What is it all about?
Ram Gopal Varma wishes to bounce back and how.. riding on the horror of India's worst nightmare the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai the once prolific filmmaker shows the extent of his desperation to be still considered as a genuine filmmaker succeeds in cashing on the incident for its `trades' but fails to provide any hard facts or make any cinematic statement as a filmmaker ..
Cashing on the horror appeal of the 26/11 and designed to refill the emotions of that nightmare RGV's `The Attacks of 26/11' is intermittently effective in its depiction and build up of the terror and the barbaric killings rather than the helplessness of the state, the judiciary, the system, the spirit of Mumbai...the sleeper cells, the Pak involvement.. the reactions etc..
Even thinking of making a film on 26/11 is daring.. RGV dares but doesn,t care..
The Story
Ignoring RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) in its `raw' approach the movie opens with Nana Patekar playing the Joint Commissioner of Police answering to the inquiry committee and narrating the incident on the first day of the 26/11 attacks, concentrating mainly on the attacks and arrest of Kasab, Rommel Rodrigues screenplay is guilty for not taking it much forward or beyond. Ignoring layers and adding any cinematic statements.. like the triumph of the NSD for screen, the reactions, the political angle, terrorism as a whole, doesn,t pin point any unknown facts and hurries for a final execution of Kasab (which in all possibility must have been added after the sudden decision of the government to hang him).
What to look out for
Technically RGV this time is in no mood to experiment and sticks to basics while filming.. this is the major silver lining in this RGV's cloud of terror on screen. No experiments with the camera and its angles sticking to what is required and giving a stark cinematic footage of the horror which is shocking with a big S.
Cinematographer Harshraj Shroff and M. Ravichandran do a splendid job in shooting the scenes on actual locations, the action by Javed-Aejaz is superb, background score by Amar Mohile adds more to your heart beats editing by Sunil M. Wadhwani and Ajit M. Nair is sharp.
Nana Patekar is terrific, Sanjeev Jaiswal as Kasab succeeds in making the audience hate him whenever he comes on screen.
What not
Apart from RGV it still needs to be understood for whom is this movie made.. those who escaped, those who lost their dear ones or those who condemn the incident any of them may find it difficult to `pay' for this tribute which only ends up acting as a refill of those horror filed emotions.
Conclusion: The Attacks of 26/11 is daring as a subject where RGV in his `extremist' `narrow' approach has missed the tremendous opportunity to carry it as a powerful cinematic statement on screen.
Rating **
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