Taj Mahal

Before I watched this film on Netflix, I tried to research about the movie a bit and find out the context of this movie. On 26/11 Mumbai Attacks, many Directors made many films and documentaries. But this one was different.

French director Nicolas Saada, never actually wanted to make any film on this attack in the first place because he thought it might look like he's trying to exploit the situation and trying to gain something out of it. Not until he met a girl, in real life who was there at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai on that dreadful night, when he thought that he wants to tell the girl's story. Taj Mahal wass not meant to be a "thriller" in the first place. It is basically about the inner journey of Louis and the interactions with the world around her, which includes her parents and everyone.

So when I started watching the movie, my expectations were not to see what happened that day in terms of violence or incidents. My expectation was to see, what did that girl went through and what was it for her and her family.

From that context, I was not only impressed but also mesmerized. I loved the way Stacy Martin portrayed the character of Louis, in the movie. She was brilliant in one word.

As far as the honesty is concerned, I have to give Saada, 10/10. Never did he lost his way and turned this brilliant creation as a "docudrama" with a lot of things going on, confused shots, erratic flows etc. He was very clear on what he wanted to show and how he wanted to show. He could have gotten easily diverted by showing the attacks, firings and bloodbath on the screen but he chose not to do that. He was always with the girl and just by the sound of the bullets and grenades he made everything so apparent.

Piyush Shah, the cinematographer of the film, also deserves a big round of applause for his tremendous work. The scenes from Mumbai, shots inside the room, all were so beautiful.

My sincere thanks goes to the producers of the film also, who also chose to believe in the story and backup the film. I can see that recovering money and making profit in terms of money, from this kind of film, is not an easy task but they still chose to backup.

All in all, I loved the movie, and would love to see more of SAADA in future.

Absolutely devoid of any emotions, poor acting, does not portray the terror of that moment

By and large,I agree with the precedent user :it's a bit a missed opportunity.

When Louise is alone in her room ,hearing screams and shots ,we do feel her terror : we are caught in this macabre hide-and-seek ,we are shivering :the treatment recalls sometimes "panic room",but with a big difference:during Louise's terrifying ordeal,we never see the terrorists ,only their shoes in the corridors ,and our fear is all the more intense since danger remains faceless while making its presence felt every second.

By the same token,the scenes with Giovanna ,the woman on honeymoon,are full of emotion and human touch ;both women stand by each other,and it helps them get through their nightmare .The moment when they embrace each other is perhaps the most moving in the whole movie.

(Now,I'm speaking of the actors and obviously,not of the real life characters)

It may be the directing or the script,but the father figure is a namby -pamby man, his wife ,a woman who sings lullabies (which infuriates her daughter ,and considering the impending fire,who should have known better);as desperate parents ,they fail totally to convince ;one could add that in the first part ,Louise appears as a spoiled child ,not particularly endearing ,and we only side with her in the second part.

The first part is mostly filler : a tour in Bombay,please remember the guide!

As the Greek user already pointed it out ,the third part is desultory ,and we could easily do without it;only the phone call to Pierre makes sense .

It would have made an excellent 45 min movie;artificially stretched out ,it does not make it as a 90 min one.

Watch it anyway:its central part will scare you to death.

I am giving 1 star just for the cool scenes of Mumbai in the beginning. The girl clearly has no acting skills required for a plot such as this, she is better suited for some light weight teeny love story or something. The story revolves around the Mumbai terrorist attacks but does not delve into it at all. Rather this is an attempt at the Jodie Foster styled "Panic Room" sort of a thriller but fails miserably. The girl is locked inside her room with terrorists outside and as such, the weight of the movie is upon her acting skills, and as mentioned before, she does not deliver at all, and the rest of the script is equally boring, annoying to say the least! I could not watch it for more than 30 minutes.

"Taj Mahal" is about the night, when 10 terrorists who were part of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, directed by a man known as "the Bull", launch a coordinated assault against 12 locations across Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal hotel.

To cut long a story short, the movie focuses on only about a single person during the 2008 26/11 Mumbai attacks. I am afraid lead character did not connect with the viewer in any way. Since the incident was of such great magnitude, the audiences naturally expect to see a lot from the movie, remain disappointed. Though the intent on the director's part is highly appreciated, the execution remains terrible. Very average screenplay, character development, lethargic acting and a very low budget spoils the movie from the 30th minute.

Overall, absolutely not a must watch, "Hotel Mumbai" -2018 & many documentaries on YouTube will give you better human stories about the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, It's worthwhile and will not waste your time.