 "Kajol, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Ibrahim Ali Khan's 'Sarzameen' movie review: The most forgettable take on terrorism in recent times")
Cast: Kajol, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Ibrahim Ali Khan
Director: Kayoze Irani
Language: Hindi
The backdrop is Kashmir again. A voiceover by Boman Irani with gorgeous and ghastly visuals of the state is the opening frame of Kayoze Irani’s directorial debut titled Sarzameen. Irani Sr. made his directorial debut last year with a part-petite and part-pulsating ode to fatherhood titled The Mehta Boys. Irani Jr. doesn’t take a different route, he creates a new path. For a first time director to grapple with an issue as delicate and difficult as Kashmir is tricky. Action director Tinnu Varma did that with Maa Tujhe Salaam, and of course Aditya Dhar with the 2019 URI: The Surgical Strike. But does Kayoze have the rigor or the razor-sharp vision to pull the material off? As the story progresses, we see the debutant has made an attempt to dig deeper into political commentary and complexities juxtaposed with personal turmoil and tensions.
Sarzameen ensures it presents its hero heroically. So we don’t see Prithviraj Sukumaran’s face just so easily. We first see his lips, a smirk, a command, and then a warning. It’s only after the damage is done we see him sprinting in slow motion, which is followed by a stiff and swift combat. We then meet the woman who commands the man who commands his men. This character is Meher (an omnipresent Kajol). What binds the directorial debuts of the Iranis is the father-son conflict that forms the central theme of the story. In The Mehta Boys, it was the long distance that strained the relationship due to the silences. In Sarzameen, it’s the closeness that becomes the reason for the father’s resentment as the son stutters and struggles to speak.
One can see the purpose, but also the predictability. And the way the early scenes are staged, you know exactly what’s going to happen next. The gatekeepers will turn out to be the ghosts that will haunt the central character and his family only because he refused to abide by the cliched demands. By when will these fictional terrorists realize Indian soldiers are not even half as pliant as they assume? All the tried and tested pandemonium unfolds as a forgettable qawwali number takes centre stage. An urgent phone call is not responded to because the owner is far away busy dancing. This is no Bajrangi Bhaijaan, so any room for miraculous goodness is obliterated. There’s also a tinge of Ramesh Sippy’s Shakti. Duty or son? This didn’t strike me until a late night message from a friend who asked me if it was similar to that 1982 drama. It became all the more familiar when Vijay says his motherland comes first. The fact that the father is called Vijay 42 years later is no coincidence.
However, Sarzameen also has the perspective of the mother, what’s unfortunate is that the role is essayed by Kajol. By now, she can safely call herself a veteran of tear jerking stories and terrorism clashes. (Fanaa, My Name Is Khan, and the most recent Maa- She was a mother in all three). But the actress who has made a solid career out of some of the most emotionally stirring breakdown scenes struggles with cosmetic tears here, and the title song tries its best to camouflage the surprisingly emptiness in a crucial scene. The distance between the husband and the wife in this scene suggests the marriage is going to crumble. The half-effective Mission Kashmir (2000) got the bruises of the mother right as the son grew up to be what he never wanted to. Ditto for Fiza, both starring Hrithik Roshan in the same year.
This character here is given to Ibrahim Ali Khan. His acting debut Nadaaniyan was unfortunately received rather brutally with scathing reviews all over. His second choice could be best described as Imran Khan moving from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na to Kidnap within a span of three months. This (mis)step seems intentional to tell the world there’s a lot more to them than their chocolate boy aura. At least for Imran, his debut is still a fresh part of the pop culture. Ibrahim didn’t fair that smoothly. Those muscles and ripped body do half the job. The gunshot to his head is deceptive for anyone who saw the trailer. This is the basic problem with Kayoze Irani’s directorial debut. You are always one step ahead of the people who inhabit the story, which is never a good sign.
The most baffling aspect of Sarzameen is the climax with a twist that’s never milked to its juiciness. That’s because the makers are too busy screeching the idea about humanity and hatred with two fine actors unleashing their most one-note performances in recent times. The action scenes are raw and the final shot before the final shot is the second time they cheat the audiences. Don’t be fooled when the end credits begin. This has to be a unique case where there are two end credits. Marvel and DC would be crying in one corner. Only if that supposed twist was not undone. Where are Gupt, Khakee, and Fida when you need them?
Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)
Sarzameen is now streaming on Jio Hotstar
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