O Sacrifício

Since the success of Aamir Khan's Fanaa there has been a surge of terrorist themed Bollywood movies, (A Wednesday, New York and now Kurbaan). I've deliberately left out My Name is Khan because it wasn't about the terrorist themselves but about how the common man is affected by their actions. I remember Yash Raj's New York came out now long before Kurbaan and was a pretty big hit. Maybe that's the reason why Kurbaan went largely unnoticed. Another reason could be that it lacks the hallmarks of a Karan Johar production. In a typical Karan Johar movie there's plenty of songs and dancing. and occasionally funny in places. It's a shame really because it's far better than I expected.

Where Kurbaan excels is that it is a far more brutal movie than any of the terrorist themed Bollywood movies I've mentioned. In a typical terrorist themed Bollywood movie someone would come along and stop the bomb from exploding or the terrorist would have a sudden change of heart. In Kurbaan the bombs do actually explode and many are injured or killed. The highlight for was not any of the main leads(they were all great however) but it was Om Puri. I've never ever seen him act so serious in the movie but I suppose his role as the leader required him to do that. On a end note I would encourage fans of Bollywood to see this movie, you won't regret it.

"New York" & "Kurbaan".... seems like there was a race between the buddies Adi & KJo. The similarities are aplenty and let me not go there on a listing spree. Having accredited and acclaimed for one of the finest screenplay in "Rang De Basanti", expectations are bound to run high from Rensil D'Silva. Paradoxically in "Kurbaan" the screenplay turns out to the weakest link, owing to which the Titanic starts going down under with each passing reel. The DOP also needs to share the blame for giving it a feel of suspense thriller/ whodunit at unwarranted places.

° Saif Ali Khan: The character seems to be a direct lift from "Fanaa". He puts up a strong performance however the the fallacies in the movie overshadow his effort. The smooth talking professor/ love story did not quite gel well.

° Kareena Kapoor: "Love is blind, marriage restores sight" is an apt phrase to describe her character. Avantika appears to be either an emotional fool or fickle-minded. Poor writing indeed.

° Vivek Oberoi: Not quite there.

° Om Puri: The fundamentalist part of the character is straight lift from "Shoot on Sight". However he seems to be having a streak of poor/ impulsive planner.

° Kiron Kher: Get the diction spot on and everything good ends there.

° Nauheed Cyrusi & Dia Mirza barely had few scenes.

° Khulbushan Kharbanda's character was unwarranted.

Coming from the house of KJo music is generally one of the strong points and therefore a few songs are quite good.

There are too many coincidences/ cinematic liberties in the movie. Coming to the premise, the writing of KJo attempts to give a balanced view of both sides of the coin. Sadly the research is inadequate and can be aptly termed as school homework. The writing hardly manages to touch a layer or two at the most. The planning/ plotting/ execution - if the actual terrorists would watch "Kurbaan", they would fall of their chairs and die laughing.

Kurban pe koi mat hona Kurban. Its not that bad, you can go watch the movie and if you think its not going to be worth the money, then you can watch it in Single Screen theatres - Paisa Vasool!!

Scientific Miracles in the movie: * Scientific Miracle in the movie, even thought you cant see the bump that Kareena Kapoor is pregnant, we are able to see the ultrasonography of the child. *There is plane blast which is of course done digitally, but then we do not get to see the flying debris, anywhere in the movie. * An individual person can always remember a 10 digit mobile number, even if the person has randomly met or spoken only once on the phone. * Everyone dies in one bullet, but only the actor-hero of the movie, after 3 bullets is still alive for 15 minutes

In a few lines, Kareena Kapoor (Avantika) and Saif Ali Khan (Ishaan) are teachers. She is a professor in United States. She was here in India, cause her dad had a stroke. But later in and then flies out to the USA. Saif tags along with her. Just too realise that Saif is actually part of a terrorist group that is conspiring to blow up the city. The movie that comes to the mind is Fanaa and New York.

The movie takes its own sweet time and has its own pace. Sometimes, there is strong feeling of moving out of the theatre cause it is slow. But then, you also have the Kareena Kapoor who other than looking pretty, has not substance in her role. Her face is looking bigger or was it camera trick.

Saif Ali Khan has done a better role in the Sriram Raghavan's movie Ek Hasina Thi and of course Omkara, there he was convinced us on the playing negative characters with complete ease. He slips here. For some particular reason, Vivek Oberoi had a good acting and lived in his character, with this movie, he surely be getting some push in his career.

Lesser mortals in the movie Kirron Kher is an Afgani in the movie, her dialect an as Afgani trails away while she having the conversation. She was good in the climax scene of the movie. Om Puri was wasted in the movie, he should have had a much more impactful role. Others are not worth mentioning.

If hockey got a boost from Chak De India, don't see teaching getting a boost in this case. But for one, you don't always have hot teachers in the staff room, cuddling or couching cooing. That is something I have to still see as a student or as a teacher.

This is a good song and even the opening credits, though very long was well done!! Enjoy!!

I generally have no expectations from films that preach. Most of the films on terrorism do exactly that. More so, bollywood movies try to preach quite often, terrorism or not.

So I successfully gave-New York, Fanaa a miss without regrets.

But somehow I watched Kurbaan and it turned out to be a non-preachy good piece of art. Its a decent suspense thriller which will make the first-time-viewer think. It quickly moves from some romantic-love-story to conspiracy-theory without a preachy or sympathetic moral of the story - "its only-innocent-poor that are lured into terrorist activities." It sticks to the story and portrays the confusion of an individual who is torn between religion and his unborn child. Also a lesson for girls who fall prey very easily to romantic one-liners from guys who are very sacrificial for the girl they love. Beware of them and watch this worth-a-watch thriller.

Many films in Bollywood have tried to bring out the topic "Global Terrorism". This one does the same.The difference about Kurbaan is that this movie was directed masterfully.

There have been comparisons between Kurbaan and New York. Although the two deal with similar topic, both have a different form of approaching terrorism. Although there are a few similarities, it is not the same.

Avantika (Kareena Kapoor) teaches at the university and falls in love with colleague Ehsaan Khan (Saif Ali Khan). The two get married and shifts to New York City. Life starts normally for Avantika and Ehsaan.But not for soon. There Avantika becomes witness to some terrorist operations in her neighborhood headed by a Muslim fundamentalist (Om Puri). Soon she realizes that she is a pawn to a huge conspiracy. She secretly seeks help from a television reporter Riyaaz (Vivek Oberoi) who attempts to infiltrate the terrorist outfit to foil their big plan.

The movie initially portrays the love between the two leads swiftly changing its identity to a social film and it definitely engages the audience.

Saif Ali Khan has yet proved his skills as an actor. Through the character of Ehsaan Khan he passes a very strong message to all of us. This should easily be one of Saif Ali Khan's finest performance after Omkara.

Kareena Kapoor has certainly found the right track this time. After a box office flop(Kambakkht Ishq), Kareena has managed to bring out the best in her and has without a doubt delivered a fine performance and is a delight to watch on screen. She has managed to bring out the right emotion required, and has done justice to her role.

Vvek Oberoi has come back with a powerful performance. Just when we thought he is out of Bollywood he has proved us all wrong. An outstanding performance by him has brought him back into the "dream world" yet again. He was easily the surprise element of the film.

Rensil D'Silva makes a confident debut with his taut grip on the subject and confident direction. He is one director to look out for. Brilliant direction by Rensil has managed to grip the attention of the viewers.

Salim-Sulaiman's background score with Arabic overtones to it enhances each scene. The soundtrack is soulful with justifiably no lip-sync songs, which work efficiently in the background.

How can 1 ignore the magnificent cinematography by Hemant Chaturvedi. Every sequence was shot with brilliance and is just breathtaking.

The movie is strong in every department and would definitely manage to strike a cord with the movie viewers.

This movie is a must watch and should not be missed. Its not always you get to see such a powerful movie from Bollywood.