Movie Review: New York
Kabir Khan’s Kabul Express was definitely better off than the new release New York featuring John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Irrfan Khan.
When I stepped out of the hall, I summed it up in a 140 characters tweet: “Just saw New York. Appreciate the movie only for the message. Otherwise very dodgy and below expectations. Worth max 80 inr.”
Kabir has done a good job on the research part and instead of showing it as a documentary, came up with a decent story line. But at some points, one could feel the Yash Chopra-isation effect.
Based in the city of New York (obviously), Neil is befriended by John and Katrina in college. John and Katrina end up falling in love, while Neil keeps quiet about his feeling for Katrina. Seven years later the FBI rounds up Neil on fake charges of act of terrorism. They ask him to co-operate and to go stay with John, who is now married to Katrina and has a son, as an under-cover agent to throw open the sleeper cell being run by John with fellow suspects. The FBI scenes are very loosely shot, so please don’t make the mistake of comparing them to the Hollywood cuts.
Certain scenes, or rather dialogues, have been stretched. Because of the involvement of the FBI, I was again and again forced to compare it to Hollywood, and I felt I was in the middle of a joke.
But like I said, appreciate the movie for the message. Since 9/11, 1500 people were illegally abducted and detained on charges of act of terrorism. Only 1200 were released later on. The detainees have recounted their experiences, due to which they have been physically and mentally disturbed and hence haven’t been able to lead a normal life with stable jobs. In the cells, the officers used to drag them around in dog straps, peed on their faces and hung them in the nude from the ceiling with handcuffs for hours long.
The movie depicts these facts in its storyline. And this is how John, who was also arrested on the above charges and detained for 9 months, came to doing this act.
The movie does do a good job in bringing the fact out to many more people. But for things like these I'd prefer a documentary, ‘cause with facts, what can one do? We need the details. Go for the movie but pay only 80INR at the morning show. (Guys, if you’re going to ogle at Katrina, her close up shots are a turn off. I could notice the layers of make-up. )
And oh!, did I mention that Irrfan Khan is an FBI agent who had the audience laughing with his exceptional expressions?
Rating: 3/5
Sahil Khan
[ratings]
[image couretsy: http://tr.im/q1uA]
Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
