A respected-looking middle-aged bespectacled gentleman (Naseeruddin Shah) coolly sitting on a terrace of an under-construction building and issuing a serial bomb-threat over his laptop-mobile network is far removed from the typical Bollywoodish terrorist image. But that’s what gives this film its realistic edge. With Mumbai’s Police Commissioner (Anupam Kher) setting up a quick action team to diffuse this threat; only four hours remain between the threat and its culmination. How will it all end?

Aamir

Dir: Raj Kumar Gupta

Dr. Aamir Ali (Rajeev Khandelwal) is returning from UK to India for good. Even after being needlessly harassed at the airport, he walks out in high spirits, eager to meet his family after a long time. But fate has something else in store for him. His family has been kidnapped and a series of cryptic telephonic messages send him scurrying all over Mumbai’s dark dingy by-lanes. With a religious appeal thrown in as emotional bait, the ruthless kidnapper and his equally heartless cronies want Aamir to carry out their diabolical mission. What will he do?

Film Review:

In terms of structure, both films depict a short passage of time- almost trying to capture the minute-by-minute drama. Both these films can be essentially classified as an engaging duel between one central protagonist and his antagonist, who almost never meet face to face but carry their conversations on telephone.

If A Wednesday relies on the caustic, quick-witted chemistry between Nasseruddin and Anupam Kher- the two acting heavyweights standing toe to toe, going for each other’s throat, then Aamir goes for even more terrifying and thoroughly believable muted interaction between debutante Rajeev Khandelwal portraying a confused, vulnerable victim and his menacing terrorist nemesis (whose face remains in a dark shadow throughout the film!) who keeps teasing and tormenting him!

Wednesday more seems like a well-made and nicely understated cross between a loud, stereotypical Bollywood drama and a stylish, subtle Hollywood thriller. The peripheral characters (Aamir Bashir as the sincere serious policeman, Jimmy Shergill as the Dirty Harry-cum-Mad Max cop, Deepal Shaw as a success-and-news-hungry TV reporter) here are effective but predictable. The pace of the movie and the course of events- are both impressively handled but the twists and turns in the plot won’t be too difficult to guess if you have been following Hollywood thrillers regularly. But the film’s real strength is when Naseeruddin Shah starts to explain who he is and why he is doing what he is doing! Those five electrifying minutes are invested with a sincere sensitivity and a scorching emotional intensity to match! Those five minutes lift the level of this film from ‘Good’ to ‘Excellent’!

 Cinematically Aamir rises even higher and can be well considered as one of the year’s very best films. The relentless pace, palpable tension, totally believable characters, unpredictability of events, haunting soundtrack, impressive camera-work and a shocking raw portrayal of Mumbai’s underbelly-- everything adds up almost perfectly. The expressive symbolism- (Like the striking images of the gangster playing with a small child or a toy-monkey while speaking to Aamir or like the butcher mechanically cutting meat while Aamir is walking into the underworld!) is another thing that strikes you.

I think that both the films could have been shortened by 10-15 minutes by reducing lengths of some long and repetitive sequences. But still even in their current avatars, both the films not only successfully manage to show the rapidly changing and constantly evolving face of terrorism but they also give a strong and non-preachy message against it.

Both films make the cut as worthy showcases for the so-called Neo-Bollywood, which is slowly but surely moving in the direction of making meaningful and realistic yet entertaining and commercially viable films that can be appreciated not only by so-called intellectual ‘classes’ but can also be enjoyed by mainstream ‘masses’!