Saturday, July 20, 2013
D-Day
What If...?
D-Day is a wish-fulfillment fantasy
for Indians. At many a party or coffee table discussion, the point about India
not being able to send a team of covert operatives to deal with the ‘D Company’
problem comes up, particularly after the US got to the world’s most dreaded
terrorist hiding out in Pakistan.
While so many filmmakers are busy glorifying
gangsters, Nikhil Advani’s D-Day is
about a small group of dedicated RAW agents, who put their lives at stake to
nab Iqbal (Rishi Kapoor), a fictional don (obviously based on a real-life
criminal mastermind) orchestrated “unofficially” by their Chief, Ashwini
(Nasser).
Hollywood does this sort of thing very well,
peppering their films with great action, and unencumbered by the need for romance,
music or heightened drama. The premise
of D-Day is fabulous, and if Advani
could trim the fat, it would have been a great entertainer. Even with its
maze-like plotting and needless digressions, it is a fairly absorbing film,
with a final burst of jingoism.
Wali Khan (Irrfan) lives with his wife (Shriswara)
and son in Karachi, an undercover agent for nine years, hoping for one lead
that will make his existence worthwhile. When he gets news of the wedding of
Iqbal’s son at a Karachi hotel, he kicks into motion the plan to catch the don
and take him to India. Joining the team
are other covert operatives, Rudra (Arjun Rampal), Zoya (Huma Qureshi) and
Aslam (Akash Dahiya).
Their attempt fails; the Indian government
professes ignorance of the plan and leaves the four to fend for
themselves. A brisk, fast-paced,
no-nonsense film might have worked better, but Advani meanders off into Rudra’s
passion for a prostitute (Shruti Hassan), Wali’s concern for his family and
Huma’s marriage breaking down.
On the plus side, the four are not robots,
the emotional conflicts in their lives are part of their personalities, making
their thankless sacrifice even more poignant. The complicated political
ramifications of the operation slow down the pace. That the RAW team actually
wants to bring Iqbal to India to face trial, might seem a bit too idealistic
(or faintly ridiculous), knowing our legal system, which their prey is only too
familiar with and talks about with contempt.
Rishi Kapoor plays the character with
flamboyance, his speech peppered with Marathi, and brings such menace into his
bearing, that he dwarfs everyone else in the frame. Irrfan has the tougher part, since his Wali
Khan has the most to lose, Arjun Rampal gets to play the stone-faced fauji, and Huma Qureshi the femme fatale,
and they do well.
The look of the film is dark and realistic,
the action gritty, even if there are some curious slips like Iqbal’s nephew
being allowed to attack the prostitute for sheltering Rudra, with Pakistan’s
army general standing around, and an absence of any police action, or tracing
of cell phones, even though a hotel is blown up and innocents killed. Still, it has enough merit to warrant a visit
to the cinemahall.
Labels: Cinemaah
