AAMIR (2008)

First and foremost, hats off to UTV Spotboy for undertaking such a unique subject and format of filmmaking for their first venture; debutant director Rajkumar Gupta too, could have chosen a safer genre for his first film but instead he chose a path few makers tread; the lead protagonist, Rajeev Khandelwal, was always known more as a "chocolate boy" hero on the small screen and so when he was considering films, everyone expected him to mark his debut with the romantic genre but he too chose to divert from the tried and tested formulae films and make a gutsy debut with an off beat Aamir. Aamir is a film which has many pluses and is definitely a film everyone should see once; however the flaws of the film are at a very fundamental level, which tend to then distract you throughout, at times diverting your attention from the positives of the film.

The film has been 'inspired' by the 2005 Filipino film Cavite and is essentially about a Muslim doctor Aamir Ali who is returning to Mumbai from London. After being extensively questioned by the Mumbai customs simply because he is Muslim, our protagonist walks out of the airport and realizes no one is there to receive him. When he calls home, no one answers and almost immediately two men on a motorcycle throw a mobile phone into his hands. From here starts a game wherein Aamir is forced to follow the instructions of an unknown man on the phone in order to ensure that his kidnapped family is released.

The first troubling point of the film is its basic premise; as the film unfolds, you realize that there are several people involved in this plot, so what was the need to randomly select Aamir for the plan? As the plan was never a suicide bombing, any of the people already a part of the cause could have carried out the mission, without the risk of it being botched. You hope for a justification throughout the film, but it never comes, making you feel the entire premise to be unbelievable. The ending too needn't have been the way it is because Aamir clearly can leave the bag in the relatively less crowded place instead of actually holding on to it himself. Was he trying to send a message to the terrorists who had chosen him? It's actually quite unclear.

The film is however very gripping thanks to on the most part, crisp editing by Aarti Bajaj, containing the film to less than 2 hours. The camera work is almost identical to that witnessed in Anurag Kashyap's No Smoking. In Aamir though, this time it works giving the film a stylish, international look and adding to the pace of the film. In spite of the short length, the film does drag in places, mostly due to a very weak background and also some shots of which the tails could have easily been trimmed. The film is shot in the interiors of Mumbai in places like Dongri, Tardeo, Nana Chowk, Bhendi Bazaar, giving it a very realistic feel. It's something we have never really witnessed before on the big screen and is truly refreshing and adds to the overall feel and pace of the film. One drawback is that the film relies heavily on close ups and although Rajeev Khandelwal has made a confident debut, his expressions are limited and his face is a bit wooden, hence the close ups beyond a point become redundant and ineffective. But there is something about Rajeev's portrayal of Aamir that connects with the audiences and you are glued to the screen.

All in all Aamir is a very different film as rarely do we see films which have only one protagonist, shot in this manner. It very easily could have been a brilliant film but nonetheless is still an applause worthy effort and one can expect some great films in the future from Rajkumar Gupta as well as definitely seeing more of Rajeev on the big screen.

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