Kashmiri Movie Reviews

One can take something substantive, something meriting deeper contemplation, and easily trivialize it, or even make it comical, if one presents ones point of view in a manner that panders to the basest tastes of ones audience. "Mission Kashmir" suffers from this malady - a willingness to sacrifice artistic and even ideological integrity at the altar of marketability. What do you get when you take an all star cast that consists of an actor who looks like a Calvin Klein model, an actress who looks like she belongs in a Miss World beauty pageant, and have them and other cast members dancing in grandiose dance numbers, at arbitrary points in the film, for no apparent reason? You get a movie that is prime to rake in big money at the box offices in India, because it appeases the simplistic tastes of Indian moviegoers.

Why should anyone take a movie seriously, when one of its main stars, who is supposed to play a jaded kid, turned terrorist, doesn't look or act the part? Hrithik Roshan's chiseled face, Adonis like physique, and starry eyed gaze may make him an ideal candidate for romantic films like "Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai" - a fun film to watch, and one that he performed exceeding well in - but he hardly makes a good candidate to play a terrorist. Maybe its just me, but there is something hard to swallow about a terrorist who appears as if he spends hours per day in beauty salons working on a soft complexion and refining his hair style. For the love of God, even his stubble looks perfectly groomed! Roshan's character, Altaaf, is supposed to be a kid who comes from an impoverished area of Kashmir, who in the early stages of his life watched his own family massacred by his future adoptive father, and his entire life is consumed by revenge. Its not exactly the stuff runway models are made out of, but you wouldn't know it looking at Altaaf. If people think Altaaf is a believable terrorist, well then I propose that the next cinematic reenactment of Jesus' life have Britney Spears cast as the Virgin Mary and one of the Back Street boys as Barabbas.

Aside from mere appearances, the acting and characterization in this film is atrocious. Roshan, in typical Bollywood fashion, is melodramatic to the point of being obnoxious. He shakes so hard at times in the story, were he seeks to convey the feeling of rancor or lamentation, that you would think he is having an epileptic seizure. Secondly, his whole pursuit of his childhood flame, played by the beautiful Preity Zinta, is superfluous to the plot and really mitigates against the notion that he is a man consumed totally by hatred. Zinta's character is an obvious didactic device used by the moviemakers to ensure that the denser of us get the moral message of the story. When her character told Altaaf (paraphrased), "My religion (Islam) does not teach violence and murder as solutions to life's problems", I began to wonder if I was watching a movie for adults or some after school special. It is common for characters to serve as the primary expositors of morals in movies. However, skillfully written films do this in such a subtle manner, through the actions of the character, not by one character giving a lecture to another character as if she is some teacher in a third grade Sunday school classroom. Furthermore, Zinta's character hardly makes for a believable voice for religious moderation in times of turmoil, considering with her good looks, budding television career, better than average wealth, and chipper demeanor, she was seemingly unaffected by her impoverished and war torn upbringing. Then we have Jackie Shroff as the terrorist mastermind behind the film's doomsday plot. He has about as much depth as a Japanese anime villain, and to compound matters he spouts off corny dialogue that seemed to have been drafted by an overzealous fifth grader who has watched one too many "Iron Eagle" sequels.

To add to all this lunacy the film is interspersed with several dance numbers - the trademark of any Bollywood picture. Granted, in films like "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham", "Saathiya", and "Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai", this is excusable and even adds to how entertaining these films are because these films are primarily about subjects like love, family, and culture, and are therefore light hearted. Hence, when dance sequences are badly edited into these films, to where the narrative is abruptly halted for a dance number, no one thinks twice about. However, in such a film like "Mission Kashmir" this only serves to detract from the overall story, especially since much of the music and dancing is so blissful. Seeing Altaaf dance gleefully doesn't exactly mesh well with the movies portrayal of man who is supposed to be enraged by past injustices. I wonder how much of an impact a landmark drama like "Schindler's List" would have had if it's narrative were punctuated haphazardly with dance sequences that pitted concentration camp victims and Nazi soldiers in a dance off? I don't think it would have elicited the tear jerking reaction it got from me, nor would it have garnered the respect from the film community that it did.

There are some saving graces of this film. One is the superb acting done by Sanjay Dutt. Dutt is a believably conflicted inspector whose life is literally torn asunder by the internal struggle between moral conviction and his own penchant for revenge. Sonali Kulkarni embodies maternal empathy with the skill of a seasoned actress. Finally, the cinematography, which is especially noticeable at the opening of the film, is on par with that of American films.

It is unfortunate that all these laudable elements could not have been subsumed into a better cinematic framework that had a more appreciable supporting cast and characterization. Its no wonder Indian cinematic efforts, with the exception of the overrated Lagaan, have not gotten much international attention.

i could never believe a hindi movie could be so wonderful. the script, the directing, the acting, the editing, the songs (and i have to confess that i've quite get hooked by the weird indian tunes before, but songs in this movie are totally different). two handsome male actors and two lovely female ones....i was so touched and moved by this movie and simply failed to hold back my tears sometimes during the watching. one word: "wonderful!" and i sincerely hope that the so highly hyped hollywoody "chicago", a movie so staged and so pretentious would learn something from this movie before really start shooting. well, good news, have found another very good movie by the director, vidhu vinod chopra, "parinda", just fantastic! i think this director is one of the rare directors that any film he directed would have turn out very very good. try to get this one, and you're gonna like it.

I have seen this movie 4 times now. Once with some friends and once with some European young people visiting the US. Everyone was immediately drawn into the engrossing story. Everything about the movie is very moving. The other reviewers have discussed these features and others and I don't want to repeat them, except to say that I agree with almost all of them.
Additionally, I would suggest that perhaps this, and other, Bollywood films, while following a very modern, hip, glossing product, are also recapitulating Classical Indian drama in many ways. Classical Indian drama, such as Kalidasa's Sakuntala, used many of the same dramatic devices found in Mission Kashmir. There was always music, usually to express emotion and usually the singing of poetry, much like we see here. Dancing was obligatory and the dancers had to use stylized hand and finger positions during the dance.
Classical drama also had characters who were often more symbolic than realistic. Unusual plot twists were common. There was always a hero, usually portrayed as some kind of symbol of Rama or Krishna.
Another thing that I noticed about the film is how Neelima becomes a symbolic figure, almost Mother India, who sacrifices herself for love.
This is a terrific film for a million reasons. It is very educational for Americans after September 11. A large number of the characters tell us in no uncertain terms why they have made the choices they have. In this respect, this movie is very disturbing and sobering, in spite of the unlikely happy ending. It should definitely leave one thinking.