‘Raazi’ (Agree), based on a true story, is an adaptation of Harinder Sikka’s novel ‘Calling Sehmat’, about a Kashmiri spy married to a Pakistani man during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. It depicts the journey of an ordinary Indian girl, under extraordinary circumstances. Sehmat (Aalia Bhatt), is sent to Pakistan in 1971, to source out any information she could, as war was becoming imminent between India and Pakistan. The story is brilliantly narrated by director Meghna Gulzar. Known for ‘Filhaal’ (2002), ‘Just Married’ (2007), ‘Das Kahaniyaan’ (2007) and ‘Talvar’ (2015), she keeps the audience fully engaged right from the start to end. Alia Bhatt gives an award-winning performance. She is simply outstanding and has delivered her best performance till date. All the supporting actors’ performance are superb. Every character has been given due importance. The screenplay is very tight, dialogues are very good and editing is very sharp. Though the film is based on India/Pakistan military background, in not a single scene did the director show any of the countries, in a bad frame or any Pakistani, in a negative shade. Hats off to her in handling such a sensitive subject so beautifully! Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music is perfect as per the film mood of 1971 and they deliver a meaningful number “Ae Watan”. No film is fully perfect and ‘Raazi’ misses the mark at some places. Being a patriotic film, to some extent it fails to provoke patriotic feelings. Nowadays, very few films are made on woman-based subjects, hence the start at the box office would be strong. However, the film can pick up with word of mouth to a greater extent. One hit musical number is missing which would have been the icing on the cake. A must-watch film!
Rating: 4/5
