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Biopic Drama

SANJU

CAST: Ranbir Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Vicky Kaushal, Anushka Sharma, Manisha Koirala

DIRECTION: Rajkumar Hirani

The turbulent off-screen life of Sanjay Dutt is the fodder for the new Rajkumar Hirani film ‘Sanju’. Hirani, known for his lighthearted moral entertainers that gave us such iconic protago­nists as the lovable gangster Munna Bhai (immortalized by Sanjay Dutt), the rebel engineer Rancho and the puzzled alien PK, backtracks to explore his frequent collabo­rator’s inner world in this highly fictionalized biopic. In less than three hours, Hirani and his co-writer Abhijat Joshi selec­tively piece together the film’s plot around key moments in Dutt’s trou­bled life: his battles against drugs and alcohol, his relationship with his father Sunil Dutt and mother Nargis, and his alleged involvement in the 1990s’ terrorist attack in Mumbai. The film does not intend to make the audience sit through a docu­mentary on the actor. Instead Hirani tries everything to elicit humor and sentimentality over Dutt’s tragic and bleak life experiences.

From the trailer, it was evident that this wouldn’t be a straightfor­ward biopic, and it isn’t. It’s struc­tured as Dutt’s retelling of his past. To do that Hirani comfortably settles in to the voice-over narrative device to allow Sanjay Dutt (played effort­lessly by an in-form Ranbir Kapoor) to guide and provide a commentary on events that made him Dutt he’s today or, in his own words, “the bad choices that shaped his journey”.

An early scene has Dutt getting upset about his autobiography titled ‘Babagiri’ which compares him to Mahatma Gandhi in its opening chapter itself. “I don’t want to be portrayed as a saint,” he declares and begins assaulting the writer (Piy­ush Mishra in a cameo) and burns all the copies of the book. This scene is clearly plugged to speak on behalf of Hirani’s approach; in making a point that ‘Sanju’ is not a hagiography like ‘Babagiri’. But no matter how hard Hirani tries not to pay homage to Dutt’s legacy, his personal close­ness to his subject keeps him from honestly portraying Dutt’s persona.

Hirani is least bothered about human complexities and exagger­ates from each bad chapter in his subject’s roller-coaster life. But I don’t hold this against the director. Though Hirani is shallow on char­acter study, he makes up by adding emotional heft to the scenes. Tear­jerker moments cleverly punctuate the film, and the one that stands out is the scene when Sanju’s dying mother Nargis (Manisha Koirala), who is full of verve, tries not to let her illness loom over her son’s bud­ding career. Sanju’s close friend­ship with his loyal friend Kamlesh (played by an equally remarkable Vicky Kaushal) is also a highlight.

But the glue that holds the film is Ranbir Kapoor. Kapoor portrays Dutt with genuine boyish charm and restraint. I couldn’t imagine anyone else in that role. There’s an ease on screen while Kapoor takes us through Dutt’s journey. Kapoor’s performance goes beyond imitating Dutt’s body gestures. Kapoor in fact brings genuine empathy to the char­acter that compels you to stay with him in his moments of despair, inad­equacy, fear and low self-esteem.

‘Sanju’ might not be a no-holds-barred depiction of Sanjay Dutt’s real life. It is however bookmarked with many heartfelt as well as funny scenes that will keep Dutt’s episodic journey interesting, albeit there’s always a sense of disbelief about Hirani’s broad-brush treatment of his subject. Take it as a large-scale Bollywood version of Sanjay Dutt’s life, and ‘Sanju’ offers lots of enter­tainment value.

Who should watch it?
Though it’s a biopic about Sanjay Dutt, ‘Sanju’ shares its DNA with past Rajkumar Hirani films. It might be not that truthful in unearthing deep secrets about Dutt’s life but viewers who enjoyed Hirani’s past films would definitely find ‘Sanju’ an engaging entertainer.

Animation/Action

INCREDIBLES 2

CAST: Holly Hunter, Craig T Nelson, Bob Odenkirk, Samuel L Jackson

DIRECTION: Brad Bird

‘The Incredibles’ (2004) remains my favorite Pixar movie. The film’s biggest replay value, for me, is that it shows the day-to-day crime fighting routine of superheroes and also explores the question: “what if superheroes were to raise a family like normal peo­ple?” The film’s writer/director Brad Bird develops this central idea with the loveable husband-wife super­hero duo of Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T Nelson) and Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), who need to figure out a way to squeeze in time for their kids while saving the world. Bird’s comic approach was highly successful in bringing out a fun and lighthearted superhero film that took jabs at genre clichés and showed us the personal side of superheroes where they were put down by everyday hassles.

Now after 14 years of its release, many things have changed. The superhero movies have entirely eclipsed the market of mainstream Hollywood cinema. In the wake of ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Thor: Ragnarok’, superhero films have also come-of-age, in the sense that they are not afraid to poke fun at themselves.

So when Pixar green-lit ‘Incred­ibles 2’, Brad Bird was burdened with the same duties that are put on long-awaited sequels: to give fans of the original film a nostalgia trip and at the same time make it relevant for the new audience. After I can happily report that Bird has done an incredible job! He makes this second installment a funny and adventur­ous affair that will find the love of both the fans of the original and audiences who are new to the series.

The film opens on The Incredi­bles—Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and their three superkids—and their close ally Frozone (Samuel L Jack­son) secretly trying to stop a sophis­ticated bank robber. But their effort causes a lot of collateral damage. This in turn angers the authorities that have already banned superhe­roes. Their point being, superheroes are liable to bring more destruction than protection to their city.

The Incredibles are ordered to stick to their secret identities. But soon, a brother-sister team (Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener) pres­ents themselves as guardian angels. They propose a plan to popularize superheroes again and urge the gov­ernment to lift the ban. For this, they choose Elastigirl as the face of their movement, fighting against a face­less and shape shifting supervillain, much to the dislike of Mr. Incredible, who is now left to assume the posi­tion of a homemaker.

The sequel doesn’t let go off the parenthood theme that was at the heart of the first film. Here too, it seems that the film is secretly dis­guised as a children’s film targeted at adults. True, there are enough crowd pleasing action and slapstick set pieces to tickle young audience but the film’s emphasis on good parenting will score high among the adults as well.

Bird remains in the formulaic storytelling territory but spins out new angles on old tropes. Thus in sequences where Mr. Incredible has to be Mr. Mom, Bird adds subtle visual humor and witty remarks to keep the content funny even if we’ve seen these beats before. But the sequel’s actual achievement is its decision to gender flip the story: Elastigirl gets more screen time, donning her daredevil suit and spar­ring against villains.

This is a solid sequel to a classic and much loved film. It is a super­hero movie but nonetheless it cel­ebrates the spirit of family, parent­hood and equality. The film’s enter­tainment factor will quadruple if it’s watched with family members.

Who should watch it?

Just because it’s an animated movie, don’t think it is just for children. As Pixar films go, ‘Incredibles 2’ is cut to satisfy both adults and children. It’s accessible and enjoyable even for those who haven’t watched the first film.

Action Thriller

RACE 3

CAST: Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol

DIRECTION: Remo D’Souza

1 and half stars

‘Race 3’ has got it all. A multi-star cast, big car chases, exotic locations and explo­sive daredevil stunts. But despite all this the film still feels like a poor man’s ‘Fast and Furious’. With a below average screenplay dishing up clichés of old Bollywood masala films, and an equally incapable cast of actors who just stand stupidly and mouth eye-rolling dialogues, the third installment of the ‘Race’ series isn’t an improvement but more a parody of the previous two films. And superstar Salman Khan doesn’t come close to being India’s answer to Vin Diesel. He looks tired, as if he forgot to bring his usual charisma to the sets while shooting. The plot goes like this. Shamsher (Anil Kapoor) is a Middle East-based international arms dealer. He runs his empire like a family business, helped by his nephew Sikander (Salman Khan) and his twin chil­dren Sanjana (Daisy Shah) and Suraj (Saqib Saleem). Shamsher’s affec­tion towards Sikander creates jeal­ousy in Sanjana and Suraj, and in due course that jealousy develops into bitter animosity between them and Sikander. So they connive to use people close to Sikander, like his business associate Yash (Bobby Deol) and a shape-shifting femme fatale by the name of Jessica (Jac­queline Fernandez), to destroy him.

There’s also a B plot involving a heist where Shamsher deploys his children and Sikander to rob a hard-disk from a bank’s safety locker. The hard-disk contains something that’s valuable to Shamsher, who intends to use its contents to clear his name and go back to his native hometown, where he’s still a fugitive.

‘Race 3’ is directed by Remo D’Souza whose track record in churning out mediocre movies is unbeatable. During this decade the choreographer-turned-director has treated us with such classic duds as ‘FALTU’, ‘Any Body Can Dance’ and ‘A Flying Jatt’. With each movie he’s distanced himself far from sto­rytelling and utilized the produc­er’s money in crafting lavishly cho­reographed dance sequences and action scenes. D’Souza is a gifted choreographer, but his overindul­gence in the song-and-dance routine pulls down the entertainment value. For a film that wants us to take it as a thriller, ‘Race 3’ has too many club songs and far few roller-coaster moments. (Picture Jacqueline Fer­nandez spinning endlessly on a dance pole.)

Much money has gone into mak­ing the actors look good but there is no effort to give the characters a clear direction. This is the kind of movie where we see the rich blokes wear tight tuxedoes even in their house. They will not leave any opportunity to say that they are businessmen even if you’re not ask­ing. They spend their days in gym and nights at clubs, but are never seen doing the actual business to support their lifestyle. They are con­flicted, arrogant and easily irritated. No actor does anything remarkable. Salman Khan’s films are known for their catchy dialogues but the best that this film could come up with is, “Our business is our business, none of your business”.

‘Race 3’ is a long drag to the fin­ishing line. Even for diehard fans of Salman Khan, it’s worrisome to see their icon offering such a misfire. This is a movie that both he and his fans would surely want to forget as soon as possible.

Action Drama

KAALA

CAST: Rajinikanth, Nana Patekar, Huma Quereshi, Easwari Rao

DIRECTION: Pa. Ranjith

It’s magical to witness how the 67-year-old superstar Rajinikanth still manages to emit the same gusto and whistle-worthy swag­ger that’s been instrumental in establishing his god-like celebrity status for decades. At its best, his latest ‘Kaala’ packs in Rajinikanth’s trademark coolness and explosive action to provide staple entertain­ment for the aficionados of South Indian action cinema. But most of the time the film feels like a machinegun trying to fire magic bullets at tricky issues like caste, religion and poverty. Kaala (Rajinikanth) is a celebrated Godfather-like figure living in the slums of Mumbai’s Dharavi. The tension builds even as Kaala and the locals want nothing more than basic facilities like education, healthcare and sanitation from the govern­ment. However, his main adversary, the corrupt politician Hari (Nana Patekar), gangs up with builders and real estate agents to demol­ish the slum and put up high-rise buildings. (Sounds familiar?) The story then develops into a classic moral tale of good versus bad where Kaala inspires a mutiny among the slum dwellers against the crony cap­italist in Hari.

The storyline where one man with heroic abilities rouses an entire com­munity has been done do death in countless Hindi and South Indian films. Of many, Shankar’s ‘Nayak’ and Mahesh Babu-starrer ‘Sriman­thudu’ come to mind immediately. In Kaala, Director Pa. Ranjith cooks up the same stew but with added leftist philosophy in the mix.

Kaala is a dalit and perhaps a com­munist to boot. The blending of these attributes with Rajinikanth’s larger-than-life heroism gives the film an earthly sentimentality, some­thing unusual in a masala flick. Also there are many instances where the director playfully subverts mythical representation of good and evil. Here the good Kaala deliberately puts on black, the devil’s color, while the conniving Hari dons crisp white clothing.

But with a run time of almost three hours, Kaala loses focus from its central plot of Kaala’s political struggle several times. It moves at a tedious pace, with many side characters and plotlines. Kaala’s banter with his rebellious activist son and his flirtatious digs at his wife (Easwari Rao) are the sweetest scenes in the film. But the long flash­back and unnecessarily stretched romantic track of Kaala and his childhood ex-lover (Huma Quereshi) are unconvincing.

Rajinikanth and Nana Patekar are the film’s acting centerpiece. While Rajinikanth makes his energy felt in each frame, even in scenes where he keeps mum, Nana Patekar oozes a menacing appeal in his brooding and composed perfor­mance. In fact their one-to-one confrontational exchange of dia­logue are more fun than stylized action sequences where Rajinikanth flexes his muscles.

Kaala remains a surface level entertainer even though it harbors a deep ambition to impart a strong political message about haves and have-nots, religious and ethnic tol­erance. But Pa. Ranjith’s honest effort feel outdated and adds noth­ing unique to the social debates. His contribution can thus be taken as no more than lip service to the agenda of the poor.

As an action drama, Kaala has the typical Rajinikanth stamp. If you take the film a bit less seriously, then it will definitely whet your appetite for South Indian action cinema. But if you delve into the film’s sugar­coated political ideology then you might find it simplistic and silly.

Tragicomedy

HARI

CAST: Bipin Karki, Sunita Shrestha Thakur, Kamal Mani Nepal, Thinley Lhamo

DIRECTION: Safal KC and Pratik Gurung

4 stars ****

I’ve never used the word “Kafkaesque” to describe a Nepali feature film. But it is the only word I could find to sum up the experience of watching Safal KC and Pratik Gurung’s ‘Hari’. Just like Franz Kafka takes his mundane stories into strange and dreamy landscapes, Hari juxtaposes elements of realism and surrealism to give us a quirky and lighthearted fantasy about a man having an identity crisis. Thirty-year-old Hari (Bipin Karki) is a bachelor and a momma’s boy. His possessive and controlling mother (Sunita Thakur Shrestha) still packs him his lunch, picks what he should wear for office and makes him sit through her favorite TV seri­als. She’s indoctrinated the meek Hari to become a god-fearing vege­tarian, the kind that considers garlic and onions unholy. At work, Hari’s tormented at the hands of his junior colleagues, mostly by the mean-spir­ited Akash (Kamal Mani Nepal). They make fun of him behind his back and take advantage of his submissive nature to dodge work.

Thus Hari’s life is unhurried and ordered, stretched between office and home, and between a dominating mother and disobey­ing colleagues. Nothing happens to him out of the ordinary. Then something almost insignificant upends Hari’s sedate life, thrust­ing him into a spiral of ups and downs. He finds himself doing things that he would rather not do, from being infatuated to a girl (Thin­ley Lhamo) to taking a stand against his office bullies.

KC and Gurung belong to the new crop of Nepali filmmakers who are daring enough to introduce nuanced cinematic style in their storytelling, to subvert established narrative norms and carve out a niche that is fresh and original. At a time when our cinema is thriving on big budgeted romantic musicals and ensem­ble comedies at one end and pretentious experimental mis­fires at the other, the Kafkaesque ‘Hari’ is in the sweet spot of the world cinema that is both accessible and inoffensive.

Chintan Raj Bhandari’s cinema­tography and Sajan Thapa Magar’s production design gives the film a distinctly original look. Much work has gone into the framing and lighting of the scenes to capture an overall modernistic European art house feel.

Its visually innovative sequences are glued together with Hari’s metamorphosis and ultimate explosion. And with what brilliance Bipin Karki pulls off this charac­ter! He’s the right cut for Hari, who often seems like a long lost sib­ling of the henpecked Phanindra of ‘Jatra’. Karki makes Hari’s struggles believable even when things become hazy and otherworldly.

A true cinephile will rejoice in KC and Gurung’s effort to create the atmosphere and aesthetics we are used to seeing and admiring in films of auteur direc­tors like Wes Anderson, Terry Gil­liam and Richard Ayoade. The two Nepali directors’ approach not only pays homage to the filmmakers they love but also displays the courage to achieve a grand visual design with limited budget, small crew and not a little determination.

In that regard ‘Hari’ is a total winner. But the film will polarize audience. The story progresses without an obvious causality of events and intentionally conceals layers of ambiguity. So viewers will not get an ending that neatly ties up everything.

I don’t know if this stylistically crafted yet off-kilter comedy will rake in profit for its makers but I’m confident that ‘Hari’ is an ideal rep­resentation of the changing face of Nepali cinema. This is a movie that will age well and wouldn’t be dismissed or undervalued because of its poor theatrical run.

Horror

SUNKESARI

CAST: Reecha Sharma, Rabindra Jha, Sunny Dhakal, Lauren Lofberg

DIRECTION: Arpan Thapa

1 Star

Director Arpan Thapa and lead­ing lady Reecha Sharma would want us to believe that with their latest project ‘Sunkesari’ they have a lot at stake and that they have defied filmmakers’ reluctance to tap into the most unpopular genre in Nepali cinema: horror. But to think of ‘Sunkesari’ as a path-breaking genre piece would be a grand error of judgment. It is so dull and ineffective that it rightly earns a place in the can alongside other trashy wannabe horror films like ‘Awaran’, ‘Ek Din Ek Raat’, ‘Zhi­grana’ and ‘Vigilante 3D’. As in the aforementioned movies, ‘Sunkesari’ deploys the same textbook tech­niques of unmotivated jump scares, swinging doors, sliding blankets and heavy background scores to scare audience. But there is no convincing story to hold them all together.

The entire film is set in Austra­lia. When we first meet the titu­lar character Sunkesari (Reecha Sharma), she’s curled up in her bed, going through a bad breakup. She appears depressed, maybe slightly suicidal and utterly unsocial. Then her overtly concerned friend walks in, gives her a few minutes of pep talk and finally makes a suggestion to help her move on. And what does she suggest? That Sunkesari spends some time away at a large tourist mansion which hasn’t offi­cially opened up and where prob­ably she’d be the only guest. Good friends (unless they are sadists) would perhaps not give you such ludicrous ideas, especially not if you are emotionally unstable.

But this film stays outside the sphere of common sense and main­tains a level of brain-deadness that is hard to cover up. So Sunkesari, who actually needs to be on a 24-hour suicide watch, goes to the man­sion. There she’s welcomed by a butler, Yadav (Rabindra Jha). The only working staff of the mansion, Yadav, we’re told, is an illegal Nepali immigrant. Why anyone would trust an illegal immigrant with no work experience to run a multi-million property is never mentioned.

After that, as is typical of the haunted-house story template, Sunkesari and Yadav are tormented by creepy noises, doors that shut on their own, loud banging at night and ghostly figures. Later, a young cou­ple on honeymoon (Sunny Dhakal and Lauren Lofberg) checks in. Their arrival only aggravates the situation. Also from then on the film turns into a ham-fisted display of bad acting and direction.

There is no love and regard for the genre in Arpan Thapa’s direction. His carelessness is evident in many places but mostly while trying to balance dread and anticipation, which are the most important ingre­dients of any horror film. Devoting an entire parallel comic track on Rabindra Jha shows how desperate Thapa is to make it mainstream. But his decision misfires.

Good production design and camera work can never conceal a bad screenplay. Thapa’s writing is unfocused and sketchy. It’s strange that the investors backed such a poor story. One of those backers is Reecha Sharma herself. I last saw Sharma hamming it up in ‘Kohalpur Express’, in what I consider the worst performance of her career. She’s more bearable in ‘Sunkesari’ but her character’s shallowness and passivity limits her to dead-eyed act­ing with much sulking and staring. The rest of the cast is forgettable.

‘Sunkesari’ is an amateur horror film lacking finesse, both in terms of storytelling and technical craft. The film is a lesson for other would-be horror filmmakers to look beyond outdated model of cheap thrills and jump scares.

Action/Sci-fi

DEADPOOL 2

CAST: Ryan Reynolds, Julian Dennison, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Stefan Kapicic, Zazie Beeetz

DIRECTION: David Leitch

3 and a half stars

Since the release of the first ‘Deadpool’ movie in 2016, we’ve come to embrace Deadpool as a kick-ass superhero, not because he repeatedly creates bloody mayhems or because of his superfast healing powers. We love him for the sar­casm and meta-humor he produces by taking jabs at superhero genre clichés and American pop culture. Leading star Ryan Reynolds has become so synonymous with this character that it’s difficult to watch him in any other movie without being reminded of Deadpool. The new film in the series is directed by David Leitch, who takes over from Tim Miller. But Leitch only elaborates on Miller’s style. ‘Deadpool 2’ feels like an extension of its predecessor, as Miller strums the same chord progression of sar­casm, mayhem and randomness, and in a juicier combo.

Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) aka Deadpool is tangled in his nine-to-five masked vigilante duty fighting the city’s toughest criminals. His personal life with girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) is going great and they decide to start a family, until a personal tragedy throws Wade’s plans down the drain, turning this devil-may-care superhero into a sui­cidal freak. To shake him up, his old pal Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) welcomes him to the X-Men, as a trainee.

Then one day during duty call, Deadpool has to rescue an unsta­ble teenager mutant named Russell (Julian Dennison) but his reckless negotiation style lands him and the kid in a maximum security prison for mutants. Deadpool’s troubles multi­ply when Cable (Josh Brolin) makes an entry. To stop this time-traveling cyber-assassin, Deadpool resorts to his wacky ways to assemble his own team of avengers.

There isn’t any novelty in the sto­ryline. Haven’t we seen heroes ver­sus time-travelling assassins before? Yes we have in sci-fi flicks like ‘Ter­minator’ and ‘Looper’. This film hits the same notes. But it makes up for the pedestrian plot with a good dose of smart one-liners and gags. They are the gems of the movie and keep it enjoyable. We can’t forget that at its core ‘Deadpool 2’ is a superhero movie and it tries to be one in its elaborately long and complicated action sequences. Nevertheless, the film doesn’t carry the weight of the world on its shoulder by trying to be another Avengers, where the pro­tagonist(s) need to save their world from big calamities. Here the con­flict is at personal level and stakes are smaller.

Ryan Reynolds is the ideal Dead­pool, striking the right balance in depicting the softer side of Wade Wilson and the mischievous effec­tiveness of Deadpool. Kiwi actor Julian Dennison impresses in his first big Hollywood role. (Those who want to see more of him, I recom­mend a little known Kiwi film called ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’). Brolin delivers his Cable with astounding grumpiness. But it’s the supporting characters who are the real winners. Right from the meek taxi driver Dopinder (Karan Soni) to Domino (Zazie Beeetz) whose superpower is being lucky, all have scene-stealing presence.

I don’t know how long the ‘Dead­pool’ film series will retain its edgi­ness and genre-parodying style. But at the moment, nobody’s likely to take the spotlight away from it.

Thriller

RAAZI

CAST: Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, Jaideep Ahlawat, Rajit Kapur

DIRECTION: Meghna Gulzar 

4 STARS ****

Even with the plethora of spy-thrillers Bollywood has been churning out of late, Meghna Gulzar’s ‘Raazi’ feels dif­ferent. The smartly woven film recounts the life journey of its female protagonist, from a meek homely girl to a fearless spy. A mas­terly performance by Alia Bhatt suc­cessfully glues together the film’s moral complexities and nationalist sentiments, making it an important film to have come out of India in recent times. During the volatile times in the build-up to the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War, 20-year-old Sehmat Khan (Alia Bhatt) is plucked from her sheltered life as a student in Delhi University and made to train as an Indian spy by her father (Rajit Kapur), a sea­soned Indian spy himself with ties to a high-ranking Pakistani army official. To plant his daughter inside Pakistan, he arranges Sehmat’s mar­riage to the Pakistani army official’s youngest son Iqbal (Vicky Kaushal).

With Sehmat installed in her in-laws’ place in Pakistan, she becomes the eyes and ears of India, which wants to know if Pakistan is trying to outflank it on a crucial war-front. The task isn’t easy as we see her walk on eggshells, conniving and cajoling to scavenge just about any information on Pakistani mili­tary tactics which she can secretly pass on to her Indian superiors. And she has to do all this without blowing her cover of a naïve young wife and daughter-in-law.

‘Raazi’ is based on the novel ‘Calling Sehmat’ (2008) by former Indian military man Harinder Sikka. Gulzar and her co-writer Bhavani Iyer’s adaptation retains the broad “nothing above national interest” theme. But they are also successful in telling the story without the kind of chest-thumping patriotism that’s become the standard staple of so many Indian spy genre flicks, be it Neeraj Pandey’s ‘Baby’ or Nikhil Advani’s ‘D-Day’. In this Raazi is more of a character study than a desperate flag-waving film.

Pakistan for a change isn’t por­trayed as filled with villains. Gulzar doesn’t resort to cheap tricks like pulling a sub-plot where Sehmat gets abused by her controlling in-laws, just to massage the anti-Pakistani pathos. Vicky Kaushal, who plays Sehmat’s unsuspecting husband Iqbal, is shown to be an understand­ing partner who on the night of their wedding insists on sleeping on a separate sofa and allows his wife to settle and grow familiar with him. Sehmat and Iqbal’s relation­ship grows to such an extent that it threatens to doom her real mission.

Bhatt, who debuted in 2012 with the high school movie ‘Student of the Year’ has in recent times taken up more challenging and serious roles (most notably in ‘Udta Punjab’ and ‘Highway’), where she peels off her good looks for good acting. The character of Sehmat feels realistic in Bhatt’s subtle hands. She fascinates and has the audience rooting for her right through the nearly two-and-a-half-hour film. I can only hope her star power will help the film reach more moviegoers.

In addition to its riveting plot and characters, ‘Raazi’ also boasts of terrific period production design. Much care has gone into giving the film a vintage look and style through, often the gentle interplay of Urdu language and Kashmiri cul­ture. Similarly, the songs penned by Gulzar (Meghna Gulzar’s father) and music by Shankar-Ehsan-Loy are well-crafted and evocative.

Raazi is a film where the women have the upper hand. Steered by a capable director, with a splendid performance of its female lead, it’s a wholehearted emotional ride and a pulsating thriller. Do not miss .