India Pakistan partition is one of the most painful lines drawn in the history of the world. The migration that took place is the largest migration to have ever taken place. Why? For what? For the miscalculations of a few people, for the ego of a few men and religion, acting as a weapon.
I personally believe that partition and the time pre and post that bloody August, should be told more to the youth. There is so much to understand, to know and to soak in. Like MJ Akbar famously said, “to understand our present, we need to understand our past”.
That being said, the movie had me bowled over in the first 5 minutes of its beginning. To come up with a vision to start a movie with that scene, one needs more than imagination, guts and conviction. For most, it would be too bold to handle.
With a cast that needs no introduction, the movie was packed with some power packed performances and some earth shatteringly honest, raw and hair raising dialogues.
What came as a surprise was, the magnificent performance by Chunky Pandey. He reminded me of Nana Patekar in Shakti and i have now some new found respect for the man. Finally after doing an unimaginable number of forgettable flicks, he has learnt the craft and am looking forward to see more of him. Or more of the new-him.
Vidya Balan is so powerful that she can make anyone shit in their pants just by giving THAT look. She is that good.
Naseeruddin Shah though didnt have much screen presence, did more than justice to the sleazy lowlife that he portrayed. Hats off to him.
The ending though, could have been more detailed and impactful. The emotions were raw and straight hitting.
In some places, the plot could have been given more weightage as compared to maintaining the rawness of the movie. At some places, that balance is lost.
Also, the epicentre of the movie seemed a little uncooked. Could have been baked a bit more.
All said and done, we did need a dose of some raw cinema. the movie was gripping, raw and struck a few chords.
Not for the faint hearted and definitely not a movie to take your date on. DONT commit that mistake. Its heavy and would kind of stay with you for a while.
bohemian 