4. New York.

What is terrorism? This is something which I believe each one of us would know. Why does it happen? This is also something which more or less each one of do judge and understand.

Kabir Khan goes one step ahead and does some Root Cause Analysis on ‘making of a terrorist out of a common man’. How a frivolous university dude is detained by FBI and persecuted for nine long months with absolutely no fault on his part and going further, this engulfed guy decides to come back with a vengeance by spreading terror and as a result of that he makes a brutal plan. This is all about Aditya Chopra produced intense fare titled New York.

Although Kabul Express was a better flick in my opinion, this one doesn’t stand far either. The casting would have required a profound thinking. John is not that bad but either he could have done better or some one else could have given better justice as a protagonist. He is redundantly loud in some scenes. Neil, who is a potentially sound artiste, somehow fails here – mainly because of the weak portrayal. Katrina has acted well but her on-screen contribution is relatively less. Irrfan who takes the maximum footage, excels in the role of a suavely diplomatic FBI officer. He certainly deserves applaud for his performance. Nawazzudin shines is his small but significant role as Zilgai.

The music and background score by Pritam Chakraborty, Pankaj Awasthi and Julius Packiam is not-too-bad. “Yaaron” is nice, while “Mere sang” (minus appalling lyrics) is also decent. Aseem Mishra has handled the cinematography department quite well but still he deserves 8 on 10. Rameshwar Bhagat should have used more sharp scissors on the editing front which seems to be a bit overlooked. Kabir, as quoted above has handled the subject in a matured manner.

Overall, an excellent but not-so-exceptional fare. My verdict 7/10.

PS: Kabir, just in case if you are reading this - After making movies on terrorism with Afgan and USA backdrop, please do attempt a movie on desi terrorism aka politics in India. You may want to choose name of any city you like (as you have done with both your flicks).