Kamal hasan, a veteran actor and legend, moves on to join the league of Internationally aclaimed Directors ..
It needs lot of conviction and courage to make such movies ! There are many detailed reviews on Internet, most of them being positive. I will not go in to the details of the story, which is known to all. Ofcourse the technical values are hollywood like. But the parts of screenplay and background score could have been better !
What makes this movie different from others of same type is the plot itself, it was chosen so carefully and the director was so sensitive to the potential controversial aspects already. In my opinion, most appreciable is the way 'things' were conveyed with only some scenes, expressions and very few words, the best of them are shot in Afghan localities. Kamal is Kamal, no need to say how he performed, people say his age showed up here and there, but that's alright, as we are pretty convinced about Harrison Ford, Sean connery and Al pacino doing such roles.
Here comes an example of the style he chose - a scene (in Afghanistan) where Kamal tells his unpleasant family conditions to Omar (Rahul bose), then Omar nods and says casually "oh, I understand", for which Kamal replies with a soft voice but sharp expression ... "No, you don't".
In another scene he shows a terrorrist with a child-like attitude on a Swing whereas Omar's son refuses to sit there saying he is not a kid any more, leaving the viewer to interpret on his own. For me it felt he wanted to explain a couple of things if not more - (i) people who are dumb and childish are being brainwashed to become terrorists (ii) given a choice and not forced, even a kid will choose the right path for himself irrespective of his background.
In just a couple of brief scenes thereafter, it's seen that the kid who wanted to become a doctor, could easily become a terrorist in that land. (Lack of) Respect and freedom for women in that part of the world, is also shown with just couple of scenes without even dialogues. The director chose the visuals as medium to convey the facts instead of voices.
Kamal was impressive as Kathak dancer and an Afghan, but got less coverage as the RAW agent.
The film is not worthy of all the controversies ... Most hollywood movies show their heroes as saviours of those poor countries who can't help themselves. Here is our Kamal doing this same thing to US :-) , moreover Kamal was careful to choose an Indian Muslim to do it. All Indians including Indian Muslims should be proud of this fact that an Indian muslim was given this kind of respectable place in the movie... What else do you expect ?
The sensitivity is clear in many parts of the movie. He has not gone in to discussing the right or wrong's, nowhere in the film we hear any judgment on either side, he didn't even try to give any message directly. While he is on his duty and does whatever was needed, he also shows his resentment over what's happening to humans back at Afghans. At NY, he even expresses that he is a sinner and no one can release him from those sins. About prayers, he is clear, the hero is also shown praying at the same time as terrorists, however it is established that the intentions are different and hero prays for a just cause.
I am happy that none of the Hindu organizations came open in support of Kamal, I think the reason being he didn't play anything that could excite them :-) . In fact the movie doesn't touch the Hindu-muslim angle at all ! I fail to understand why Indian muslims misunderstood the movie, just like Omar didn't understand what Kamal really said !
The technical values are superb, Rahul bose and Jaideep are good. Other actors including shekhar kapoor didn't get much space on the screen.
Having said that, not everything is great about this movie. The screenplay could have been better in some places, the story could have been narrated little more straightforward, especially the scenes how the Afghan episode closes, it's too flashy towards the end.
Shankar-ehsaan-loy's music is ok, but could have been better given it's Kamal's movie. 'Undalenandi', Kathak song is excellent and picturized very well . Coming to background score, it has potential to take a movie to another level ...that's what was missing in this movie ...But it's not as bad a choice as 'Dasavatharam', which was a disaster as far as music is concerned.
Overall it's an experience one should not miss !
It needs lot of conviction and courage to make such movies ! There are many detailed reviews on Internet, most of them being positive. I will not go in to the details of the story, which is known to all. Ofcourse the technical values are hollywood like. But the parts of screenplay and background score could have been better !
What makes this movie different from others of same type is the plot itself, it was chosen so carefully and the director was so sensitive to the potential controversial aspects already. In my opinion, most appreciable is the way 'things' were conveyed with only some scenes, expressions and very few words, the best of them are shot in Afghan localities. Kamal is Kamal, no need to say how he performed, people say his age showed up here and there, but that's alright, as we are pretty convinced about Harrison Ford, Sean connery and Al pacino doing such roles.
Here comes an example of the style he chose - a scene (in Afghanistan) where Kamal tells his unpleasant family conditions to Omar (Rahul bose), then Omar nods and says casually "oh, I understand", for which Kamal replies with a soft voice but sharp expression ... "No, you don't".
In another scene he shows a terrorrist with a child-like attitude on a Swing whereas Omar's son refuses to sit there saying he is not a kid any more, leaving the viewer to interpret on his own. For me it felt he wanted to explain a couple of things if not more - (i) people who are dumb and childish are being brainwashed to become terrorists (ii) given a choice and not forced, even a kid will choose the right path for himself irrespective of his background.
In just a couple of brief scenes thereafter, it's seen that the kid who wanted to become a doctor, could easily become a terrorist in that land. (Lack of) Respect and freedom for women in that part of the world, is also shown with just couple of scenes without even dialogues. The director chose the visuals as medium to convey the facts instead of voices.
Kamal was impressive as Kathak dancer and an Afghan, but got less coverage as the RAW agent.
The film is not worthy of all the controversies ... Most hollywood movies show their heroes as saviours of those poor countries who can't help themselves. Here is our Kamal doing this same thing to US :-) , moreover Kamal was careful to choose an Indian Muslim to do it. All Indians including Indian Muslims should be proud of this fact that an Indian muslim was given this kind of respectable place in the movie... What else do you expect ?
The sensitivity is clear in many parts of the movie. He has not gone in to discussing the right or wrong's, nowhere in the film we hear any judgment on either side, he didn't even try to give any message directly. While he is on his duty and does whatever was needed, he also shows his resentment over what's happening to humans back at Afghans. At NY, he even expresses that he is a sinner and no one can release him from those sins. About prayers, he is clear, the hero is also shown praying at the same time as terrorists, however it is established that the intentions are different and hero prays for a just cause.
I am happy that none of the Hindu organizations came open in support of Kamal, I think the reason being he didn't play anything that could excite them :-) . In fact the movie doesn't touch the Hindu-muslim angle at all ! I fail to understand why Indian muslims misunderstood the movie, just like Omar didn't understand what Kamal really said !
The technical values are superb, Rahul bose and Jaideep are good. Other actors including shekhar kapoor didn't get much space on the screen.
Having said that, not everything is great about this movie. The screenplay could have been better in some places, the story could have been narrated little more straightforward, especially the scenes how the Afghan episode closes, it's too flashy towards the end.
Shankar-ehsaan-loy's music is ok, but could have been better given it's Kamal's movie. 'Undalenandi', Kathak song is excellent and picturized very well . Coming to background score, it has potential to take a movie to another level ...that's what was missing in this movie ...But it's not as bad a choice as 'Dasavatharam', which was a disaster as far as music is concerned.
Overall it's an experience one should not miss !
