Tejaswita

Film review-Yahan

Want to visit real Kashmir and not tourist Kashmir
then here is a sensible film The look of the film is
undoubtedly impressive and it become its USP.
Adfilm-maker turn film director debutant Shoojit
Sircar made a landmark debut by handling a touching
subject of Terrorism in Kashmir with a love story
woven into it with freshness and finesse. The
breathtaking visuals, the locations, the costumes, the
dialect, the local flavour, the action sequences, the
premise, the background, the ambience everything is
apt and it scores in all the technical deptt. All this
manages to give film a different, an authentic look.
Homework is good so is the effort. Full marks to
Cinematographer Jakob Ihre, Editor Shekhar, Art
director Keshto-Mustafa, Audio mixing engineer Ajay
Kumar. Not just that even Gulzar-Shantanu Moitra in
good form with songs such as “Poochhe jo koi meri
nishani”. It is definitely one of the best films
released so far this year but it could have been a
memorable film if it is matched equally with content.

When the plot and characters have to operate within
the parameters of commercial cinema, the narrative
falters. Thanks to weak storyline, the pace slackens
especially post-interval so much that as the film
approaches its climax, things go helter-skelter. The
result- it does not add any new dimension to the
terrorism-stuck Kashmir but again this can be argued
as it is used as a backdrop. Even love story comes out
is quite a common one, not unconventional in today
times when audience is dying to see that uncharted
territory. Hence, it does not rise above a regular
bollywood pot-boiler content wise with very little
surprises.

Now some loopholes- Why Capt. Verma (protagonist) does
not try to prove his innocence when he is implicated
in treason? When Adaa (heroine) writes to PM about her
woes and a TV channel is ready to take up her cause,
what purpose it solves towards climax is not very
clear. Adaa mentions to Aman while giving him bidis
that she overheard the conversation between him and
her Dadi, how can she do so when she must be atleast
at a distance of twenty plus feet at that time. Why
Adaa’s brother starts taking innocent lives, when
earlier he was against it, is also not covered well.
One can see only a bunch of terrorists who are
representing the Kashmir’s voice and all this looks at
Kashmir’s  problems in a very simplistic way without
going into intricacies. The characters look
uni-dimensional. The required drama and conflict
towards end is missing and so is the build up in the
love-story with the absence of those tender, warm,
magical moments. Among the actors, Jimmy Shergill has
done well whereas others are just effective.

Never mind all this, at least it provides a much
relief and required break from all that nonsense
cinema we are generally subjected to these days. Worth
a watch.