Director- Shivam Nair.This is the second film I have seen of his.I wanted to watch this in a theatre, but didn't have enough time to do so, given how long it ran in theatres near me.The film is based on true events about a case in 2017 where a man named Tahir lured a woman to come to Pakistan for better treatment by making empty promises about her daughter being able to be treated there. He wrongfully abducted her, assaulted her and wrongfully married her against her wishes.The film shows us that a human trafficking ring was being run there. I wasn't able to find any major inaccuracies in how the events that took place in real life were portrayed, beyond some scenes that were made more dramatic. Hence, I can say that the film is largely accurate to the true events.The film should not only be viewed as a testament to Indo-Pak relations and how trustworthy the other side is, but also through the light of a woman's fight for freedom and her journey towards dealing with the evil that had befallen her.Unlike typical Bollywood masala flicks, John Abraham doesn't beat up goons with ease, instead, he is shown to never fight directly at all. This felt like a breath of much-needed fresh air.The film also doesn't paint all Pakistanis as evil people, showing us that it is not all black and white.The film is filled to the brim, leaving us no time for the events to completely sink in. This, though, makes economical use of the runtime, preventing us from feeling the stakes rising or the dread increasing as the film went on. The film is still engaging and manages to keep the viewer gripped in their seats as the events unfold.The backstory of an incident that took place in Kabul added minimal to the plot. The same was the case with the protagonist's estranged family, that is living back in India. His kid is shown to be incredibly dumb for humour that doesn't work, hearing him cut his finger on a sharpener and drinking petrol to get faster elicited no reaction from me, except that he has got one weird kid.The acting of John Abraham was too restrained throughout the film. He couldn't nail it with enough precision for it to be satisfactory. He has nailed these types of characters with inbuilt suave, such as in Race 2 and Desi Boyz, while he has also nailed a more serious role in films like Rocky Handsome and No Smoking. He has also nailed the role of an army man/ police officer in films like Batla House and Madras Cafe. I don't know if the script wasn't written well enough, the director couldn't get his best out, or John didn't work hard enough, but it is far from his best performance.The acting of Shadia Khateeb, on the other hand, was fantastic. She nailed the emotions required of her role quite well and had a sense of urgency to her, which helped the situation sink in despite the overfilled nature of the film. She played the role of a scared and helpless person quite well, and it feels natural, unlike a star kid's role in another film of this year that features a courtroom.Overall, this is a decent film which could have been much better with some breathing room and John Abraham working harder.
Director- Shivam Nair.This is the second film I have seen of his.I wanted to watch this in a theatre, but didn't have enough time to do so, given how long it ran in theatres near me.The film is based on true events about a case in 2017 where a man named Tahir lured a woman to come to Pakistan for better treatment by making empty promises about her daughter being able to be treated there. He wrongfully abducted her, assaulted her and wrongfully married her against her wishes.The film shows us that a human trafficking ring was being run there. I wasn't able to find any major inaccuracies in how the events that took place in real life were portrayed, beyond some scenes that were made more dramatic. Hence, I can say that the film is largely accurate to the true events.The film should not only be viewed as a testament to Indo-Pak relations and how trustworthy the other side is, but also through the light of a woman's fight for freedom and her journey towards dealing with the evil that had befallen her.Unlike typical Bollywood masala flicks, John Abraham doesn't beat up goons with ease, instead, he is shown to never fight directly at all. This felt like a breath of much-needed fresh air.The film also doesn't paint all Pakistanis as evil people, showing us that it is not all black and white.The film is filled to the brim, leaving us no time for the events to completely sink in. This, though, makes economical use of the runtime, preventing us from feeling the stakes rising or the dread increasing as the film went on. The film is still engaging and manages to keep the viewer gripped in their seats as the events unfold.The backstory of an incident that took place in Kabul added minimal to the plot. The same was the case with the protagonist's estranged family, that is living back in India. His kid is shown to be incredibly dumb for humour that doesn't work, hearing him cut his finger on a sharpener and drinking petrol to get faster elicited no reaction from me, except that he has got one weird kid.The acting of John Abraham was too restrained throughout the film. He couldn't nail it with enough precision for it to be satisfactory. He has nailed these types of characters with inbuilt suave, such as in Race 2 and Desi Boyz, while he has also nailed a more serious role in films like Rocky Handsome and No Smoking. He has also nailed the role of an army man/ police officer in films like Batla House and Madras Cafe. I don't know if the script wasn't written well enough, the director couldn't get his best out, or John didn't work hard enough, but it is far from his best performance.The acting of Shadia Khateeb, on the other hand, was fantastic. She nailed the emotions required of her role quite well and had a sense of urgency to her, which helped the situation sink in despite the overfilled nature of the film. She played the role of a scared and helpless person quite well, and it feels natural, unlike a star kid's role in another film of this year that features a courtroom.Overall, this is a decent film which could have been much better with some breathing room and John Abraham working harder.
