4.5/5
Director: Reema Kagti
Cast: Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor and Nawazuddin Siddiqui
It’s rare to see a layered film. It’s rare to see a film where everything falls into place. It’s rarer still where actors leave their stardom behind and behave like normal people, have normal conversations, have normal reactions, normal emotions. It’s like watching a story unfolding in your neighbourhood. You sort of get involved in their stories without meaning to. Kudos to Reema and Zoya Akhtar, who have written the screenplay and the story. The film hooks you from first shot onwards and refuses to let go. The suspense is maintained throughout. There are enough red herrings to keep a convention of Agatha Christie fans happy. Rationalists may baulk at the supernatural elements but at the end of the day it’s a film and a little poetic leeway is justified.
Superstar Armaan Kapoor (Vivan Bhatena) meets with an accident in the wee hours of night and newly transferred inspector Surjan Singh Shekhawat (Aamir Khan) is made in charge of the high profile case. Surjan Singh has problems of his own. He can’t reconcile with his child’s death and as a result is drifting apart from his wife Roshni (Rani Mukerji). He meets a prostitute Rosie (Kareena Kapoor) who acts as his informer and helps him crack the case.
Reema has taken care to make a human drama rather than just a hi-jinks whodunit. You wish for Surjan’s and his wife’s reconcilement. You wish that they break their shell of silence and communicate. You wish for a closure and feel good when they finally get it. One may complain about the slow pace but life evolves at its own pace. The mellow pace is justified because it gels with the story. Mohanan has mostly made use of natural light and that keeps its texture grim and real. Editor Anand Subaya’s scissor work is seamless. The underwater sequences reportedly shot in London look real as well. Also, the slums, the red light area, the police station with the plaster peeling off walls, all carry the air of living, breathing environments and not newly erected sets. Such detailing too is a nice surprise.
Let’s get to the acting front. The real mystery is why Kareena Kapoor couldn’t be this good in all her films? Where was she hiding this talent? She’s as good as Aamir in their joint scenes and dare I say it, actually overshadows him in some. That maybe because her character is more fleshed out than his. She’s supposed to be extrovert and muffat while he’s all restrain, all pain. He towers as the inspector who blames himself for his child’s death and yet not has his personal demons eat into his job. He isn’t cynical or bitter about the system and believes in making a difference despite it all. Aamir has the chameleon like ability to make each film his own. One couldn’t have imagined him playing a mustachioed cop with conviction. But two seconds into the frame and you forget Aamir Khan the chocolatey lover boy and remember only Surjan Singh. Those remaking Zanjeer missed a cue. Rani too excels as the grief-stricken wife and mother. One wants to reach out and hug her and tell her things would come out alright. Mention also should be made of Nawazuddin who plays Tehmur, the lame errand boy working in the redlight district. You want him to rise above the flotsam and escape away.
I wish I could gush forever but a reviewer’s job is to point out the flaws as well. The last ten minutes could have been wrapped up faster. Everything that was to be done and said was over at the climax and the film would have logically ended there. But one is ready to forgive the director this blip after such a moveable feast.
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