Aamir

The film rocks! It is a victory of good screenplay over everything else. The story is very simple, too simple to be thought of as a film but the director has actually pulled out an interesting film out of such a simple premise.

An educated Muslim boy comes back to India, and wants to be with his family after the terrorist attack in London. But outside the air port, he is given a mobile phone. He is informed that his family is kidnapped and now he has to follow the instructions given to him on phone to retrieve his family. He does everything that he could but in the process he encounters the tragic realities of the life as Muslim person, which is a double edged sword. How he chooses to be different and to make a difference is the story of the film! Yes, it’s over, it’s all that is there in the film and yet the film works brilliantly.

The film follows Aamir (Rajeev Khandelwal, who has done a fairly decent job) and the terrorist leader whose phone Aamir has received. Most of the time we know what Aamir knows, and Aamir is naïve, so we also remain naïve till the end.

In the first five minutes of the film only we start to like Aamir, because he is smart, intelligent and upright. His value system is in place. He is a person with whom we can identify. He is a person who has struggled in life to achieve everythings. He has a family he cares for, he loves his people and they love him. And when he gets in trouble we want to see him out of it, but it’s not an easy journey for him.

It’s such a surprise that with such a simple story and without any star cast the film keeps audience hooked till the last moments. The film which is shot mostly on locations presents an interesting reality in front of the audience. The shots of Mumbai’s slum areas are eye openers. Camera continuously follows the expression of people who are just the viewers; who sees different things happening around them with utmost apathy. This reminds us continuously that we are letting things happen around us which should not happen and it will affect our lives. Aamir is a must see film and it is so encouraging that the theatre was house full and tickets were not available even for silver row. I whistled in excitement and happiness that Aamir is doing so well.  After all it is the victory of good film over bad films and it deserves applaud. Believe me no matter what we say to ourselves the fact is Indian audience is extremely intelligent today. They really have developed taste for good films. If a film doesn’t work today, 90% probability is the film was not good. Because audience is so receptive that they are even willing to change their sensibility to accommodate good films. Three cheers for Aamir, three cheers for good films, three cheers for good screenplays.