Review : Kurbaan

Rating : Above average (3.75/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 40 minutes
Director : Renzil D’Silva
Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Om Puri, Kiron Kher, Vivek Oberoi, Dia Mirza, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Kid rating : PG-13




KURBAAN : Terror tale with a twist!

Kurbaan is another film with a terrorism based story-line, although the nasty parts sneak up on you. The film starts off pleasantly enough with beautiful Delhi lecturer Avantika Ahuja (Kareena) who’s falling in love with new colleague Ehsaan Khan (Saif). The relationship is deemed short-lived however, because Avantika is soon recalled back to the American university where she was teaching earlier. She must leave, but quite unexpectedly Ehsaan offers to uproot himself for her and come to the US. Surprised and delighted, Avanika persuades her unhappy Hindu father to give his blessings, the couple marry and are off to the land of Uncle Sam.

Suave Ehsaan soon lands a professorial job, and everything is going along fine, until the couple, now seeking domestic heaven, buy a house and get to know their seemingly peculiar neighbors. . .

This film is a little different from your standard issue “terrorism” film because it brings the conflict closer to home. It is a crisp drama, didn’t slack off or lose pace. It does suffer from numerous logical flaws though and has a rather split personality when it comes to the issue of religious ideaology. On one hand, the movie tries to take the high road, by presenting the view that Islam is a religion of peace – after all Ehsan does teach a course on Islam in the modern world, but on the other it re-enforces the typical stereotypes associated with Islamic fundamentalism – the parochial attitude towards women and education, domestic violence etc. All the Muslim women in the film, save one, are hijab-wearing domesticated females immersed in their male-dominated lives. And all the Muslim men in the film, except one again, are portrayed as devout fundamentalists, seething to avenge perceived wrongs. Thus, the “message” if there was one, doesn’t really get through very effectively.

Kareena acts well, in a role which while being central to the film, still does not impact it in a way it could have. Avantika is but a cog in the wheel, being buffeted by forces around her. She endures, but does not at any point take an overt stand. Among all the revenge-seeking, bigoted Muslim women portrayed, she is the poor little Hindu girl. I must say though that she looks beautiful in the film. She carries off extra bold eyeliner pretty well, although in some scenes she does come across like a Kathakali dancer who’s lost her way. She’s worn these beautiful, full-skirted churidaar kurtas in the movie, which are more (I think) skirts with short tops, although I couldn’t be sure.

Saif Ali Khan has indeed come a long way in his filmi career; I remember when he started off in Bollywood, he was so raw and bore such a striking resemblance to his beautiful mother Sharmila Tagore, that he was dismissed as “too feminine” by many.

Vivek Oberoi makes a semi-comeback as Riyaz, a journalist with plenty of guts and emotion, but very little apparently, in the way of brain-cells. And Diya Mirza (whatever happened to her filmi career ?), has a tiny role, as his girl-friend and colleague. Om Puri, Kirron Kher and Kulbhushan Kharbhanda are dependable stalwarts, as good as ever.

The film has decent direction, adequate screenplay, pretty good music, and a decent background score. It also has quite a bit of violence, and some extensive kissing/love-making scenes – thus getting a PG-13 rating. On the whole a good watch, Kurban is one of the better films to come out this year.