MOVIE REVIEW: AAMIR

My very first blog , and starting it with the thing i love doing the most: writing film reviews

'Aamir'. I guess this is some sort of a magic word in the world of Indian cinema. Whichever movie this word is associated with, the movie guarantees top quality.

It's time to take your hats off and applaud a masterpiece of a debut by writer and director, Rajkumar Gupta, and the lead actor, Rajeev Khandelwal. Aamir is, by far, the best film to come out in 2008.

Hindi cinema is going through a revolution of sorts. New-age filmmakers, with fresh,gripping story lines and tight storytelling techniques are coming to the fore. The trend, sparked by filmmakers like Ashutosh Gowariker, Farhan Akhtar and Vishal Bharadwaj, is spreading like wild-fire, and has proven that, Indian cinema is much more than 7 songs, 3 emotional , 2 romantic, and 4 fight scenes. No surprises, therefore, that Indian cinema is being noticed internationally.

Coming back to the film, Aamir tells the story of Aamir Ali(Rajeev Khandelwal), a doctor, coming home to Mumbai, from London, to meet his family. How a supposedly harmless mobile phone, leads to a nightmare of a lifetime for Aamir, as he waddles through the unglamorous, shady bylanes of Mumbai, forms the rest of the story.

The film should not be considered art-house or 'boring' cinema: technically, the film is very slick. Its a thriller which does keep you at the edge of your seats. The editing, which has to be perfect for this genre, is brilliant. Camera-work is top-notch, and the power of the slow-motion camera work is shown brilliantly to convey the tension. There are no songs or love angles in the film, and that's a relief; the impact would have been nulled by the presence of even one song, out of place.

Very rarely does one come across a film, where the Hero is the Script. When the script is the hero and the technique is the heroine, the film is a winner. Then even the most filthy of places look better than the landscapes of Switzerland and the most common of faces have more charisma than Amitabh Bachhan. A case in point is the Colin Farell starrer Phonebooth. But note that Aamir is not by any stretch of the imagination, a copy of Phonebooth. The only thing common is a helpless man caught with a telephone in his hands, that is it.

Aamir is a film which addresses a topic of today, which has been viewed with a one-dimensional perspective by the majority. Rajkumar Gupta, presents another dimension, his own interpretation and his own opinion on the issue. The film shocks you. No one, at least your's truly, would have ever thought of viewing the issue from the perspective of the writer, and this is where lies the success of the writer. Right from the first few scenes, where Aamir Ali's baggage is checked, to the last scene, the writer compels you to think. Kudos to Rajkumar Gupta for daring to tread the path less traveled, and also proving the fact that it is easy to produce hit films but very difficult to produce good films. BRILLIANT!!

Rajeev Khandelwal, a well-known face on TV, demonstrates his intelligence and knowledge of his art with Aamir. When every other TV actor is desperate to get that elusive film role, and pouncing on the very first offer, regardless of the story, the director, the team and the production house involved, ending up making a fool out of himself on 70 mm ( Amarr Upadhyay and Aman Verma being cases in point), Khandelwal shows good thinking. Moreover, when every debutant today is expected to be a Hrithik Roshan: good looking, ribbed body, excellent dancer and a decent actor, here comes an ACTOR, who doesn't aspire to become an overnight sensation. He follows the Irrfan Khan-KK-Vinay Pathak-Ranvir Sheorey school of acting, giving a solid performance rather than showing off his charisma on-screen. He comes across totally believable: he is as normal as you and me, he feels puzzled when he is made run across Mumbai, feels angry,desperate, frustrated, helpless and surrenders at the end. A SCINTILLATING DEBUT!!

Overall, I have just 2 words for this film : FABULOUS and EYE-OPENER!!!! A Must-watch for anyone who loves quality cinema.

My Rating: ****







* : kabaad!!
** : theek theek
*** : acchi film hai!
**** : phaad!!!
*****: dharti-phod!!