Mission Kashmir

When I saw KHAMOSH, also directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, I thought it was the worst movie ever. I thought that Chopra was a terrible director. Then, I saw MISSION KASHMIR.

MISSION KASHMIR has a rather confusing line if you don't follow it completely. Inayat Khan (Sanjay Dutt) is a Kashmiri cop whose son falls from a second-story window by accident. No doctor treats the boy in fear of a fatwah issued by a terrorist named Malik-ul-Khan. The boy dies.

Blinded with fury, Khan organizes a raid on a house Malik-ul-Khan is staying at. Unknown to the police, the house is owned by an innocent family of four and Malik-ul-Khan is there merely as an uninvited guest. During the raid, all terrorists and almost all members of the family are shot down. The only survivor is the ten-year-old boy Altaaf.

Khan adopts Altaaf, but is continuously fearing that the boy will one day realize that he was the masked man who killed his family. One day, Altaaf finds the mask and realizes the truth. He attempts to murder his foster father and runs away.

Years later, an ex-Mujahiddin Pathan radical terrorist named Hilal (brilliantly portrayed by Jackie Shroff) is in search of a brave soldier to help him in his jihad and in a top secret mission code-named Mission Kashmir. Who else does he pick, but his "baccha" (child) Altaaf (Hrithik Roshan)?

Along the way, we meet the beautiful and playful TV reporter Sufiya Pervez (Preity Zinta).

MISSION KASHMIR is no ordinary action movie. It is actually more of a drama set on a violent background. Don't misunderstand me; action lovers will be thrilled by this film.

The special effects of MISSION KASHMIR are extraordinary and the music and songs are the best I've seen in years. One thing I used to dislike about many films was that there would be songs where they did not belong. The songs here are well-worded and absolutely appropriate.

Jackie Shroff's portrayal of Hilal is equally outstanding. One can take a look at his eyes and realize that this man is a fanatic.

If MISSION KASHMIR were an American film, it would receive the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actor (Hrithik Roshan), Best Actress (Preity Zinta), Best Director (Vidhu Vinod Chopra), Best Supporting Actor (Jackie Shroff), Best Supporting Actress (Sonali Kulkarni), Best Music, and Best Special Effects.

Simply an outstanding film.

9.5 out of 10

A great movie to begin with... It has great performances of Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan and Jackie Shroff... Great Sound Engineering... U can hear that in the title opening sequence with the sound of bullets... Great visuals as u have in all VVC (Vidhu Vinod Chopra) films... VVC has always been aware of bringing hollywood kinda film making to india... We remember him bringing the waves of Dolby Stereo in Inida with "1942 A Love Story"... This time he has sound mixed the entire movie with almost mammoth times cost which would not be possible in Inida... The pace of the movie is another asset... U cannot imagine a single shot to be removed from the movie... Every frame is tightly conceived to fit the script... Add to that, a smooth and pace syncronised editing... To sum up... The end sequence, the fight between Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt... Especially the technique... of Normal and Slow motion shots syncronised with sound... This end sequence would have been less than seen without that great artwork (Old and almost ruined wooden house with lifelike cobwebs and not to forget the swamps)... Not to forget great camerawork throughout the movie... That makes this movie very different in treatment... Surely one of the best movies made on Kashmir after "Roja"

"Mission Kashmir" (MK) was one of the most anticipated films of 2000. The film was hyped even before its release and compared to the other big-budget blockbuster of the year - "Mohabbatein". Frankly, I think MK has outdone "Mohabbatein" on most counts. The story of MK is about a Altaf, a small boy orphaned by masked police men headed by a dedicated officer, Inayat Khan (Sanjay Dutt) when they kill Altaf's defenceless family during a firefight with militants. However, Khan tries to make up for this tragedy by adopting Altaf as his son. Just as Altaf is slowly recovering from the terrible shock of losing his real parents, he realises that Inayat Khan is the same masked officer who killed them. In anger and frustration, he flees the house and grows up to be Altaf, the militant (Hrithik Roshan). Altaf is brought up by famed guerilla fighter Hilal Kohistani (Jackie Shroff) and returns to the beautiful valleys of Kashmir 10 years later to perform the top secret 'Mission Kashmir'.

What makes this is a great film to watch is its technical brilliance and good performances by its actors. Sanjay Dutt has given an outstanding performance in the film, supported well by Hrithik Roshan, Jackie Shroff and Sonali Kulkarni. Sanjay Dutt proves his versatility with this film and so does Hrithik Roshan. With just 2 films before this one, Hrithik exudes confidence equal to that of a veteran actor. Sonali Kulkarni, in her cameo role, has done a pretty good job, stressing the fact that if there are good roles in Hindi films, you can expect good performances. Preity Zinta, who plays Sufiya Parvez is also pretty good as Hrithik's childhood sweetheart. But Sanjay Dutt really steals the show. The action scenes are the one of the best I have seen in Hindi films and the film is technically sound. The music is satisfying, but could have been better. Having directed great films in the past (eg. Parinda, Khamosh and 1942: A Love Story) Vidhu Vinod Chopra does a great job once again.

Overall, this film is a welcome break from other Hindi action films. Although it did not do as well as expected at the box-office, I believe "Mission Kashmir" is worth watching!

Vidhu Vinod Chopra's films are always extremely well made in terms of both writing and technique. They're often much more realistic, mature, and the stories are often issue-based and serious. Mission Kashmir is no exception in this regard. It's an impressive and enjoyable movie set in the valley of Kashmir and once again dealing with the ceaseless conflicts between India and Pakistan. The story follows a young boy named Altaaf who is adopted by Inayat Khan, a police officer who unintentionally killed his entire family while trying to eliminate terrorists right after the death of his son. Altaaf lives with Inayat and his wife Neelima for a couple of years, gradually starting to consider them his parents and forgetting the tragic accident. But one day he finds out the truth and runs away. Finding refuge in a terrorist group led by Hilal Kohistani, Altaaf grows up to be a deeply tormented and angry young man who decisively wants to kill the man who killed his family and whom he himself considered to be his own father.

Mission Kashmir shows how crucially tragic events happening at times of a war affect the lives of children and their perception of life, all through the character of Altaaf. His life is miserable and not one single day goes by without the terrible images of his parents' death popping up in his mind and torturing him to no end. As a result he seeks revenge at any cost, believing this will relieve his pain. This message was conveyed very efficiently and the moral of the story is truly laudable. Technically, the movie is marvelously slick. The cinematography is stupendous, the editing is fantastic, the background score perfectly suits the film's atmosphere and dark mood. The music, composed by Shankar Ehsaan-Loy, is generally good, though some of the songs are less necessary. In fact, numbers like "Bumbro" and "Maaf Karo" were too joyful for an intensely dramatic feature like this. The film is very well written - with brilliant dialogues that some of may be a bit sentimental at points but are overall effective enough for the film.

On the flip side, I think the terrorism thing could have been a little toned down. I could not understand why Altaaf had to find solace in being a part of a terrorist group. At times I also felt his character was a bit over the top. I'm referring to his overly strong will to take revenge. The relationship portrayed between Altaaf and Sufiya Parvez, his childhood friend and current love interest, was a little under-developed. I mean, they met after 10 long years and instantly became a pair. Well, the movie still could rise above these flaws with its technical brilliance and interesting story, and above all, many great scenes. I think the action scenes were refreshingly good in this movie, and the climax was very good. One of the film's best scenes is the one in which Altaaf tells his girlfriend that he can see nothing but blood and scary scenes of murder and she offers him to try and look at the world through her eyes. There starts a nice peaceful song, "Chupke Se Sun".

The acting is roundly excellent, and the one who leads the cast is undoubtedly Sanjay Dutt. He is excellent in his role and delivers one of his finest performances - natural, heartfelt and great. Hrithik Roshan is wonderful in some scenes and over-expressive in others, but overall is well cast in the role of a tormented young man, which he plays with sincerity and style. Preity Zinta shines as the young TV reporter and Altaaf's love interest. The chemistry between Roshan and Zinta is very good. Sonali Kulkarni is outstanding as Neelima Khan. She is compelling and moving and plays her character's suffering and pain with depth. The character of Jackie Shroff looked really like a caricature villain to me at some points. To sum it up, Mission Kashmir is one entertaining and well made film which, in spite of its flaws here and there, manages to move and impress. Vidhu Vinod Chopra's direction is very good, and so is the film's message. It's definitely worth watching and for more than one reason.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 Reviewed by: Mohammad Ali Ikram

There are certain movies that are inherently difficult to rate. I know I have had this dilemma in the past with movies like Ishq and Dil Kya Kare. The former because the glamour, comedy and the performances were just too fun that I initially forgave all the melodrama and the beaten-to-death story-line. (On repeated viewings, I usually skipped the post-interval proceedings.) The latter suffered from a commercial-look wannabe syndrome, but the performances and the hard to comprehend motivations of the characters were most enticing. Now, Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Mission: Kashmir puts me in the same boat again. Undoubtedly, this is a very good film from one of our top directors, but Chopra's choice of story to complement the magnificence of every other aspect of his movie, brings the film down a few rungs from Classic status.

So first the down-side. The tale commences with Inspector Inayat Khan (Sanjay Dutt) and his wife, Neelima (Sonali Kulkarni) living in eternal bliss amongst the beauty of the disputed territory. Or so it seems until their only child dies of a domestic accident because no doctor is willing to medically attend to him as a result of a fatwa by a radical separatist (Puru Raajkumar). The Inspector is expectedly angered and troubled by his son's "murder" and in his police force's mission to eradicate the separatist clan, they unfortunately let loose also on a family of innocents. Altaf (a young Hrithik Roshan), is orphaned and traumatized in the police act, and Neelima insists Inayat and she adopt the young child to fill the void in their own lives. (And to compensate for the Inspector's guilt.) So far, so good. There's trouble in paradise (pun intended) when Altaf quickly discovers the identity of his family's killer and devotes the rest of his life to the cause of eliminating Inayat Khan from the planet. He joins forces with Hilal Kohistani (Jackie Shroff), a materialistically minded terrorist, who will help the bachcha in exchange for Altaf spear-heading Hilal's treaturous Mission Kashmir, a plan to enable Kashmir become an Independent State.

Now you hopefully see my problem. The movie lapses too quickly into the sub-plot of terrorist without a cause and it dwells on it too long. For a movie about Kashmiriyat, the narrative focus on terrorism is too much. (Yes, terrorism is undoubtedly a problem in the region, but other recent directors have already tackled this topic numerous times in Roja, Maachis, Dil Se, Hu Tu Tu and most recently, Fiza.) So if you can forgive the familiar story-line, you're in for a major treat elsewhere. Vinod Chopra uses enough other pawns to keep you glued to your seat for each and every minute of his ode to Kashmiriyat.

First witness, the unparalleled technical quality of the movie. Symbolism and metaphors (courtesy screenplay assistance of a US university professors and novelist) compliment the visuals, serving as blessings in disguise to the numbed brains of commercial film-goers such as myself. Of course, Binod Pradhan's cinematography of each and every breath-taking crevice of Kashmir helps demonstrate how we South East Asians are destroying one of God's greatest gifts to mankind.

The editing is sharp and quick in The Matrix-inspired action sequences, yet soft and transitory in the more dramatic and emotional moments of the movie. (The action sequences are a major highlight, particularly the awesome and stylized climax-based ones.) And the music, above all, is apparently authentic Kashmiri-folk. (The dances are unique, though I will admit I found some of them a bit too unusual to my naive tastes.) Shankar-Ehsaan and Loy know how important it is to use musical background themes to enhance a scene's mood and punctuate the dialogues.

Performances too, are first rate. I have never seen Sanjay Dutt give such a raw and heart-felt performance. He is the true star of the movie. (Here's an actor who has learned that it is never too late to defy convention and type-casting in his acting career.) Hrithik is raw and effective, excelling most in the action sequences (but most will notice how this role is almost an extension of his angry young man act from the recent Fiza.) Preity Zinta is gorgeous and disarming as always with her natural effervesence in the supporting role of Altaf's childhood love, Sufiya Parvez. And Jackie excels in a brooding and menacing performance which is unfortunately underwritten. (Then again, Jackie always steals the scenery in Vinod's films.) Only Sonali Kulkarni disappointed. What I found distracting about her talent is that her face and body language is most emotive, which is a rare aptitude for even the biggest talents, but her voice is stunningly wooden. She needs a quick course in voice modulation.

What then to conclude about Mission Kashmir? Yes, it is a must see, and likely one I will watch at least a half-dozen times more in the future. And so it will grow on me, a rare quality for movies which usually fade in their appeal over time. I must commend Vidhu Vinod Chopra for always making films from the heart. The problem remains for him that the average filmgoer wants instant gratification, not a movie that takes time to sink into your system. Let's see if this Mission proves me wrong.