RAAZI (2018)
Directed by : Meghana Gulzar
Very rarely in Bollywood do you get to watch a sensitive yet path breaking movie like Raazi which is directed by Meghana Gulzar who had earlier impressed with the unbiased presentation of Talwar (2015).
Raazi chronicles the eventful and inspiring journey of a twenty something Indian Kashmiri girl Sehmat ( Alia Bhatt) who is studying in college and is suddenly summoned by her father (Rajit Kapur) to take up the huge responsibility of turning into a spy who would transfer sensitive and confidential information from Pakistan to India (the story is set up during the 1971 war). She is married off to a Pakistani man Iqbal (Vicky Kaushal) who belongs to a highly influential family in Rawalpindi headed by his father (Shishir Sharma) who is also heading the armed forces.
The director has indeed done a splendid job of holding on viewers interest in the on screen proceedings. The story which is apparently based on a true life event looks dramatic rather than realistic yet a taut screenplay and crisp editing do wonders. The tension filled camaraderie between the heroine and the senior Servant (Arif Zachariah) is dealt with a lot of finesse by the director. Besides Zachariah, Bhatt also gets to share some amazing moments with her trainer(Jaideep Ahlawat) which look great on screen.
The music is passable except the Watan song sung by Sunidhi Chauhan which is pictured beautifully on Bhatt and kids. The cinematography is beautiful in parts, dialogues could have been much better yet credit should be given to the director for not making it a loud and bosterious patriotic saga, none of the members of Bhatt’s Pakistani family are made villainous, they are as real as any nation loving resident be it an Indian or a Pakistani.
Alia Bhatt gets the best role of her career and she gives it her best shot, she may not have an expressive face or a strong voice but it’s her innocence and naïveté that makes you empathise with her even when she is technically a murderess on the prowl, the director has extracted the best of Bhatt. Jaideep Ahlawat is fantastic and can convey a lot with a straight face and no hamming. Rajit Kapur, Shishir Sharma, Kanwaljit Singh, Sanjay Suri are passable and leave no impression. Vicky Kaushal has that Manoj Bajpaye quality about him, very restrained and underplayed. Veteran Arif Zachariah is impressive. Both Soni Razdan and Amruta Khanvilkar disappoint and only contribute to the emotional quotient.
Beautiful, sensitive and very soulful that’s the way Raazi can be best described. The movie certainly has a soul and the director knows her heart is in the right place.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
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