Refugee

I always knew that this film was a huge flop. Released along with Kaho na Pyaar Hai, it never came close to the latter's box office collections.

I happened to watch this film two decades after its release and, to my pleasant surprise, it's not bad. The premise and the setting are fascinating. The story is intriguing and different from everyday Bollywood dramas.

Yes, it is melodramatic. And Kareena Kapoor is intolerable in places. It's absurd how she is made to sing and dance and be chirpy and bubbly in a film like this.

The ending is a bummer. But the film overall is worth watching. If not for anything else, then for the songs.

Unlike today's Bollywood nationalism, it's good to see that all Pakistnais are not unnecessarily villainised here.

Refugee (Abhishek Bachchan) is a orphaned young man who lives in a border village and is the adopted son of the village head man Jaan Muhammad (Anupam Kher). He routinely ferries people across the Rann of Kutch into Pakistan and from there brings people into India. In one trip he takes Manzur Ahmad, his wife and daughter Nazneen (Kareena Kapoor) into Pakistan. The young folks bond and eventually fall in love. But the path of love is thorny with a Pakistan Army ranger (Sunil Shetty) and his soldiers, an Indian Army man (Jackie Shroff) and his soldiers, several terrorists and other sundry bad folks getting in the way of their union. There is the usual patriotism, separatism, idealism, villainy etc. that runs through the film. But it is not an out and out Pakistan bash and tries to preach a message of friendship with a clichéd ending when a child is born in the no-man's land area.

The story is somewhat unusual and the movie is visually stunning. The Rann and the desert surrounds frame the most beautiful scenery, and spots of color in clothing from that region. The sets are very authentic. The direction is okay, and dialogs uneven. But the film still manages to engage for two reasons - the lead pair that are introduced in this film actually do show some sparks of good acting. Abhishek is somewhat wooden and pouty, but he still manages to be convincing as the Refugee. Why is he called that? Kareena looks beautiful - young, earthy, and has moments of really good acting. It is inexplicable where she gets money to be in such beautiful clothes, but maybe not fair to question such stuff in a Hindi film! The rest of the cast is mediocre - Anupam, Sunil, Jackie, Kulbhushan etc. The music is very nice, the last song at the Dargah is amazing until it turns into a filmy fest with Jackie and Sunil dancing - cringe worthy! All in all it is certainly good for a one time watch - and one wonders where Abhishek squandered the potential he showed in this film.

REFUGEE is "A Human Story", according to the tag-line. More specifically, it's about a guy called "Refugee" who lives in a village on the Indo-Pakistan border, and helps Muslim refugees from Bangladesh to cross over to Pakistan where they hope they will have a better chance of a life free from oppression. The first such group that we see him transport across the desert consists of two families, one of whom is eventually revealed to be Kareena Kapoor under her veil. He takes a bit of a shine to her, and she to him. Love blossoms, and it is will do in these circumstances. The family settle in a village on the Pakistan side of the border, and they meet up with Refugee whenever he makes the trip across.

But crossing the border is not a terribly safe activity, especially with Jackie Shroff guarding the Indian side and Sunil Shetty guarding the Pakistan side. One might expect that Refugee would encounter trouble with the law making these trips on a regular basis, and indeed the guards are soon on his case. But the law turns out to be amongst the least of his worries in the harsh and extreme desert living conditions where war and hardship are a way of life.

REFUGEE is a movie of two halves, or possibly three thirds. We open up with an hour or so of character development as the romance between Refugee and Naaz grows, and we learn more of the families and others in the village. In the second hour or so the complications that have been hinted at before start to develop and grow, personal conflicts with others rise to the surface, and life for our heroes starts to get tough. In the next hour the tension that has built erupts and the situation becomes desperate as politics and social turmoil overwhelm the lovers personal lives entirely, all of which builds to an insanely incendiary conclusion.

At 3 minutes short of the 3.5 hour mark, REFUGEE requires a little bit of stamina, but it uses its time well to flesh out the situation and the characters. The overall theme of personal happiness being stomped on by political issues is one that comes across a lot in Indian films. REFUGEE tries hard to be fair and to present the message that people are people and killing each other over the concept of 'nation' is a terrible waste of the potential of life. In the end there does seem to be something of an "India good, Pakistan bad" sentiment in the film regardless of its efforts otherwise. The film closes with a speech dreaming about a world with no borders, "No passport, no visa"... but one can't help suspect that J.P.Dutta imagines such a world would be established on India's terms rather than Pakistan's.

In my movie viewing life this is the perfect movie and this movie story is 100 percent pure and true.So,this is the best movie for forever .

With big film like Anil Sharma's Gadar J.P dutta's LOC and Border other film like Qayamat Zameen Hero BBV and many more all was agaisnt PAkistan and had them as enemies.

out of all Refugee was the only film to bring together India and PAkistan Both shake hands together. and Refugee have it.

The performance by every one was great from Jackie to suniel and from Abhiehsk to Kareena. all did a great job