was missed in which a scribe lost her life was left out. The movie is literally shown in flash from the Joint commissioners account of the terror attack information. Rakesh Maria played an important role in judging the scale of attack and ensuring that NSG is called for helping to fight the terrorist leaving aside the ego of prestige of Mumbai Police.
Some of the scenes even though it potrays the cops helplessness against the A K 47 weapon firing by the terrorist, it was essential to show destruction and mayhem unleashed. RGV was not obviously granted permission to shoot on the premises of Taj and CST which would have compromised the security angle. This must have been a major handicap and would have shot up the budget for movie making. I believe Kasab was secretly taken to identify the balance terrorist who were killed in action, which many believe was dramatisation. Well it gave the artistic freedom to the filmaker to give his message to the terrorist.
RGV should consider the conspiracy angle of David Hadley & ISI, and Sandeep Unnikrishnan, if at he plans to produce a sequel after a successful first part. Kudos to him, he did not fear the backlash wherein the CM lost his job for visiting the tragic site. It is lesson for the citizens of the country to be observant, to inform the police as soon as they find anything suspicious particularly the taxi or auto rikshaw drivers. It would save many a lives. Without the participation of ordinary citizens such attacks cannot be successfully handled considering the wide length and breadth of the country. Nana Patekar in a sobered down role of Joint Commissioner has pulled off an excellent role in the movie.