Kashmir in a Hurry

When it comes to realism, Bollywood cannot pick a side. It wants to flaunt its general knowl­edge but it also wants to go easy on the grim reality. The result? Entertainment that is seriously laughable. Kayoze Irani tries to give us a cross between Shakti and Mission Kashmir and man­ages neither. Set against the “desh ki dhadkan/heart of the nation” Kashmir, the story unravels the relationship between a young boy who has a speech disability and his stern father, Vijay Menon, who is an Army man with no sense of compassion. His wife, played by Kajol, is a seemingly helpless witness to the tense father-son relationship which worsens when a tragic accident separates them. There are the usual young men radicalised by old men who have not given up the ghost of azadi but instead of delving into that dynamic which has bedevilled Kashmir, the film is in a hurry to provide cheap thrills at the expense of building character. It is a pity because in Prithviraj and Kajol, they have two actors who are capable of doing much more than they do in this yawn of a movie. And while we know striving for authenticity is too much to ask, even a handful of Kashmiri actors in a movie about Kashmir would have shown some commitment to art.

Ibrahim Ali KhanKajolKayoze IraniPrithviraj SukumaranSarzameen