India's most Wanted....known by many names (Rishi Kapoor) has to has to has to attend his son's nikaah in Karachi. India's RAW lays out a secret mission. The mission is to catch him alive and get him to India. Men on mission are Wali Khan (Irfan), Rudra Pratap (Arjun Rampal), Zoya (Huma Qureshi), Aslam (Akash Dahiya) and it is master minded by Ashwini Rao (Nasser).
The plot unfolds. Absolutely bang on edge of the seat opening sequence. Intercut with a song sequence picturised on Rajpal Yadav, the men on mission start their work. They are almost there but not quite. The Don is almost cornered. But not quite.
Flashback. Irfan's background followed by the laying out of each character and conflict follows neatly. Over here Pakistani officers are trying their best to convince the man to avoid attending the function. RAW is going about its planning in the most secret ways. Ashwini Rao also faces some departmental resistance. The mission goes on unofficially.
At interval we come back to the start point. Additionally Rishi Kappor manages to escape with a resolve of vengeance.
Now there are conflicts. The Don wants to get his hand on the 4 people. Pakistan forces are after them. Indian agencies do not want them back. Packed with action and meet and characters and conflicts and drama the film engages you every single moment.
The story, the screenplay (Nikhil Advani, Ritesh Shah, Suresh Nair) , the direction, the performances everything falls in place and rather seamlessly. In fact one would want to give a standing ovation to Nikhil Advani. His craftsmanship and treatment are excellence personified! Ditto for the work of Tushar Kanti Ray as the DoP. The use of low light and tones is marvellous and poetic. Another winner is the editing Aarif Sheikh . There is not a single frame in the film that is not needed and the way intercuts are used in remarkable.
The film has some brilliant moments...the lighter ones with Irfan and his family, the romantic ones with Arjun and Shruti Hasan...the terrifying ones with all the encounters. The way the song post Shruti Hasan's death is picturised and treated leaves a mark...You have to see it...it is one of the most differently executed song for a long time.... The sequence where Irfan loses his family leaves a mark editorially apart from it being brilliantly enacted. the use of mirrors is another noticeable aspect of the film....
Speaking about the performances...Rishi Kapoor does it once again. He hits the bulls eye. He is ever so understated and yet so terrifying. Irfan is just himself carrying each and every detailed emotion effortlessly. Arjun Rampal impreses and one feels he grows leaps and bounds with this performance. He has very few lines but his eyes speak a lot. Huma Qureshi and Aakash Dahiya impress and so does Shruti Hasan. Chandan Roy Sanyal, Naseer, KK Raina, Sandeep Kulkarni, Nissar Khan, Imran Hasnee all are in top form.
Very rarely you see an action film where you feel that action was a part of story and the film was not only an overdose of bullets and blood. Very rarely comes a film in which every single song playing in the foreground or a background has a story to tell. Very rarely these days comes a film where the background score carries the mood of the film without yelling at the top of the voice.
The vision, the story, the purpose, the team everything comes out right this time.
