India Masala

Kurbaan: Old wine, better packaged

If you watched Kabir Khan’s “New York” this summer, you won’t find much novelty in Rensil D’Silva’s “Kurbaan”. The storyline is pretty much the same, except for a few cosmetic differences.

There is an educated, suave man living a double life as a terrorist, his beautiful wife who doesn’t know about his identity and the “third man” who tries to help the family.

However, D’Silva still manages to draw you into his story, thanks to some taut moments, a fast-paced first half, and some slick packaging.

Kareena Kapoor plays Avantika, a New York professor who falls in love and gets married to colleague Ehsaan Khan (Saif Ali Khan).

They buy a house in an Indian neighbourhood and on their first night there, are introduced to their neighbours, a group of conservative Muslims — who seem to be hiding something.

Avantika soon realises she has to make a choice between her marriage and what is right.

She meets Riyaz Masood (Viveik Oberoi), a reporter with a local channel who helps her expose the truth, but they both find they are pawns in a larger game. The film maintains a tight pace in the first half but slackens in the second, when all the surprises in the story seem to die out.

Sikander: Good idea but not so good execution

Films on Kashmir and its insurgency are few and far between in Indian cinema.

The last such film I watched was Santosh Sivan’s “Tahaan”, a movie that tried to tell the story of this troubled paradise through the eyes of a child.

Director Piyush Jha tries to do the same thing with “Sikander” — the film’s protagonists are both teenagers, reacting to the violence and chaos around them.

Unfortunately, Jha succeeds only to an extent, presenting what had the makings of a good film but ultimately ends up being an unpolished, vague attempt.

Parzaan Dastur plays Sikander, a 14-year-old orphan with a passion for football. He stumbles upon a revolver on his way to school and despite protests from his friend Nasreen (Ayesha Kapur), keeps it with him.

That revolver sets off a chain of events the boy can no longer control, involving militants, politicians and the army.

Admirably, Jha does not try and take sides on the issue but he doesn’t manage to hold the viewer’s attention throughout the two-hour film.

Is “New York” a balanced film?

By international standards, Kabir Khan’s “New York” is an extraordinarily ordinary film. It hasn’t impressed critics abroad and reviews in international media haven’t been very charitable.

But even if you were to ignore the mediocre performances and shallow characterisation, “New York” does raise several issues about life for South Asian Americans after 9/11.

Khan says that while researching the film he discovered “a huge volume of prejudice” and at least 1,200 people from different nationalities who were detained on the “basis of suspicion alone”.

“New York” puts the spotlight on that prejudice through the story of Samir, an American of Indian origin who turns to terrorism after he is picked up by the FBI and brutally tortured for months only because he took some photographs of the twin towers for a school project.

The movie already looks set to be a monster hit in India, with massive collections in the first weekend after its release.

It’s got all the ingredients of a blockbuster: a star cast, an emotive story line and a viewpoint very sympathetic to Indians.

Khan is emphatic that unlike most Indian films on terrorism that are often jingoistic “New York” provides “a balanced view“.

New York: A film that will grow on you

Coming as it does nearly three months after a big-ticket Bollywood release — Kabir Khan’s “New York” is a relief.

The story of three friends whose lives change in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in New York, the film manages to hold your attention for the most part, mainly because of some astute direction and its performances.

Sam (John Abraham), Maya (Katrina Kaif) and Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) are three friends who lead a carefree life on the grounds of New York State University. 

Omar harbours a secret crush for Maya and is devastated to learn she loves Sam. He moves away from their lives, only to re-enter it seven years later, in totally different circumstances.

Why he does so and the circumstances emerging from that incident form the gist of the story. The film is a story of three people and their relationship over the years but it is also a comment on the aftermath of terrorism and the practices we use to curb this dreaded menace.

A Wednesday — a thriller with a difference

A film that lasts under two hours is a rarity in Bollywood. And when the film pits an anonymous caller against Mumbai police, curiosity is aroused.

Neeraj Pandey’s film “A Wednesday” starts promisingly with staccato shots of a man placing a bag at a railway terminus and in the washroom of a police station.

He then proceeds to the roof of a building under construction, where he has set up a desk with a computer and television.

The man calls the police commissioner, played by Anupam Kher, and warns of bombs going off in the city if his demands are not met.

That sets the tone for the rest of the film, one with the potential of being a tight, edge-of-the-seat thriller.

However, the action doesn’t have an urgency and there is none of the biting-your-nails suspense you expect from a thriller.

Kher relies on two officers played by Jimmy Sheirgill and Aamir Bashir, young men of totally different temperaments, to help him in this mission.