AKS

Owing to the sheer scarcity of films due to the distributors strike over the last 2 months and due to a pressing urge to relieve our stressed sensory nerves (Translate: fu@#$d up brains) by indulging into some mindless melodrama, we forced ourselves to make a not so difficult choice (Read : Obvious) of choosing New York over Paying Guest. So on a relaxed lazy Sunday afternoon we (Me and my groupies) took our seats at E-square, Pune. Some what groggy eyed(due to the heavy lunch) and somewhat due to the dim lighting conditions along with the comfort(Aahhhh read AC, completely non-existent in my hostel). We were just stepping in the Cinema hall when we all got the same message from our dear friend Shreyans. Let me quote him in his very own sms vocab,”John is d terrorist n he dies along with Katrina.neil mukesh beign fbi undr cover agent. Neil tks care of john n katrina’s child in d end…NJOY D MUVIE NEWYORK” Yeah Shreyans thanks for being so pro-active to disclose the story to us already. What fools were we to spend our hard earned 150 bucks on Tickets we would have might as well heard the whole story for free from you. (Warning: Please stay put wherever you are coz we are going to tug you by your lapels and are going to take back every ounce of our hard-earned money. And yeah thanks once again for killing the suspense)
After a lot of cursing and swearing. We finally settled down to watch the movie. So the credits started rolling and we saw the most beautiful views of the sky scrappers in New York. As the film advanced you spot the gullible Omar targeted by the FBI under the pretext of a hoax terrorism charge. FBI’s game is to make Omar work as a under cover agent to breach the fool-proof plan of John Abraham who allegedly runs a terrorist sleeper cell in New-York. Then there is a 45 mins flash back of “ sweet as candy” good ol’ days. Where one spots the regular ingredients of Yash Raj banner – there is a lot of dosti And pyar, ishq aur mohabbat on the campus of the New York State University. Omar, Maya and Sameer played perfectly well by Niel, Katrina and John are college mates and are enjoying the crisp & beautiful years of University life. Then there is a love triangle thrown in. No prizes for guessing who's the object of admiration.NO! its not John we are past his Dostana days already. And boy we prefer it that way ; )

Ok. SO Omar successfully plants himself in the family with an underlying agenda only to prove the FBI otherwise. We are soon made to believe that Sameer is leading a very straight-laced life until a sudden and well executed twist reveals he is actually undertaking terrorist activities(Thanks to the forsaken SMS we were not surprised atall). So Omar plays accomplice even though has to shoot one of the traitors to prove his loyalty. FBI Agent Roshan played to the hilt by Irfan Khan has some interesting sequences in the film.

Katrina looks like the quintessential baby doll. Whats worth noticing apart from her beauty is the level of improvement that her language and expression shows. There are many close-ups in the films and very emotionally charged scenes but Ms. Kaif performs fairly good than her other films( See Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya to understand the progression in her acting skills by leaps and bounds : )It was also very cute to see her play mommy dearest. Omar continuously undergoes a battle for his purpose behind deceiving his friends. Especially after Sameer tells him about how he was imprisoned post the 9/11 on no strong proof for his involvement in the terrorist activity. The atrocities hat are rendered on these suspects are extremely grotesque and are completely heart-wrenching. This forms a background and gives the raison d’tre for Sameer’s inclination towards such hard arm tactics. At that moment the audience starts sympathizing with Sameer. Then there is an alternate track of Zilgae who Maya is trying to help legally and emotionally as a human rights activist. We also see him killing an NYPD officer because he practically molests Maya in an attempt to search her. Omar together with Maya try to get a commitment from the FBI for Sameer's imprisonment instead of killing him as he is planning to give up his mission. But as the end unfolds we find Sameer is going to Blow up the FBI building. Only after a long emotional diatribe we see the FBI killing both Sameer and Maya. And Omar looking after their son and forgiving Agent Roshan.

Flop Side:-

Niel and Katrina have different looks when they are in University and 7 years after. But our John seems to be looking the same.

Why does John put the Bombs outside the building? Doesn’t he know the windows are see through and people are watching him planting the bombs!! huh..

There is no indication that this is a suicide mission, then why is John on the top of the building with the remote that he actually intends to blow up?? Duh…

The musical score doesn't have much to add except for the latest radio chart buster”Junoon” ans "Mere Sang"



Flip side:

New-york is shot extremely well. And the landscape blooms beautifully in the cinematography.

The screenplay is good and fringes on the border of acceptable and believable.

The plot is tight and too the point and does not get over verbose and saggy

The best part is the film ends in 2 hours

I will definitely recommend it to be watched at least once. It's a good Masala Movie trying to highlight issues of grave importance like terrorism and human rights on the backdrop of the 9/11 tragedy and its aftermath!!