Jul 20, 2018 11:04 AM
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They often say India lacks in making good, solid stories centred around spies. In the past we've had stuff like Agent Vinod, Phantom, Ek tha Tiger and the likes, but apart from an occasional Baby, it has been a rather mediocre turn for desi cinema.
Well, Raazi begs to differ!
The story of a Kashmiri girl, Sehmat, who is a Delhi University student in the early 1970s, the film begins at the onset of the Indo-Pak war of 1971. Much to her dismay but eventual consent, Sehmat is married off to the son of a Brigadier in the Pakistani army to spy on their activities and relay information. She is trained by the stoic and cold Khalid Mir(Jaideep Ahlawat) on hand to hand combat, morse code training and shooting. She soons earns the trust of her loving husband and in-laws as a sweet, young bride. She is, however, averse to killing and violence, and finds herself succumbing to guilt and regret whenever she finds herself perpetrating acts of betrayal.
One thing that I found deeply interesting about the film is its casting choice. Dharma Productions probably wanted a current generation star with deep footing in the commercial space who could act decently well, and Alia fits the bill nicely. However, her vulnerability to the situations is a natural one, and as someone who has been doing urban/romantic films more than anything else she has been in, her being "out of place" in a terrain far removed from her privileged background is recognizable and fits the mood of the film well. Her introduction scene, where she picks up a squirrel and saves it from coming under a vehicle, gives a nice peek into her empathetic, sweet nature. And when she finds herself in a web of double cross, deceit and lies, she is as shockingly uncomfortable as us. To put her point in perspective, what's this world that she doesn't recognize?
Raazi to its credit doesn't at any point drag or overstays its welcome. It is a nicely penned screenplay which hooks its viewers from start to finish. It is a fine commercial achievement too. But it deserved to be elevated at the level of a masterpiece given the subject and the point it gets across. It could have been a deeply layered one. And instead of the show, don't tell process, it prefers to underline and spell out the protagonist's dilemmas from time to time. Emotions are instantly displayed, and subtlety as a great cinematic trait isn't utilized. However, that can be excused as this is the right way to approach a subject in a commercial way to appeal to a pan Indian audience. And the results, as we can see from its box office collections, have paid off handsomely.
Alia fits her part well, and she does well as the naive, patriotic and dutiful daughter who is in the centre of the muck. However, its most of the supporting cast that walks away with the homours and give the film its true character. The scene stealer is Jaideep Ahlawat as the no-nonsense RAW agent who trains Sehmat. His truer intentions and nature is masked behind a character who has uninhibitedly learned to place the interests of the nation above everything else.
Meghana Gulzar'd direction is somewhat controlled here, probably to fit the demands of the producers to make a tight film. She doesn't really set herself loose here. In that respect, Talvar remains the honest and better work. Raazi, however, deserves to be seen, at least once for some brilliant moments and acting on display
