STARRING

Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Kirron Kher, Om Puri, Rupinder Nagra, Dia Mirza and others.

DIRECTION

Rensil D’silva

STORY

The plot of the flick is set in the bustling city of New York, USA. Avantika(Kareena Kapoor) teaches at a university, but has come to India to visit her ailing father(Akash Khurana). Though Avantika is in Delhi to care for her father who just had a heart attack, it does not prevent her from falling in love with a handsome guy in Delhi.

The character of handsome guy, Ehshaan Khan, is played by Saif Ali Khan. Ehshaan is an Islamic scholar and teaches at a Delhi University college in a temporary status for the time being. Ehshaan and Avantika start liking and then dating each other.

However, Avantika is unaware of Ehshaan Khan’s past life that he was a Pakistani and had lost his wife and children in the circumstances that made him bitter. His leanings towards terroroism also comes from that fact.

Time passes fast and Avantika gets a call from her University at New York to return and resume her duties for the fall semester. When Ehshaan Khan comes to know of all this, he expresses his desire to go to the US with her and find a job.

However, there is a catch. Ehshaan Khan wants to marry Avantika before going to the USA. Avantika, who did not know anything about Ehshaan’s hidden intentions, agrees to his proposal and they get married.

Later they move to the US with bag and baggage. The lovely couple buys a house in the Indian neighborhood. Meanwhile, Anjum and Hamid, who reside in their neighborhood, invite them for dinner.

However, the next day Avantika finds Salma(Nauheed Cyrusi) on her door, who had come to gift some sweets. But, Salma refuses to come inside and tells Avantika to help her as she was in grave danger.

Salma also confides in Avantika that everybody was deceptive and the situation is not the same which it seems from the outside. Salma tells Avantika to be careful as nobody could be trusted and she was already entangled in a web of conspiracy and terror.

What happens to Avantika and how she comes out of this hellish situation, forms the rest of the flick.

PERFORMANCE

Saif Ali Khan, who plays the lead character of Ehshaan Khan in the flick, has successfully enacted the grey character on celluloid. He has superbly enabled the director to delve deep in the psyche of a terrorist. Every shade of his character has been depicted by Saif Ali Khan with a Midas touch.

Saif Ali Khan has proved with his serious acting in this flick that he is now ready to compete with the other three big Khans—Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan—as far as histrionics go. His style of underplaying the character of Ehshaan Khan has made the role come out very strongly.

Kareena Kapoor, who plays the part of Avantika and a sweetheart to real life beau Saif Ali Khan, has come out with an award winning performance. After wedding, when Bebo goes to the US, her depiction of emotional sequences is just superb.

The frustration and the helplessness of the character of Avantika have come alive on screen with livewire performance from Kareena Kapoor. She not only looks gorgeous but enacts her complex character with consummate ease.

Vivek Oberoi(Riyaaz, an undercover journalist), who gets a chance to show his acting prowess in a big film like ‘Kurbaan’ after a long time, has fully utilized the opportunity and come out a winner. Vivek has definitely matured with time and has shown his detractors that he is still a force to reckon with as far as enacting complex characters on screen goes.

His character of an undercover journalist is opposite to Saif Ali Khan. While Saif Ali Khan’s character is hell-bent on bombing America for the reasons of his personal tragedy, Vivek vows to safe the US for the opposite reasons. There is truth in both the characters and this has been displayed ably on celluloid.

In all likelihood, Vivek Oberoi joining the Shah Rukh Khan (and Karan Johar) camp with this flick (after he was thrashed by Salman Khan group) may prove to be his master stroke. His character in the flick is such well- written that it might be re- birth for Vivek in the industry.

Om Puri(head of Afghan refugee extended family) and Kirron Kher( suicide bomber), as usual, have shown their super acting skills in the flick. Kirron Kher’s part in the climax sequence is praiseworthy and will be applauded by one and all. Similarly, Nauheed Cyrusi, who enacted the part of Salma, is good in her brief role. Dia Mirza, too, passes the muster. Others lend able support to the main cast of the flick.

The direction of Rensil D’silva is top notch. The director has superbly handled the two threads of the story—one love story between Saif and Kareena and other that of terrorism. By introducing twists and turns in the flick every fifteen minutes, the director is able to hold the attention of audiences.

The best part is that Rensil D’silva never tries to preach on the serious topic of terrorism. On the other hand, his endeavor seems to be delving deep in the psyche of a terrorist and this fact might endear his venture to intelligentsia.

Rensil has handled the final sequence of around thirty five minutes with consummate artistry and this part makes the soul of the flick. This last thirty to thirty five minutes part, which has been shot at tube stations in Europe and America, takes the movie a notch higher than others of the same variety.

The music by Salim-Sulaiman gels well with the theme of the flick. ‘Shukran Allaha’ and ‘Ali Maula’ tracks have already become popular with the audiences. The cinematography by Hemant Chaturvedi is top notch and compares favorably with any international project. Anurag Kashyap and Niranjan Iyengar dialogues add value to the film.

STARDUST VERDICT

The love sequences between Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor have already generated unprecedented hysteria in favor of the flick and should help it at the box office. However, the lack of usual masala associated with Karan Johar’s films and a serious topic like terrorism may make the flick more favorite with intelligentsia than with the hoi polloi, who go to theatres for paisa vasool experience. A good fare.