The romantic in me...

...wants to keep looking at Jordan and Heer’s moments together and listen to Rahman’s music in the background – ofcourse it helps that Nargis Fakhri and Ranbhir Kapoor are both eye candy – but the real credit goes to Imtiaz Ali for great writing, creating a strong chemistry between the two characters and Ranbhir’s above par acting. 

Some movies have a few great scenes or shots which linger on, others have great performances but in Rockstar what lingered with me was the romance, the love, Ranbhir’s expressive eyes and the music. I am always a big fan of movies where music is weaved into the story and a song can move the story forward. Imtiaz weaves in Rahman’s music very well in the movie especially where songs break and pick up again at the right moment and there are necessary scenes in-between. And since Rahman has also given the background score not a single note in the movie feels out of tune. Needless to say Rahman creates some great ‘rock’ songs (hope Shankar Loy Ehsaan are reading this whose Rock On soundtrack did no justice to the rock band) like Saada Haq, Nadaan Parindey and also blends in some psychedelic guitar and chorus in Jo Bhi Main, a qawaali, melodious Tum ho and my favorite track Phir Se Ud Chala – love the change in tempo towards the end of the song. One other obvious but not always followed part in the music is that Mohit Chouhan is Jordan’s voice – throughout the movie. And Mohit does more than justice to every song he sings. 

Ofcourse one cannot review Rockstar without a special mention to Irshad Kamil for the beautifully written songs. Even the lyrics have romance filled in them. Although all songs are very well written, my favorite lines – from Nadaan Parindey being

Kaaga re kaaga re mori itni araj tose,

Chun chun khaaiyo maans

Arajiya re khaaiyo na tu naina more

Khaaiyon na tu naina mohe

Piya ke milan ki aas

Coming to acting, Nargis Fakhri leaves a lot to be desired and there a couple of scenes where she is ‘hamming’ but thankfully she doesn’t have those many dialogues as the movie is focused on Ranbhir. And she provides the necessary eye candy as the gorgeous Heer. The supporting cast including Kumud Mishra as Khatana, Piyush Mishra as Dhingra and the likes play the roles with conviction. Now on to Ranbhir – He does a fabulous job playing the Hindu College music aspirant Janardhan and plays the role of rockstar Jordan with equal conviction. You can see the attitude in Ranbhir’s walk when he walks on the stage in the first few minutes of the movie playing the rockstar Jordan as compared to the naïve Janardran saying ‘tu hot aur cool hai’ when he proposes Heer. Similarly, the transformation, right from clothes, language, hair do is also very well done and adds to the character.

The story telling in the movie is one other aspect which sets the movie apart and I enjoyed the way the narrative moves from present to past and back. There are scenes which may not seem extremely relevant at the time but fall in place in another part of the movie. In my opinion, this builds the story very well and also helps builds Jordan’s character.

I must say I don’t think Imtiaz is a top notch director and he doesn’t make perfect firms. There are other directors who make great movies but Imtiaz makes great love stories – be it Socha na Tha, Jab we Met, Love Aaj Kal or Highway… and he has definitely improved with every movie he made. But my favorite from him is still Rockstar – because it lingers on… for a long time after the movie ends.

PK

I saw PK first day last show. I stood in line for an hour at a Houston theatre like many other fellow Indians who came with very high expectations of the movie. And why not? A Raju Hirani film was releasing after almost 5 years and that too a movie with Aamir Khan. We had all heard of PK for many years and it was definitely one of the most awaited movies of 2014. After a long wait we finally entered a packed theatre, everyone around very eager to watch the movie. When I walked out of the theatre 3 hours later it were 3 hours well spent but probably not the prior 3 hours that day buying the tickets, waiting in line and prior 3 years waiting for this movie to release. I don’t mean that I was waiting for 19 December 2014 for the past 3 years but because of the hype created I kept hearing about the movie for a long time. I left the theatre thinking that it was a good movie but below my expectations. And what had created these expectations, not only the hype and long wait for this movie but the fact that Raju Hirani had directed 3 movies in the past, all 3 super hits and the last one (3 Idiots) was one of the my favorite movies. But I won’t rate the movie average only because it was below my expectations, read on..

Coincidentally, I saw Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots within one week of watching PK. A disclaimer that I have never been a fan of Munna bhai MBBS and I consider it to be an average movie. Now, I have always believed that when the director of the movie is also the writer and the intellect behind the concept of the movie, the movies are always well thought through, characters well developed and story well lined. With every movie that Raju Hirani made he kept increasing the bar because the movie was better than the earlier one(s). And in my humble opinion 3 Idiots was definitely a master piece.

All this background to say that Raju Hirani is a very good writer and has been able to convert his scripts into good and great (in case of 3 Idiots) films. We all know that his movies come with a social message, be it Gandhirigi in Lage Raho or the sarcasm on our education system in 3 Idiots. In both these movies, he had very strong base line messages and parallel stories substantiating them. In addition he weaved in instances / incidents into the broader social message. With such strong scripts, I also want to give him credit for the delivery, the Director’s touch, where he delivered the message through sarcasm and light hearted humor and kept us entertained through out.

In case of PK, the subject Raju Hirani chose was definitely very bold. Although it was already tried in Paresh Rawal’s Oh My God, he has a different delivery method – through the eyes of an alien, PK. But in my mind the script itself was a little weak. The first half is strong but he fails to capitalize on the well laid out stage and falters in capturing the depth of the subject. Similarly, the movie is always focused on two characters PK and Jaggu and towards the end I got a bit bored seeing them on screen. An occasional break into a side story or some more characters could have helped. There are clever scenes and funny dialogues but a subject like this could have more details behind the hypocrisy  and double standards in the society. Besides in the second half a lot of time is spent on PK’s love for Jaggu which seemed unnecessary in the movie. Similarly, the climax of the movie was novice for a director like Raju Hirani and the end seemed misplaced in the story line – I think he realized that he had spent a lot of reel time prior to that and the movie had started becoming too long.

I heard someone say that this was an ordinary film by an extra ordinary film maker. I have not yet categorized Raju Hirani as an extra ordinary film maker. He is definitely a fabulous writer (I enjoyed his Ferrari ki Sawari too) and a good director. 3 Idiots was a fabulous film but he needs to deliver another strong film for me to consider him as an extraordinary film maker.

Kurbaan

Only if someone other than Karan Johar had written the story of Kurbaan, it may have been a better story… Or maybe I want to tell Karan Johar to stick to his ‘Its all about loving… whoever’ formula. The biggest flaw in the story – why doesn’t Vivek Oberoi go to the cops from the word go?? That would have saved the lives of hundreds of people!!! But then there would be no Kurbaan!

Since I found the story flawed, I cannot rate this movie anything above 3/5. But I will give my due to Rensil D’silva (I had expectations from him since he wrote the screenplay for Rang De) for some good direction, especially in the first half of the movie. The first quarter of the movie is slick, progressing quickly and showcasing the bare minimum – the few months of romance, a quick song in the background, Saif meeting Kareena’s father and in the next shot, the plane landing in New York! Again, the neighbors inviting Saif and Kareena for dinner and the next shot, they are already there! Also, I will give it to Saif and the director that until the scene with Kareena, you would never guess that he is a terrorist. I found Saif’s character mysterious but did not expect him to be one of them… Maybe the first half was so engrossing that it didn’t give me a lot of time to think.

But the second half started going down the drain, right from the time Vivek decided to take things in his own hands!!! Saif, supposed to be one of the most sought after terrorist, believing in Vivek based on two speeches made by him, the terrorist group doing NO background check on Vivek, all seemed like flaws in the story and screenplay. Similarly, I was amazed by the fact that all the terrorists live in the same neighborhood, travel together in the same car when they are going to bomb subways in New York, I mean come’on – kache khiladi lag rahe the. You cannot just bring together four Muslim looking men with beards and throw them at the audience – these are terrorists!!! The bunch of terrorists in the movie New York seemed much more dangerous and convincing. Similarly, the FBI had only one agent Collins who had to be at the Church to meet Vivek and then drive all the way across town to save all the subway stations. Agent Hayes evacuates the subway station and instead of running for his life decides to cut the red wire on the bomb… I guess enough of movie bashing…

Now for the good parts other than the direction in the first half. Most of the supporting actors have done a good job, be it Diya Mirza in a three screen cameo or Hakeel or the experienced actors like Kulbushan and Kiron Kher. Since I don’t consider Vivek Oberoi an actor, I would give him credit for his role and his part. Though, towards the end he got so comfortable in the role that he started to overact. There is nothing to write home about Saif but he is surely becoming a versatile actor – be it a lover boy in Love Aaj Kal or a terrorist in love in Kurbaan. But I was the most impressed with Kareena – although not the main protagonist of the movie, she delivered every scene very well – right from the romance with Saif, the excited new bride, the terrified mother and the last scene of the movie. I have always struggled with calling her a good actor, but every now and then she delivers good performances and this one is surely one of her better one’s.

I have been hearing that everyone is loving the movie - rediff.com actually titled the review as a ‘bloody smart movie’ – not sure if I would go that far! As far as I am concerned, with no expectations about the movie I did not dislike the movie – but then my tolerance for movies is much higher and I would not call any movie out right bad! So, if you have nothing better to do and like trying new movies and new directors, give this a watch!

Love Aaj Kal

Catchy music, stunning Deepika, Imtiaz Ali... nothin to lose to watch Love Aaj Kal... with this mindset and the enthusiasm of watching a hindi movie in AMC, I entered the movie theatre and I wasn't disappointed!

I spent the past couple of days listening to the songs. Pritam's (whichever Korean serial they maybe copied from) music and Imtiaz Ali had set the stage to expect a romantic comedy! And that's exactly what was delivered. A light 150 mins entertainer with some laughs, some emotions and some hip rocking music! I have liked both the previous movies directed by Imtiaz, though I think there was more heart in Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met was one of the few movies I liked Kareena and again it entertained me. Love Aaj Kal, as the title suggests is a love story about Saif and Deepika, who spend two years with each other in London and then decide to part ways to pursue their careers and passion. But since they have fallen in love with each other (it takes a while for them to realize it), they keep coming back to each other. No points to guess that the girl realizes her feelings much before our 'trying to be casanova' Saif! By that time Deepika is married off and Saif has got his Lakshya! But then he realizes how much he loves her and comes back looking for her. So a simple love story and told in a straight forward way!

But wait, Imtiaz is smarter than that... He also draws a parallel to Rishi Kapoor (a sardar in London who gets reminded of his younger days after seeing Saif) and his love story with Harleen Kaur. A nice narration nuance is that young Rishi Kapoor is played by Saif Ali Khan. All those who thought that Imtiaz was trying to save money by using the same actor, give the director some credibility. The 70s love story is very well directed and even though Harleen Kaur had very little dialogues, she emoted well with her eyes and expressions. Full marks to Imtiaz on this piece... the exchange of glances, the exchange of boondi and chai, in the first conversation with Harleen young Rishi Kapoor explaining that he has a good job; all these are very well shown... this is how love would have been in yesteryears!

So in all a great story, good direction from Imtiaz and a different style of narration got me hooked on. But the issue I had with the movie was Saif and Deepika. Deepika falls FLAT when she is given powerful dialogues and a scene full of emotion. And she is not given this once but atleast thrice in the movie and I think she couldn't carry it through even once. Similarly Saif is ok when he starts to talk a lot in the sensitive scenes but the story had a LOT OF SCOPE for much stronger scenes and a display of emotions. Saif and Deepika (and I don't consider either of them good actors) couldn't carry what was offered to them. I don't know who could have played these roles better but it felt like no justice was done to the strong story line by these mediocre actors. Imtiaz could get the emotions out of Abhay Deol (he is turning to be a good actor and more on it later) in his first movie but he somehow couldn't get the emotions out from one established actor and other not-so-new actor!

But just because of this I wouldn't rate the movie on a lower scale. I think Imtiaz has put in his effort in to the story and direction and I think he gets my full marks! I liked the titles where he throws in some scenes from the movie just to give an audience the glimpse of what is coming next and that way keeps them guessing until they see all those scenes from the titles played out. Even the way he has breezed through the two year courtship period of Saif and Deepika is well done! Another good touch was the way 'Main Kya Hoon' was shot - several months of Saif's life shown in 5 mins and that too conveying everything he wanted to.

Before I end, don't miss out the songs, Chor Bazaari, Twist (remix) and Dooriyan!

The new Bollywood Muslim

A very interesting perspective on the changing face of a Muslim in Bollywood... The articles starts with the new bollywood Muslim but also takes you to the 50s - 80s period and how different individuals/characters contributed to indian cinema.

Slightly long article but take 10 mins if you have similar beliefs like mine - Bollywood hi aapli sanskriti aahe (Bollywood is our culture). Movies are a reflection of our society and in the recent times Bollywood has managed to portray different aspects of our society with much finesse!

P.S. - one error in the weblink is that the link for page 4 takes you to a different article so you read page 4 you will have to manually change the URL to pg=3

Beyond the shallowness of bollywood

'Hindi films he aapli sanskriti aahe'... these words said by Shirish Kanekar, have been etched in my memory and as I grow old watching more hindi movies and absorbing more cinema, these words make more sense to me!


I enjoy every bollywood movie for whatever the film maker has to convey and Luck by Chance seems to be one more movie made by a bollywood patriot. If Om Shanti Om was a satire/spoof on bollywood movies, Luck by showcases everything about Bollywood - the double standards, the struggle, the glamor, the superistitions... But what touched me the most was, debutante director Zoya Akhtar showing the 'heart' of bollywood - the advice from ShahRukh to Vikram Jaisingh, the perspective provided by Karan Johar to Hrithik, Neena Walia's practical and selfish attitude towards life, Rolly's disappointment on Hrithik's disappearance. The film actors and media personnel are humans too and even though we give them a demi-god status, the actors themselves are like you and me and go through similar emotions... Btw, the advice about sticking to your friends pre-stardom couldn't have been more apt than coming from the King Khan. Some more thoughts on these later...

The movie is not an extraordinary work of cinema, but its an honest attempt to show a good sensitive story in the backdrop of bollywood. Maybe Madhur Bhandarkar (director of Fashion) can learn a bit about showing the usual 'struggle to success to reality' story with a bit of sensitivity! The movie may not have the strongest written characters but the casting and direction makes up for any flaw in the characterization. Some of the tit bits of the movie which added humor and displays the peculiarities of bollywood which the director ensured included -
- a double standard, yet shrewd producer Rommy Rolly, a star kid whose mother is strict and manipulative coz she knows the ins and outs of the industry, the supportive, superstitious but glamorous producer's wife, a failed actor turned director,
- Saurabh Shukla and his Nand Kishore acting school which functions in a hall of some building and him inviting a yesteryears actor MacMohan to give away certificates
- Anurag Kashyap and him replacing 'murder' for 'khoon'
- Rommy Rolly's insistence on changing the script / character of the movie to retain Zaffar Khan in the movie

Though all these supporting characters take the movie pretty far, the main actors Farhan and Konkana drive the movie till the end. Though Farhan's lack of acting skills fit well into the character of a struggling actor, he seems to show improvement over Rock On... I cannot see him carrying a movie all by himself and without the likes of Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia and ever so comfortable Konkana Sen, Farhan would have had a tough task in front of him. Konkana Sen Sharma is comfortable and flawless in her acting and is one actor who can play a girl next door and a struggling starlet with equal conviction. She proves that even for a glamor struck film industry like ours a female actor who doesn't have the face or the bod of a hot supermodel can be a favorite with the film makers and the audience. The on screen chemistry between Konkana & Farhan isn't that convincing but some of their scenes are great - especially the last scene where Konkana thrashes Farhan out of her life and for obvious reasons shows the changing maturity of we indians!

Last but more importantly the final monologue given to Konkana is what changed my opinion of the movie from being average to good... how many of us can say that we are doing something which really makes us happy... I had never thought of this about the film industry but beyond the glamor, money and shallowness, there is a sense of satisfaction that some of them (may not be all of them) get from doing something which each of them really enjoys doing... Every struggling actor, film maker, singer, music composer (and u can add every aspect of creativity profession here), however small roles or parts they play in a movie, television or anything related to the glamor world, somewhere they derive happiness from doing what they really enjoy doing! think about this...

Jaane tu ya jaane na

I brought in the New Year with one of the best movies of 2008… a long overdue review: I have enjoyed this movie each time I watch it! That does say a lot about the movie – I like experimenting with different movies but cannot watch all of them again & again!


A simple love story but very well narrated. A good story but more importantly very well written characters, and handled very well by debutant director Abbas Tyrewala. I cannot reiterate the fact that the writer and director of the movie being the same can result in a good product. Good background music, a good score by Rehman and the songs blending in well with the script and taking it forward…

This move is about the characters of the movie and Abbas has crafted each character very well, from Aditi’s parents who have a very modern outlook to Sushant Modi, the stereotype perfect boyfriend who likes to drink a little, party a little, work out, go on vacations, work…. and everything in his life is perfect! I liked the narration a lot, the friends narrating the story at the airport, the mother talking to the dead father’s (Naseeruddin) picture and especially the narration through the character of Mala, where I believe, Abbas is trying to stimulate the audience with her character – like her apprehension to listen to a story which would end at the airport (typical hindi movie story) or just before the interval, everything that Mala says is what the audience is thinking - ‘will Jai actually beat someone up’ and ‘will he go to jail’!! Her excitement when Jai rides the horse and she realizes that he has fulfilled the three conditions to become a Ranjhore mard are the emotions the audience is going through while seeing the movie (at least I did!!) Similarly, at the end of the movie, the way she starts liking the characters (Jai & Aditi), Abbas expects the audience to be in love with his characters!!!

The story and excellent narration was supported by the casting of the movie. You have good actors like the effortless Ratna Pathak, Naseeruddin Shah and Paresh Rawal supporting the bunch of youngsters. More importantly the group of friends which is the main cast of the movie are good actors, comfortable in front of the camera. Imran Khan is good for his first movie and though he has lot to work on, he fit the character and did justice to the role. I was most disappointed with Genalia D’Souza’s acting who is a little stiff and seems to be trying to act. All the others are just so comfortable. Meghna (Manjari Phadnis - I have seen her Mumbai Salsa too and didn’t form an opinion) is good in her role and her character is also very real… The characters of Jiggy (the typical gujju), the slow Sandhya, the radu Rotlu and the fourth friend (I am not sure why I forget her screen name though) are well enacted by the actors too

Some of the finer points I liked are
- when Sushant and Aditi return to Aditi’s place, her parents are playing scrabble and the word on the board is changed from ‘comfort’ to ‘discomfort’

- Amit and Aditi discussing about Aditi and Jai’s friendship. In the next shot Aditi asks Amit (played by Prateik Babbar) about the mice, “you really love him, don’t you?” And he responding “No, we’re just friend!”

- Meghna’s character who does not want to see the reality and plays the game “What’s this” and even her honesty at the end to continue living in her dream world…

- Amit’s character, where he accepts that he hates Jai coz every time his parents see Jai they wish they had a son like him but he knows that Jai is a very nice guy and he loves Aditi!

Overall a very good package and all credit to Abbas Tyrewala for making good cinema!

It is written

Two movies this past weekend, the theme of both being destiny... one depicts destiny in the backdrop of our traditional indian value system where a father on this death bed emotionally blackmails his daughter and then Rab Ne (read father on death bed) decides the Jodi and the other depicts Slumdog kids who are destined to be together...


Slumdog was well narrated with 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' in the backdrop and every question taking us back to the protagonist (Jamal Khan's) life... The first hour of the movie was gripping, some excellent shots of Mumbai, the filth, the dirt in which street kids grow up, the perils of being a street kid who are forced into begging and the females into prostitution! But somehow I feel the later half lost the magical touch of the first half... even if Danny Boyle and Lavleen Tandon wanted to make the love story the real meat of the movie, I feel it could have done without the 'masala'... but that's me, my expectation went sky high with the first hour and weren't suitably met in the second. Rehman's score is FABULOUS and that's replaced Yuvraj in my car now, especially Liquid Dance, Dreams on Fire and paper planes



Ab Rab Ne ke baare mein kya batayein? SRK started off well acting as a simpleton but started to HAM as soon as got into the shoes of 'Raj' - though the dialogue
"Raj - naam to suna hi hoga" actually cracked me up! Call me filmi but such stupid humor does make me laugh. Anushka Sharma plays her role well as a debutant and Vinay Pathak (though I expected more) is the versatile best... Adi could have obviously done more with this actor but I guess the story was only about the jodi! The problem I had with this movie was 'they don't make such jodis anymore' and secondly in contemporary India you CANNOT show a MCP who makes a statement like "...lekin use pyaar to is Suri se karna padega"... come'on Adi Chopra, how can you show your traditional roots to such an extent and expect the audience to accept such hypocratic crap! I would have been much much more happier walking out of the theatre if SRK would have transformed into a Raj or atleast accepted that he wants to transform into Raj for Tanni... but then it would have been Raj Ne Bana Di Jodi... guess Rab (read Adi) didn't want that!

But I liked the different perspectives on one topic... both in the indian context, one very traditional and other social, sensitive but yet contemporary!

Sorry bhai

My beauty is back (Chitrangada Singh) and I saw this movie only for her… And was I pleased… the dusky beauty looks ravishing as ever and cinematographer Sachin Kumar does a wonderful job at showcasing this beauty while capturing Mauritius through his lens. I can go on and on about how gorgeous she looks in the movie and this whole post might not be enough for that.

The director, Onir does a great job at handling this love triangle and kudos to Ashwini Malik for a good screenplay and story. The characters are well written too (could have been better) and the casting team (I belevee Onir had his contribution too) has done at a great job at choosing the actors. I am obviously biased towards Chitrangada but Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani, Shabana Azmi and even Sanjay Suri do a good job with their roles. Sharman Joshi proves his talent with every movie... I had started to gauge his potential with Life in a Metro and in this movie he proves his versatility. Sanjay Suri is not the most versatile actors but he does his job well in such simple roles (investment banker obsessed with his work, in the movie) – I think he is more a director’s actor. Boman Irani is undoubtedly the best character actors we have in the industry today and every role that he is offered, he plays it with too much ease. Shabana Azmi is another very good actor and the character gives her an opportunity to show her acting skills. Chitrangada plays her role well and I believe the director could have given her a few more scenes to express certain elements of her emotion – love for Sharman or falling out of love for Sanjay.

As I mentioned before the characters could be written better and Onir could have exploited them a bit more, but no complains at how he has narrated the story. For example, many bollywood movies show the love bloom in a song and though Onir goes beyond a song and shows a few incidents I could not feel the depth of love between Chitrangada and Sharman. Also, Y is having sex the end and be all of realizing that you are in love? Indian directors, time to take cognizance of your audience and show something deeper… You obviously know that this movie is aimed for the metros and educated class audience, so y not present a better scene for the protagonists to realize the deep love for each other? Well, even after Sharman tells his brother about his love for Chitrangada, there is very little screen time to display Sanjay’s sadness or the responsibility which Chitrangada or Sharman should show after committing such a blunder… Don’t get me wrong and I don’t think there is anything wrong about they falling in love but there need to be a few more details on what happens next and how they proceed with their love life. Indian film markers have this amazing tool, a song, to run away from showing such explanatory scenes and take the story forward. Similarly, though well developed, Shabana Azmi’s character at the end looses its intensity when it takes her one dialogue from her husband to realize her mistake. The director did a good job at building the story and the last 10 mins seem to be rushed into…

Couple of things which make the story bold in an indian context - the mother suggesting a live-in relationship, Chitrangada's realizing her love towards Sharman, the dilemma to choose between her fiance and love but the decision to pursue her real love give the movie a contemporary real feel.

One stupid flaw in the movie (there may have been more but I was too lost in staring at my beauty) - in the first scene of the movie Sharman Joshi’s hair is short but in the last shot (which is actually a continuation of the first one), his hair have grown… come’on you actor / director, don’t loose credibility by making such avoidable blunders.

Overall, a good watch and as always shows the maturity of Indian film makers to handle such complex subjects.

A Wednesday

I cannot explain in words the way Indian cinema has matured over the years. I remember Nagesh Kukunoor’s comment while accepting the award for Best Story for Dor at an award function – ‘we all have stories to tell and I encourage our film makers to do so’. A Wednesday is a good story with above average screenplay, very good direction and stellar performances. It may not be as well shot as Aamir or have the emotions of Mumbai Meri Jaan, but I rate it higher than both these movies and put it in the category of Rang De (top notch) – just for being a complete in all aspects

They say ‘all’s well that ends well’ and I believe for a movie a powerful, meaningful end is what can distinguish it from being average as against very good. And Naseeruddin Shah’s monologue in the last 15 minutes of the movie and the last shot of the movie distinguish A Wednesday into an above average movie. Naseeruddin Shah and Anupan Kher, acting in one movie after a long gap (I read that the last they were seen together were in China Gate in 1999), prove that they are one of the finest actors in the industry. My philosophy of the writer and director of the movie being same is again proved with debutant director Neeraj Pandey who has not only written the story and directed the movie but also written the screenplay. I am guessing he knew exactly how he was going to narrate it and hence the direction of the movie also seems flawless – so much so that he even explains why he has called the movie ‘A Wednesday’

Some of the finer details in the story, screenplay and direction which I liked were –
The last shot where Anupam Kher does not tell us the name of the protagonist (Naseer) because one would link the name to a religion,

The shots during the titles of the movies where they have shown the protagonist walk into a train station with a bag and leave without one creating suspicion in the mind of the viewer as to his intentions,

The partial face shots of ‘the man behind all the terrorist attacks’ while one of the inspectors is introducing the four terrorists and those being mixed with shots of Naseer on the top of the building,

When the protagonist is asked if he lost someone dear, he narrating the story of a boy who traveled with him in the train adds a lot of the strength to the character of Naseer and also adds strength to the ‘common man’ suggesting that you don’t have to lose a family member to do such an act and it could be just because you felt for an acquaintance and the loss of his family members

The movie starts off well introducing all the characters and moves along at a gripping pace. Though the story on the whole may seems a little far fetched, Neeraj Pandey has covered every detail to ensure the genuineness of it. I didn’t feel any shot in the movie was unnecessary and each one was building a character or the story. Even until the last shot of the movie we are not sure about Anupam Kher’s intentions and at one point it seemed like his ego was going to make him arrest / kill the protagonist. Even though the movie had a message, the monologue by Naseer did not seem like he was preaching.

Overall a MUST WATCH… especially for every Bombayaite who has witnessed how Bombay has always been a terrorist target – be it the riots of 1992, blasts of 1993 and 2006 blasts.