Rating: N/A
Banner: Eros International
Cast: Nana Patekar, Sanjeev Jaiswal, Atul Kulkarni, Ganesh Yadav and others
Cinematography: Harshraj Shroff and Ravichandran Thevar
Music: Amar Mohile
Editing: Sunil M Wadhwani & Ajit M. Nair
Action: Javed Eijaz
Direction: Ram Gopal Varma
Producers: Parag Sanghavi
Theatrical Release: 1st March 2013
It has been almost 3 years that RGV delivered any sensible film after Rakta Charitra. Almost all his films were either duds or disasters. It applied nit just in Telugu but even in Hindi. Suddenly he has been sounding promising ever since the announcement of ‘Attacks of 26/11’. But there have been doubts as always his films do much noise before release than after. Let us see how it worked.
Story:
The story is known. Almost every Indian read on News Papers.
It’s all about how terrorists (Kasab and others) entered Indian soil through Pakistani waters and how they captured Mumbai with terror and how they played with the senses of police and people and how they got trapped and how they got killed.
The stress is more on ‘how’ as every body knows what had happened.
Performances:
There are three notable performers in this film.
One is Nana Patekar who played the role of Mumbai Police Commissioner. He looked sober at times, but reasonable many times. He portrayed the feelings of a responsible police cop who was well trained to carry after crime activities but not trained to combat ongoing mishap. He leaves an indelible mark as a performer.
Second one is Sanjeev Jaishwal who played Ajmal Kasab. He is a theatre artist who shot to national fame with this film. He carried the role with such a conviction that many times audiences tend to tear the screen to kill him.
Third is Ramgopal Varma, the man behind this film. He passed with distinction this time after series of flops.
Atul Kulkarni did his best as police cop at CST.
Ganesh Yadav is remembered more than anyone else as Indian boat wala-thanks to the long 7 min trailer that was released long ago.
Amar Mohile’s music and background score deserves great mention as it perfectly elevated the mood set by director.
Cinematography is at ok although there are few jerky moments.
Highlights:
- Direction and Screenplay
- Taj and CST attack scenes
- Kasab and Police Commissioner encounter
Drawbacks:
- No grand star cast
- Many popular incidents surrounding the incident were missed
Analysis:
It’s neither fiction nor eons old history to take cinematic liberties. As it was made on current affairs, right from the appearances of actors to the facts those were read on News Papers -audience expect things close to reality. But they cannot sacrifice excitement at the same time. RGV studied this phenomenon very efficiently and perfectly made what is required.
Everyone knows what had happened on 26/11, but many including the police don’t know how it happened. One needs imagination and intelligence to see what could have happened before attacks, during attacks and after attacks. Ram Gopal Varma carried the film with ample and sensibility from start till end. It is a world class film with the most captivating screenplay.
The film has no tone of controversy as terrorism is condemned heavily by the director. The film even stresses on what Jihad is and how it is wrongly interpreted by terrorists. This film stands as a well made document of facts around the biggest mishap that happened on mankind in this century. This film equally appeals for all from the range of serious film lovers to those watch films rarely. But it is surely not for children and those who expect comedy, masala and other formula stuff.
First half of the film goes in a very captivating manner and interval bang raises expectations on the second half. Once Kasab gets captured the narration goes more serious and the verbatim between Nana and Sanjeev Jaswal who played Kasab stands as epitome of the film. One can watch it to experience a real film.
Bottomline: Watch It
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
