Lamha : The True Story of Kashmir
*ing : Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu, Kunal Kapoor, Anupam Kher
Director : Rahul Dholakia
As Kashmir was burning (and it still does, unfortunately), Rahul Dholakia brings us a movie that promises to reveal the real truth behind the politics of Kashmir but instead only end up widening the gulf between the audience and the filmmaker. The filmmaker though fail to take a definite position here regarding the political overtures which happen in Kashmir and implicates everyone, right from the politicians, to the police, the army, the intelligence agencies in keeping the unrest alive, leaving the audience a confused lot.
Lamha thus, neither does emphasize on Kashmir’s past nor does it spotlight on its present but in fact gives a harsh picture wicked human side. The man on the mission, Sanjay Dutt (an Army Officer from the Intelligence Wing) is sent to the dodgy valley to explore the nitty-gritties of politics in the region and he eventually unearths a plot to create disorder in an already chaotic state. The story told nothing new and emerging to the known Kashmir, there were no real twists or any facts that led to the present day chaos either. Neither there were any hard-hitting statements nor any hinting evidence to the present social corruption.
In the very first viewing, one gets the impression that the film is based on real persons, though the disclaimer at the start implied otherwise. Anupam Kher's character, in the same way is modelled on Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and is the villain of the plot. Rahul Dholakia makes him side with Pakistan and reveals that he had a hand in the murder of the Bipasha's father. Bipasha Basu plays the character resembling Asiya Andrabi, who is a separatist leader who shot to fame with her burqa agitations and acid attacks. Asiya, a hard-line Islamist, has a very marginal voice in the moderate Islam that is practiced in Kashmir. Even then, her character is the centre of the whole drama. Also, by portraying her as self righteous and a woman who is victimised, the director’s objective was pretty confusing. To add further, a woman who propagated the use of burqua in the society, and went about throwing acid on lovers is ironically shown as an object of love in the movie. Kunal Kapoor's character Atif, modeled after Yasin Malik is a reformed militant and believes in elections and democracy. Character of Atif also is unconvincing and the stand he takes in the whole drama is vague.
Despite showing all the rot in the police and the army, Sanjay Dutt after unearthing the sinister designs of the separatists, shoots down a kashmiri kid in the end, saves hundreds of people and upholds the Kashmiriyat. The portrayal of the kids as human bombs has been quite gory to say the least.
If one lesson that could be learnt after watching the ‘untold story of Kashmir’, Lamha is that ‘Never go by the Trailers’ as the promos certainly made huge impact in pulling people like me to watch and witness the current problem of Kashmir. Sorry to say but Lamha was nowhere close to the attention-grabbing thriller I was expecting. It is highly predictable and lacks any suspense element. From the man who gave us the much acclaimed ‘Parzaania’, this movie has been a disappointing offer and an avoidable fare.
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