D-Day

Kal Ho Na Ho, Nikhil Advani's debut movie as a Director gave him a lot of critical acclaim. It also remains one of my favorites. However as we all know when you exceed expectations with your debut movie be it as a director or an actor the bar is set that much higher for your next assignment. With Nikhil Advani whose major forte was movies with romance and a lot of family drama unfortunately from my view point it didn't work out. Movies like Chandni Chowk To China were slammed by the critics and was a disaster at the box office. I liked Patiala House which was a shade better.

Anyway coming to the point, what I mentioned above could have colored anyone's opinion about a particular director. As usual before going for a movie when I googled to see the reviews for D-day, the ratings were mixed. However what tickled my curiousity was Nikhil Advani directing a movie about India's dreaded gangster and the most wanted terrorist who is on Interpol's Red Corner Notice. So when I went to the watch the movie D-Day, the expectations were minimal.

I reached the theatre a bit late and was cursing myself for having missed the initial 5 minutes of the movie however when I settled in my seat, I realized that thankfully I didn't miss much.

The verdict? Nikhil Advani comes up with a winner. The movie didn't have a Salman Khan or an Aamir Khan to carry the movie on their shoulders. What works for the movie is the taut screenplay, editing, script, good casting and impressive performances by lead and supporting actors. The action scenes are credible, songs are situation specific and do not act as speedbreakers.

What caught my eye was the depiction of cities in Pakistan. Take for instance Karachi, while it's anybody's guess whether Pakistan would ever give permission to shoot a movie about their special guest, I was surprised to see in the film credits that most of the scenes were shot in Gujarat.

It's the familiar story of Inter Services Intelligence (Pakistan) and Research & Analysis Wing (RAW). This has been dealt with in the recent movie Ek Tha Tiger. What makes the D-day watchable is the director's ability to narrate the story without being overtly jingoistic. The movie depicts characters across both sides of the border, good and bad. Take for instance, the RAW chief Ashwini Rao (Nasser) who has his own intra-department rivalries to tackle or the Pakistani Army General Raza(A K Raina) who is not happy with the special treatment given to Goldman (Rishi Kapoor). The opponent i.e. ISI is shown to be extremely shrewd and ready to capitalize on the mistakes made by the RAW agents. Tension builds as the movie nears the 2nd half. You're virtually on the edge of your seat agonizing whether the mission would succeed or fail. The twist in the tale is in the climax.

Personally my view is that the movie belongs to Irrfan Khan (Wali Khan) and Rishi Kapoor (Goldman). Wali Khan is the RAW agent who has made Pakistan his home for the past 9 years. The movie shows Wali Khan's vulnerability when he is torn between the affection towards his family or the loyalty towards his country. Rishi Kapoor (funnily named Goldman) reprises his baddie role after his last outing as Rauf Lala in Agneepath. His was a strong negative character in the movie Agneepath and he betters it in the movie D-day playing the dreaded gangster. I have not seen the real Dawood but Rishi Kapoor's makeup and his mannerisms make him a close match to the dreaded gangster. I liked the dialogue "trigger keech mamla mat keech" translated in English "Pull the trigger but don't stretch the matter".

Nasser who is quite popular down south plays the role of RAW chief admirably and so does his counterpart A K Raina as General Raza. Other notable performances include Arjun Rampal (Captain Rudra Pratap Singh), Huma Qureshi (Zoya Rehman), Shruti Hassan (as Suraiya the prostitute with a golden heart), Aakash Daahiya( Aslam), Shriswara (Nafisa,Wali Khan's wife) and a host of other characters. The movie is replete with references to the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, 2001 Parliament attack and the 26/11 attacks. There is also comic relief when someone whispers in the Prime Minister's ear about the call from "Madam" (an obvious reference to Congress President Sonia Gandhi) which sent the audience into peals of laughter.

Stories about Dawood Ibrahim have long been the staple of media in India and Pakistan. It's been the dream of government, law enforcement/intelligence agencies in India to get their hands on Dawood but with not so encouraging or rather dismal results. This might be wishful thinking but our government should take a leaf out of this movie and end its hunt for the elusive treasure of gold...man...aka Dawood :)

(Image courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:D-DayPoster.jpg)