HOLY PROPHET WOULD APPROVE. Review on Awarapan

At the heart of this atmospheric, dark, moody, thriller lies a treasure worth its weight in gold and its a hadith by prophet mohammed [mpbuh]which is a genuine one according to all schools of islamic thouhgt  , and there are four of them, which are followed worldwide.

*the saying is whoever frees a caged soul will be freeing the enrire humanity in eternity itself

now its a very ambitious and aspiring adventure when you try to do justice to a worthy cause like this one but pleasantly this movie succeeds despite its flaws which arent many as it delivers its message with a punch and redeems mr hashmi too.

in todays world where gitmo bays and violation of human rights by states have become acceptable and everyday occurrence we are indeed lucky to get to see bollywood come up with a relrevant message in context with the best of islamic traditions,

but this is not all as it also gives emraan hashmi who was on my worst actor list to confirm his stature as an actor in no uncertain way and do his name proud, hashmis are supposed to be the direct descendants of holy prophet himself .

the bleak moody plot is set in the neon drenched hong kong and its sleazy brothels and a struggle between two mafia hench men who are trying to control the forced prostitution and woman trade which is rampant globally from vancouver to amsterdam .

here the victim is an abducted sex slave from pakistan [played by mrinalani ]who is ashutosh ranas mistress and is struggling to seek freedom, whereas emraan as shivam is the second in command to this evil mafia man, who while away for a job asks him to keep an eye over the girl who he suspects is trying to escape his trap and this is duly confirmed by shivam, when he is asked to execute her but here begins the most appropriate dilemma in recent times in bollywood and its validated by a beautiful excuse which is a memorable love story between shivum and aliya [a muslim rajistani girl played br shreya[a breathtakingly talented and innocent beauty who totally won me over ]in a love story set as a flashback, utilizing the 70s technique of gulzars classics like aandhi and mausam, where you get to see bollywood at its best and this itself could be the topic of an entire movie in itself as a hindu muslim affair which ends in tragedy but redeems shivam as a human being and his transformation from an atheist to a believer is very convincing .

THE most memorable scene shows mr hashmi digging the grave of aliya in the graveyard at night in a frenzy to be reunited with his love, its beautifully spontaneous and extremely touching and is one of the best sequences ive ever seen in a bollywood movie.

it will be inappropriate to reveal any further plot as it deserves to be seen on screen for its ensemble performances deftly handled by the brilliant director mohit suri and beautifully scored lilting songs where mahiya stands out and the beautifully filmed punjabi song in the context of a muslim shrine[mazaar] in rajistan .

but mr hashmi is fully redeemed by his best  act yet and for that matter the best male performance by anyone so far this year in bollywood, and you need to watch every scene of his as its a pleasure to see him emote and deliver a powerhouse performance after his idiosyncracies in the past few years, you like me would forgive him for his past crimes, he neither kisses nor strips but still you are glued to the screen from start to finish but for that its equally creditable to the photographer who has created a new look for the movie in keeping with its great theme and to the director who is at helm with this memorable drama and executes every frame with a flourish .

the flaws are the narration couldve been better and smoother but then you can say that for every movie made to date and at times you think its getting repetitive particularly with the mafia going to war though its interesting throughout .

also its islamic flavour and its mystic sufi touches with the beautiful rendition of the hadith by aliya in a totally bewitching manner might be frowned upon by some members of both hindu and muslim faith as its in the  context of a love affair, despite the fact that it is depicted as purely spiritual rather then as lust or physical attraction, but there will be critics of this aspect of the movie as religion is not usually a very popular aspect in bollywood movies, even when its relevant as here.

the blood drenched ending and the plethora of characters with some superb action sequences only add to the brilliance of the script as do the two female leads who act very well for newcomers and the choreography is natural which is a novelty in todays bollywood .

Visually its enchanting as hong kong is one the most beautiful cities in asia and its captured brilliantly here whether in songs or fights or just as a background or foreground for the script in total relevance to the theme, as is the colorful rajistani city with its hilltops, temples and mosques which look exotic enough to make you exclaim loudly .in fact I would say its more technically accomplished than any other movie ive seen from bollywood this year so far, in  keeping with its theme and script, although some might find the violence disturbing though its realistic and totally needed by the demands of the scipt and storylinre .

nevertheless a totally relevant indictment of  the forced woman trade and sexual exploitation of the weaker sex captured brilliantly through the lens of a master craftsman who desrves applause though it seems the movie has not found favour at the turnstiles which is a pity for the public as its their loss not to experience this memorable expression of human bondage, with a pretext which would do the holy prophet [mpbuh] proud, as indeed it does it makers .

*ITS THE FIRST TIME EVER A BOLLYWOOD MOVIE HAS SUCEEDED IN CAPTURING THE ESSENCE OF THE ISLAMIC FAITH IN A MEANINGFUL WAY AND INTERPRETING THE HADITH CORRECTLY ITSELF, WHICH IS NO MEAN ACHIEVEMENT .

i wonder in this context why the movie couldnt be released in pakistan as was planned intially as it fully deserved to win that status and would have been widely appreciated there judging from the overseas pakistani communitys reaction to it in u.k, and the fact its vastly superior to the rest of its current competitors in quality  as well.

*a real pity but the movie is a triumph in its own right for the bhatts and their protege emraan hashmi .

congratulations to both on delivering an affective yet resounding piece of cinema, which does need to be seen by anybody interested in humanity and its violated corpse in todays corrupted world .

as I wrote this piece I received the news that the movie has opened to a resounding start in pakistan