A Wednesday

An interesting title. A very interesting and well-made movie too. The plot is simple but provokes thought: a bomb threat and a demand to release four terrorists is made by an anonymous caller perched at the terrace of a high-rise in Bombay. The alert police tries to locate him and foil his attempts.

The climax has a totally unexpected twist that makes you go into the thought mode. Naseeruddin Shah was at his intimidating best and gave a power-packed performance, maintaining the thrill throughout. Overall a very good movie; the only out-of-place thing was the hacker's one-minute dialogue.

So when's that day??? When we will rise like phoenix from the ashes.......

So cutting it out to the movie........

First lets talk about the movie...... Movie per se is too good and I was moved by the very idea of the movie. As i am not checking the spoiler box, I must be brief......Though the movie is incomparable and nothing can be said without exposing the plot. Now I can easily say that Bollywood is showing some of its traits that can be compared to a Hollywood movie. The idea of the movie is among the best I have ever seen. This movie should go for Oscars not involving any kind of politics this time.

Lets see what can be said about the components of the movie, to start with we have 2 of the greatest Bollywood actor in the movie and chosen aptly for the roles. The four terrorists are chosen correctly for the role and also their getup is quite nice and appropriate. In the acting department only Deepal Shaw has shown some weakness, otherwise all the actors for big and small roles have shown their skills. Screenplay is good with too many story running simultaneously at the start of the movie. Cinematography is also fine with the scenes on the road, from the streets and all, also appreciable amount of money has been spent on it too. Background score is a bit too loud but some may find it appropriate but its not.....Editing is nice enough as the coherence is evident in the movie. Now what ..... the king of all ...... Mr Niraj, the director of the movie, he has done a great job by managing all the accoutrement on his back and using the right card at the right time.........This movie has an effect and is generally followed by a deep thinking........ "When there's a match between India and Pakistan.....and when India loses ... ESPN & STAR SPORTS are not blamed" It simply says that stop blaming the accessory, take the responsibility of failure, then only you deserve the accolades.

IT IS TRUE WHAT THEY SAY about greatness. It is always meant to be. No amount of planning or foresight or pundits with beards longer than their hands can ever truly make someone something one is not. If one is destined to be great – one is. Most times one wonders how much more one has to shout and scream so that people can take notice while other times…well, other times silences creep in so beautifully that we hardly recognize them and something breathe taking has already been created.

Before, dear reader, the assumption is made that I am off on a track quite abstract to the common man – ah, that word suddenly sounds so powerful – let me underline the topic I have chosen. I was browsing through my usual collection of review websites when I happened to get a glimpse of one interesting review. It was for a movie I had never heard of. Neither had I ever seen any publicity posters of it nor had I guessed it would feature two of my all time favorites – Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher. The fact that no one else, except maybe the highly underestimated Jimmy Shergill, was even remotely recognizable on the credit list apart from these three did not deter me from giving it a shot. Bollywood these days is being showered with 'alternate' cinema that runs a delicate line between commercial masala-fundas and the documentary type approaches. In such a rain it is easy to miss some true refreshingly different rain drops. Having shied away from such features for a while, I decided to give this a look-see since I knew Naseer and Anupam would definitely make it worth my time. With that random assumption, I began watching 'A Wednesday'.

Two hours later…I was going through a very rare feeling. I did not understand it initially since it had been such a long time but then, I knew. It was the same bunch of emotions I had felt when I had seen the climax of 'The Sixth Sense'. It was the same 'Oh wow!' feeling that had pierced my veins as the final few minutes of 'The Usual Suspects' drowned in my eyes. It was the very unique gut sense of genuine enthusiasm I had felt when I finally understood 'Momento' in its last frame.

But, this time it was different. I had never felt such a tingle in my heart for a Hindi movie in many years. Sure, I have had my share of laughs and appreciation for some decent Indian cinema over the years, but there was never anything in them that made me say to myself '…he is so right…this could happen to me too…today…tomorrow…any day…' since there was never any context. What 'A Wednesday' successfully did was pick me up from my starry eyed slumber and slap a 'REALITY CHECK' sticker on my face. It reminded me of the times we are part of. It made me wonder about my own life and how unsure things are in the world we live in. It, if not anything else, made me think.

I am sure people often sigh and yawn about movies that make them 'think' since it is exactly the opposite reason of why one would watch a movie. No one wants to see relevant issues these days. There is a huge fan following for the larger than life, escapist features which come and go every week. We Indians, the world's best consumers, lap it up in all our glee not caring about if it had anything to do with our life. Why? Since it does not matter. It never does, does it? But then how long can we keep doing this? Once in a while we do need that refreshing slap on the face that makes us realize who we really are. And what a wonderful slap this was! No better way to bring me back to reality than a movie like this one. I was applauding myself for having taken a chance and seen one of the most relevant movies of our times. A silent yet beautiful effort at capturing human emotion on the screen. To summarize in one word – great.

Do yourself a favor – watch 'A Wednesday'. A must see for every Indian according to me. If not anything else it will definitely catch you by surprise! I strongly recommend this movie to everyone who has ever sat back and said 'I wish things were different…'

There are a few movies that entertain, there are a few movies that give message and then there are a few movies that you can relate to. A Wednesday is definitely one such movie.

The story revolves around an anonymous man (Shah) who calls up the commissioner of police (Kher) and informs him about the bombs that he has placed. Bomb blast is something that I personally am scared of. It had ripped Mumbai in 1993 and then in local train and bus. Only people stood by each other. It followed thru out the country. And what can one common man do? .

The story line is fantastic. Its hard to believe that this is Neeraj Pandey's first movie and he has taken a gigantic leap without including any songs. The movie itself is only one and a half hours - half of what Bollywood movies usually are. Then he has not shown the police administration either as corrupt or the bookish kind of honest. He has probably taken the real view of police department And then the cast. Naseerudding Shah is one actor who can crawl under the skin of any character. Be it the coach in Iqbal or the pirate in The League of Extra-ordinary gentlemen. Then there is Anupam Kher whose acting abilities are still not tapped to the best by any director. These two stalwarts make-up this movie. And this movie does not have him in a stereo typical dads role. Aamir Bashir as Jay and Jimmy Shergill as Arif are just outstanding. Nothing in the movie is out of context. Well-acted, well-directed, well-scripted, well-executed.

Great Movie, Good thriller and always maintains the intensity. There is no part in the movie which gets you bored. Its full time Entertainment. The movie is short but up to the point. This is a movie where Naseerudin Shah is like a One Man Army who takes over the whole of Bombay police. I really enjoyed it. We need more movies like this. Very Creative.

Technically very correct and the movie has a lot of logic. The Direction is superb. Unlike other movies, there are no songs in the movie. The movie can be viewed by family and even teens and I think its for all type of age groups. The whole movie is like the game of chess. Its a puzzle till the end which bursts out at last releasing a shock wave across the movie theatre.