Review: SARGOSHIYAN

Title Means 'Whispers' But Is So Loud It Could Cause Avalanches In The Himalayas.

1.5 stars

Mini Review:

A photographer and his grouchy friend land up for a calendar shoot in Kashmir, and meet a chatty guide and a woman who’s doing research on Kashmir. This journey changes their point of view about life. It is shot in beautiful Kashmir, but since the filmmakers want to say so much, everything seems to be crammed, and loud… unlike the meaning of the title which means ‘whispers’.

Main Review:

Indraneil Sengupta plays Vikram Roy, a photographer who needs this calendar shoot job. His wife is nasty to him and spends all the money shopping. He agrees to do the shoot: his plan is to go to beautiful spots and just take easy pictures. His grouchy, unhappy friend Aryan Raina (played by a ready-to-cry Hasan Zaidi) accompanies him. The bank sponsoring the shoot, gives them a brief: the photographs should show the soul of Kashmir. Imran Khan, the director of the film, plays Imran Dar, their guide. They bump into Sheena Oberoi (played by Sara Khan) who seems to be a free spirit, who is happy to join this group, because she is doing research on Kashmir.   

So far so good. And the first view of Kashmir is stunningly beautiful too. But with the background music and visuals edited to the beat, you see quick cuts and there is barely any time to breathe in the scenery, the beauty. Then comes the dialog. Not just the fresh to cinema actors, but even veterans like Tom Alter (a world renowned photographer who gets a chance to show off his Urdu) just shout out their dialog. Imagine gentle Bollywood father figure Alok Nath (who plays Pandit Raina, Aryan’s long lost grandpa), shouting out why Kashmir is where his memories are and he will not leave but stay amongst his Muslim village brothers. Sheena Oberoi prances about chirpily like a giggly, loud ten year old, and of course there is a romantic angle attached with the photographer which is so unnecessary.

As the four travel, they meet Rahima Bee played by Farida Jalal (add a story of missing people in Kashmir), tea shop lad (Kashmiri kids want to be schooled, are generous to their siblings and are not all stone pelters), the Pathan travel guide to the hidden lakes (there’s more to Kashmir than army and bullets) has a child who is unwell (Shahbaz Khan plays Hamza Gujjar who is so menacing, you think they’re going to introduce a free Kashmir thread to the narrative), and the orphan Alok Nath has adopted. Lots of illogical things like social media being used to help the ill child add more to the story. The meeting of Aryan and his grandfather seems to be so made for TV. Unfortunately everything is so crammed, nothing really touches your heart. And the photographs on the calendar are shown to be so tiny, the whole effort seems to be needless.

(this review appears on nowrunning dot com)