Review: RAAZI

I'm Sure You Will Agree,

Raazi Is The Best Spy Films Of Our Times!

4.5 Stars

Mini Review:

How do you make a patriotic film without any bombastic

dialog and still manage to move the most cynical filmgoer

to tears? Raazi is one of the finest films to come out of

Bollywood. It is the story about a young Kashmiri girl who

marries into a Pakistani general’s family and in her own way

and at great danger to her life spies for India and practically

saves the day during the war between Pakistan and India

in 1971. It is a tale well told and brilliantly acted. Must watch!

Main Review:  

We have seen loud and bombastic Gadar where everyone wear

their patriotism on their sleeves that are rolled up to kill the enemy.

Anyone could have made a similar film with this girl spy married

off into an enemy household into a loud film where she chops

vegetables with a vengeance and proceeds to chop other family

members of the enemy general too. They could have shown her

being tied and tortured a la Van Damme. Thankfully Meghna

Gulzar does not torture the audience with a film like a typical

‘throw coins at the screen’ or ‘tear your heart and prove you are

patriotic’ type film.

She makes a film that tells the story of an ordinary girl who

chooses to put her life in danger and becomes extraordinary

without losing the audience.

The director treats everyone in the film as essential and with

respect, does not make the religious and national differences

obvious, and even when she is taking sides, does not grind the

other to the ground. The director extracts performances from

every actor so wonderfully, you come away from this spy

thriller fulfilled.

Based on a true story ‘Calling Sehmat’ written Harinder Sikka,

Raazi is the story of a 20 year old Sehmat (Alia Bhatt, truly

magnificent) who agrees to continue the work of her father

Hidayat Khan (Rajit Kapoor, very convincing), a Kashmiri who

spies for India by supplying information to Pakistan. She

agrees to undergo training and is then married off into the

family of a Pakistani General Brigadier Syed (Shishir Sharma,

brilliantly played!). The general’s sons are also in the army.

Sehmat is married to the younger son Iqbal Syed (Vicky

Kaushal, rather upright and a good foil to the delicate Sehmat),

and the older brother Mahmood (Ashwath Bhatt, wonderfully

suspicious and yet upright amy officer) is married to Munira

(Amruta Khanvilkar, rather lovely). There are also other

Pakistani generals and their wives (Why list the actors?

Because they make a wonderful family.). And not once are

you made to hate them because they are Pakistani.

The tensions between the two countries was very high, what

with East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) wanting to secede from

Pakistan and India helping their ‘Mukti Bahini’ (freedom fighters).

In this situation, it was but natural that the Pakistani army would

plot to decimate the Indian counterpart. The story is told so well,

you don’t hate the enemy at all. But there’s Sehmat, the new bride

who finds time to quietly find out what’s being discussed in the

meetings at their home and transmit the information back to India.

The situation that Sehmat finds herself in escalates very rapidly

and we are afraid for her, we don’t want to see her die. We begin

to root for her ingenuity and gentleness.

On the Indian side, Jaideep Ahlawat is great as the trainer to

Sehmat’s spy. The Indian spies in Pakistan (who, alas have

small roles are not credited anywhere online, but are brilliant) are

the rickshaw chap, the flower seller and the grocery shop man.

Roles you would not consider important, but are well acted.

Sehemat’s mother Teji (Soni Razdan) does not have to say

much, but conveys a lot.

The wedding is delicious and we learn to appreciate everyone in

the family. The gentleness is conveyed in her relationship with

her husband Iqbal so beautifully we forget for a while that she’s

a spy. The sweet romance between the two of them is something

you cannot miss. And he’s not shown to be some sex-crazed

monster simply because he’s the enemy.

Alia Bhatt has proven herself in Udta Punjab but here, she’s not

just innocent, but spectacularly beautiful (her dress designer

should take a bow for making lace edgings of her salwaar

kameez and her gorgeous dupattas and the color palette

stunning). And she can act (understatement of the year). She

leaves everyone in the Bollywood pantheon way behind.

Yes, this could have been a five star movie, except that there

are some obvious ploys that could not but be a part of the film.

Sehmat’s training is predictable as in any underdog training to

be hero film. Then there’s the suspicious servant Abdul (played

by Arif Zakaria) whose actions are predictable. And just to

nitpick, Sehmat’s last emotional outburst has been added to

show off her acting talent. Was just not necessary.

But the film remains an amazing tribute to all the people who

sacrificed their lives without needing any kind of acknowledge-

ment. The film is patriotic, but amazingly so. And the story just

seeps into your bones - just like the Mere Watan song - and

stays with you long after the movie is over.

(this review appears on nowrunning dot com)