Review: Lamhaa

Originally for AOL India

 
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu, Kunal Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Mahesh Manjrekar, Vipin Sharma, Rajesh Khera, Yuri, Yashpal Sharma, Shernaz Patel 
Director: Rahul Dholakia
Producer: Bunty Walia, Jaspreet Singh Walia
Music: Mithoon
Rating: ***1/2
 
There could not have been a more ironic time to release ‘Lamhaa’. The film comes right when Kashmir is back in news for violence and shootouts. The Army is currently deployed across Srinagar under a curfew like situation after clashes between protestors and security forces. The battle between the citizens and the Army is back to forefront.  
 
Throughout the promotion of ‘Lamhaa’ everyone related to the film promised that it will bring out in the open what the Kashmiri citizens face every day. Accordingly, the tagline of the film also mentions – ‘The Untold Story of Kashmir’. And very truly it does delve right into the primary problem. But this time, unlike most other movies made on the same subject, it does not stay on a superficial level. Shot in docu-drama style, Rahul Dholakia’s ‘Lamhaa’ gives us a peek into the intricacies of the funding that anti peace movements receive. Of course it is fictionalised to suit the story line, which could have otherwise become very controversial. ‘Lamhaa’ also formulates how politicians could be benefitting from the long-drawn violence in the valley. 
 
‘Lamhaa’ starts with a brief introduction to Kashmir and the clashes of 1989 – all non-fictional account. However, soon it moves into fiction as Major Vikram (Sanjay Dutt) is introduced as a person from the Army Intelligence deployed in the valley to figure out what is the big plan that the extremist group Lashkar is coming up with. The story is about how Kashmir has just become a profit making venture for all those related parties - politicians as well as extremists. Well drawn details of how money flows are fitted into the storyline.Vikram isdeployed under the alias of Gul Mohammad. He befriends Aziza (Bipasha Basu), the adopted daughter of the most influential leader in Kashmir, Haji (Anupam Kher). Aziza is a leader in her own right and fights for women’s rights and also the freedom of Kashmir – a common goal of all Kashmiris shown in the film. The two work together to discover shocking truths behind the bomb blasts that occur every once in a while in the state. In the meantime, Aatif (Kunal Kapoor) emerges as a politician who wants to bring freedom through peace and politics. 
 
One thing in the film that might be disturbing to the rest of India is the general opinion of the Kashmiris. All of them want an independent Kashmir and that’s apparently what the director collected during his research for the movie that happened over many months. The story otherwise works very well. The first half is fast and the director opens up a lot of cans – which confuses the viewer to some extent. However, the second half ties up all loose ends. 
 
Technically, however, the film could have been much stronger. It has inconsistent camera work, at time baffling us with excessive shakes and close ups. There was absolutely no need to try going the Ram Gopal Varma way of shot taking, which was apparent in many scenes. The editing could have been crisper. There are scenes which could have very well been left out. For example a scene where two guards are shown guarding a post at the borderline in Kashmir (one of them being Vishwajit Pradhan) which leads nowhere. 
 
Performances however are noteworthy. Sanjay Dutt does a good job and so does Anupam Kher. Kher, interestingly, is a Kashmiri Pandit himself and has witnessed violence in real life too. Kunal Kapoor could have worked more on his dialogue delivery. But to his credit he has worked on the Kashmiri accent well. Bipasha didn’t seem a Kashmiri girl from any aspect – looks or accent. She could have definitely done a better job. 
 
Overall, ‘Lamhaa’ definitely is a film to be seen. However, don’t watch it for entertainment but to understand deals that happen over one’s motherland. Watch it if you have an open enough mind to accept that people who have the cleanest face could be the ones creating all the trouble too, and the enemy is not necessarily what is seen.  Interestingly, the film has already been banned in the Middle-East, without any proper reason citation. 
 
PS: Contrary to promotional claims that this is the first film to be shot in Kashmir after a long time, ‘Sikandar’ (2009) by Piyush Jha too was shot in the valley. In fact that film took the camera right into the beautiful countryside of Kashmir which most films, including ‘Lamhaa’, could not do.