Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey

It may be not a good movie or i would say justice was not done with the production but somehow it made me to write few words for this. Why? The question is simple as well as the answer. I am always a fan of all these freedom fighters who always kept the spark. Many people consider Ghandi and Jinnah for the Indo-pak freedom but i whole heartedly believe it were the people like Surey sen, whom ideas were the main cause of todays free India and Pakistan. The list is full of heroes, whom we are proud today. Being a Pakistani i always have a great respect for all those great freedom fighters because of whom we are enjoying the independence today. Bhagat Singh, Surya sen, Bakht Khan, Mangal panday are all portrayed beautifully in the movies.

Yet an unsung hero is still to show up on a big screen, The brave Pathan freedom fighter Sher Ali Afridi who killed the Indian viceroy, Lord Miyo. This was the only unique case of killing a viceroy on Indian soil. I wish if his life story is taken in a movie depiction.

Over all the movie gives you a good feel of that times freedom struggle. I still recommend the movie as its watchable and touchy.

People r complaining about the length of the movie.....movie being bore.....what they expected from this movie???? a 90 minutes fast paced brainless comedy.....as far as i m concerned i expected a engaging,gripping depiction of a true story about a incident in history of independence of India which is not very well known to most of the public....and i was not disappointed.... In fact movies of this genre are meant to be made in this way....they take there time to narrate various incidents.Various Hollywood movies like Schindlers List, The pianist etc were the movies of same genre telling the true stories from the history and there running time was more than KHJJS and they are regarded as all time masterpieces in west but unfortunately the same type of effort in our country will be stated as lame and boring. This a must watch movie for all the cine goers who prefer meaningful,informative and gripping cinema..... 8.5/10

This movie is definitely an eye opener for those who think that Bollywood is the place of brainless comedies , over hyped romances & sensationalized media exposure , because this movie opens our eyes to a struggle never heard before.

I myself have heard about Surya Sen's freedom struggle , only in class VIIIth standard , when I decided to go deep into it . Through Internet , I heard about this struggle being converted into a great film , "Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey." It's another masterpiece of Ashutosh sir , but sadly in India , we don't have creativity & the readiness to accept change & like , Swades , a great masterpiece of India , is ignored by all .

What is the similarity between "The King's Speech" & this movie ? Both were based on historical events. While the former was based on the battle of King George VIth with his speech problem , the latter was based on the Great Chittagong Armory Raid in 1930 , but both the films had different fates.

While King ruled the Oscars , Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey failed to ring the cash registers at the box office. But leaving the negativities of Bollywood , a supreme hats off to Ashutosh sir !!

While watching 'Khelein hum jee jaan sey' I felt Gowariker has not gonebeyond that book and neither done further research or took extra efforts to explore central characters like Surjit Sen and Kauolpana* Dutta at their personal level. Director had a lot of scope for that, for example, Surjya Sen was married and he is suffering from guilt that he is responsible for his wife's death or he was in jail before the revolution. Raoul Randolf and Gowariker could explore the character on these facts so that it could made primary conflict more strong. There are too many characters in the film; these characters are not properly defined .Madhur Bhandarkar who always manages to build many characters in his films like Page3, Corporate, Traffic signal and Fashion. I haven't read the book and I believed that one should never compare a book and cinema which is based on the book, both are very different experiences.

Gowariker had a chance to capitalise innocence of teenager against brutal fight for freedom, he succeed in one or two scenes but that was not enough.scenes where teenagers didn't know meaning of 'Vande Materam' and interview sessions between freedom fighters and teenagers.Narration is done by two different persons if one of the teenager could used for it then it would make an impact.

I remembered in 'Rang De basanti' where Binod Pradhan used Sepia tone to recreate old time, they wanted to distinguish two different time periods which is also possible in 'Khelein...." because 'Khelein....' happened within substantial time period. They could use non linear way of storytelling and built two different time period. One time period could be about how they execute the plan and other time period could be about how they sacrifice their lives and made major influence on freedom movement. David fincher has done this in 'The Social Network'.

Second half of the film is all about British hunts down all freedom fighters where it lacks drama element, British wanted to capture them dead or alive but later in the film suddenly British wanted to capture them alive and this question remained unanswered.

The film could ends with scenes like how Chittagong's revolution made positive impact on freedom movement, they concluded whole story in single note.

Ashutosh Gowariker is a talented Storyteller. His Oscar-Nominated Epic-Hit 'Lagaan' was amongst the best films of it's time, 'Swades' was a touching film, that has now become a cult-classic. 'Jodhaa Akbar' was another milestone he churned out. 'What's Your Raashee?', however was a letdown.

'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey', also isn't Gowariker, at his best. This period piece/patriotic has a strong first hour, but a long & weak second hour, spoil it's impact.

Based on the Chittagong Uprising of 1930, 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey' tells the story of Surjya Sen, a prominent Bengali freedom fighter, an Indian independence activist and the chief architect of anti-British freedom movement in Chittagong, Bengal, who, with his people created a revolution, that eventually let India get independence.

As mentioned, the first hour is absolutely terrific. The entire build-up to the revolution keeps you at the grip. But, the second hour plays a spoilsport. Also, the excessive running-time of over 3 hours, needed some trimming. Even the climax for that matter, doesn't leave the desired impact.

Ashutosh Gowariker knows his job, and he has proved his caliber as a filmmaker time and again. He directs each frame with the accurate detail, but the weak writing in the second hour, pulls him down. Cinematography is outstanding! Editing needed to be sharper. Music by Sohail Sen is passable.

Performance-Wise: Abhishek is efficient as Surjya Sen. Deepika Padukone does an okay job. Sikander Kher is fair, while Vishakha Singh is sincere. Mahinder Singh is good. Shreyas Pandit is flawless. Others lend good support.

On the whole, A One-Time Watch, that could've been much more, if it had a better second hour.