Sikandar

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 21st August, ‘09
Time : 110 minutes
Director & Writer : Piyush Jha; Music : Justin-Uday, Sandesh-Shandilya (one song by Shankar Ehsan Loy)
Starring : Parzaan Dastur, Ayesha Kapoor, Sanjay Suri, Madhavan, Arunoday Singh
What I liked about this film is that despite being about Kashmir, the story didn’t follow either the beaten or the expected path. Its not about jihadi’s vs the army. Its not about Islam. Its not about moralising or preaching or delivering a message. Its just a simple story, which has interesting twists and turns, that several times catch you by surprise.


However, what didn’t work was the pace of the film, which was slightly on the slower side, leading to large portions where you literally are willing the movie to get on with it, and parts where you wish you had a FF button to things move forward. The Good thing here, I guess, is that we had characters who were built well enough for us to care about what happens to them, but you wish it all happened a little quicker. I thought the acting was ordinary, apart from the central characters, Sanjay Suri and Madhavan, who did their jobs well. And the surprising thing for a movie set in Kashmir was that there were very few ‘wow’ shots as far as the scenery went…


What we have is a simple story about a boy, a wannabe footballer, who finds a gun lying in the valley and then finds life turned upside down – caught in the middle between the Jehadi’s, the army and a girl he has befriended. The film does make you wish that children could be spared the horrors that adults bring upon them…and for that subtle provocation alone, its worth the 6 points…

Bas Ek Pal

Rating : 3/10
Running Time : 142 Minutes
Release Date : September ‘06
Director & co-writer : Onir; Writer : Irene Dhar Malik; Music : Vivek Philip & Mithoon
Starring : Juhi Chawla, Urmila Matondkar, Sanjay Suri, Jimmy Shergill, Rehaan Engineer

If the director wanted to show that one moment can irrevocably change your life, he could’ve chosen other better ways to show it. Sanjay Suri, fresh back from an MBA in Boston, meets up with childhood friend Jimmy. As he pursues a ‘mystery’ woman, Urmilla, a scuffle ensues between Sanjay, Jimmy, Urmilla’s date and Jimmy’s business partner (Rehaan). A shot gets fired. Jimmy is a wheelchair cripple for life. Sanjay spends three years in jail where all sorts of bad things happen to him. Rehaan’s wife, Juhi, bails him out. Urmilla is now about to get married to Jimmy. Sanjay can’t get her out of his mind. And Rehaan is an abusive, suspicious, wife-hitting man who now suspects Juhi of having an affair with Sanjay.

The conversation is nice and realistic, especially in the beginning, before the madness begins. The film gets darker and more morbid as time progresses and makes for painful watching. The only relief comes from the song ‘Tere Bin’ and some good performances from Urmilla, Juhi and Sanjay. But you don’t understand any of the five principal characters in the film – each one seeming more psychotic than the other.

They could have also called the film ‘Lets see who lives’ or ‘How much craziness can people put up with’. This one leaves a bad taste in the mouth and it took me two sittings to be able to go through this one.