Customer Reviews

Kurbaan

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you like Bollywood. This is such an awesome movie. had me un the edge of my seat. Kareena is in a different role from all her other movies. Very serious in this. I really got into the characters. love the sound track.

I would have liked to have known that there were subtitles, even though I was pretty sure that there would be. It was similar to "New York" with its theme of religious terrorism, showing both sides of the fence. I don't care about that either way. If you have an open mind, just take it for what it's worth, a decent film.

The movie is well made and fast paced - thus managing to hold your interest. And the music score is good. However, the glaring loopholes in the script are too much for anyone with a thinking brain to bear. For example, none of the characters seem to realize the existence of a police force in a country and readily take upon their own unworthy shoulders the burden of saving their family, friends....nay the whole country from a terror attack. Imprisoned by terrorists in a room with a cell-phone, a lead character supposedly smart enough to be a professor, decides to call someone's answering machine at the office at 9 pm at night to warn about a bomb attack rather than 911. A journalist uncovers a terrorist plot and instead of taking that information to the cops or FBI decides to collude with the terrorists and even helps transport bombs to blow up a public place. And in the era of Google search, this journalist was able to infilter a terrorist network with his real identity. Then there is the ever present hand of God that comes into play at exactly the right moment and lo and behold - a dreaded terrorist who kills without remorse suddenly has a change of heart and foils his own plan! What was the director thinking? Or was he not thinking at all? It's a pity because such incongruities could have been easily fixed by a smarter script-writer or director. But obviously that's sometimes tough to find in the crazy world of Bollywood.

Karan Johar responds: We have lost many innocent friends and family in America's senseless hunt for terrorists, and now we seek retribution and recognition for their suffering by blowing up airplanes and subways in NYC. (Riyaz:) "If you mess around with peoples' lives in other countries, you have to expect a backlash!" This is the story of Kurbaan. (A backlash on a backlash?)

Many of my favorite Indian actors stepped forward to do this film. I feel sympathy for them because they are actors. Especially Kirron Kher who appeared in both Fanaa [Fanaa [Blu-ray] (Indian Cinema / Bollywood Movies / Hindi Film )] and Rang De Basanti [Rang De Basanti], and always appears as a true stakeholder in this dialogue. And the rest of the crafts people as well, all artists. I love you guys!

Karan Johar, who has been successful for the most part, probably thought that he was good enough for a movie like this, put big money behind it, and line it up for big release. Isn't that Indian cinema's big problem- not enough capital? More capital, more success, working the equivocation, using the audience as a polling place for political events. Its just like that. Commercialism at it best.

But he "shined on" the entire cast and crew and the location interviews and press releases... it is all too obvious from the DVD Bonus Features on the making of the film that not only the actors but also the entire crew as well thought the film was SOMETHING GOOD, something to help the situation of Islam and the West, something universal, beyond the stated plot of the movie.

ALL with the assistance of a book called "Who Speaks for Islam, What a Billion Muslims Really Think" (Who Speaks For Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think) specifically photographed in the Bonus piece, sitting beside the Director on his side table. A book produced in the U.S.A. was used to pitch the meaning/opportunity of this film to everyone.

From the Publisher: "In the wake of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, US public officials seemed to have no idea whether or not many Muslims supported the bombings." Also this: "Muslims say the most important thing Westerners can do to improve relations with their societies is to change their negative views towards Muslims and respect Islam."

Ten years after 9/11 we know that a significant number of Afghans don't even recognize the photo images of NYC 9/11 and never knew anything about it, let alone support it or not.(Helmand 8/2011) Haven't you noticed, 9/11 does not mean the same thing around the world as it does to NYC/USA. France's great statement "Today, 9/11, we are all Americans," I guess that doesn't apply here, apparently not to Indians & Pakistanis, they are innocents. 9/11 starts when the the bombs fall on them. (Have you noticed how in Indian film, Hitler is a kind of vile demented comic hero like Charlie Chaplin, a part of the corruption of the West, somebody that Indians/Pakistanis could never be? Its like that with the terrorists, "that's not us.")

Ten years, the American public only accounts for its own, 3000 dead 9/11; 6,000+ service dead 45,000 wounded, $6 TRILLION; we never take account of the casualities on the other sides of our conflicts (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan), which are in the millions. ("America, when will we end the human war?//America when will you be angelic?//When will you look at yourself through the grave?//America why are your libraries full of tears?//America when will you send your eggs to India?//... Allen Ginsberg January 17, 1956.... )

These are valid issues and they do come up in the film, but what does this movie do for these issues? Nothing, actually something negative: a movie about a sleeper cell seeking retribution and recognition of their suffering by blowing up airplanes and subways in NYC actually goes completely against the supposed findings in this book.

I feel bad that Philadelphia gave use of their subway system for the filming of this movie. Many others refused to do so. The producers even presented the "struggle" to get some city, including NYC itself (!), to agree to this use of subway facilities for the film as an admirable vissitude of the film making process- (!!) I bet Philly feels differently about this now, after being pitched by any of the lines in John Esposito's book.

And how come I can't embrace Indian film producers when they go on foreign location?- a depiction of the New York City that is not THE city, (like Bhansali taking the cast of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam to Prague as a stand in for Rome-) I am not stupid-I know the Philadelphia skyline when I see it, and the housing styles too. But, hey- who cares? right, what does it matter, this is done in film making all the time...

Except: this film WANTS to support reality as actuality, both geographically and politically. It needs this to be New York City of 9/11. It isn't a film if it is not the BONIFIED AMERICAN TARGET...After all these years they still don't get it- Indians don't make film that embrace reality of the world and the camera.

This movie was made only for Indians who wouldn't care that much, but see an innocent Hindi woman involved in a Islamist terrorist action against her will, and a Islamic immigrant working in US media fighting against it, AS A BALANCE. While at the same time another Indian audience can vent its anger and frustration at the US in a city that HAS TO BE associated with 9/11, (but isn't NYC, and in reality, COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN.)

Why not make a contribution to our debate about Ground Zero and the new downtown Muslim Cultural and Education Center, help us out, but...oh I forgot that won't sell tickets in India....

As it turns out, Indian audiences didn't buy it either, the movie barely made back half its costs. Some thought it didn't have a burning issue, even lacked a soul. They neither praised it nor panned it, just treated it as another action movie.

Rather than something universal, this movie is a hypocritical failure. For Westerners, life is by definition equivocal. And it is the endurance of the "duration" (Henri Bergson) of the equivocal nature of life that makes for western tragedy. Without acknowledgement of the equivocal, there is no tragedy, no hope for truth. This movie shows NOT ONE SECOND of the history of sacrifice among the terrorists, does make any case for the suffering of the terrorists, merely references it, does not show one moment of hesitation, or doubt AMONG THE TERRORISTS. NOR does not show one scene of sacrifice on 9/11, merely making it into a reference for their own subsequent suffering.

US audiences spent $734,209 on Kurbaan, Indians $18M, half the movie's cost. Devdas 2002 raked in $18.8M from US markets alone, 25 times that of Kurbaan.

Though a native of India, Avantika (Kareena Kapoor) is currently a professor at a college in New York. On a trip to visit her ailing father in Delhi, Avantika meets and falls in love with another professor, the dapper and dashing Ehsaan (Saif Ali Khan). After a whirlwind courtship - which seems to take place in a slickly-produced shampoo commercial - the star-crossed lovers set up a new life for themselves as a married couple in the States. But all is not marital bliss for the newlyweds, as Avantika quickly discovers that Ehsaan is, in reality, a secret Islamic terrorist who married her strictly as a means of getting easy ingress into the United States. The other major character is Riyaz (Vivek Oberoi), a war correspondent for a local news station, who allows himself to be recruited into the sleeper cell of which Ehsaan is a member.

Though "Kurbaan" starts out as a fairly typical - i.e., overly cutesy - Bollywood romance, it quickly transitions into an admittedly bloated but moderately gripping action-movie thriller with serious social overtones. Perhaps because this is an Indian film, the terrorists, though by no means the "heroes" of the story, do get to air their grievances in a somewhat more sympathetic and even-handed fashion than they would were it an American-made production. On the other hand, like most Indian films, this one suffers from over-length and a tendency towards hyperbole when understatement might have been the better course to take. And while the Indian actors are all fine, the American performers leave much to be desired (perhaps the result of an Indian director, Rensil D'Silva, not being able to identify poor line readings when delivered in another language). In addition, the action sequences are often clunky and unconvincingly staged, especially when contrasted with something like the expertly executed "24."

Yet, despite its flaws, "Kurbaan" combines suspense, social commentary, romance and clue-gathering in generally appropriate proportions, which makes the two-hour-and-forty-minute running time pass reasonably quickly.

It was a great movie, nice suspence and everything, but the main characters often make idiot mistakes... like not using the telephone to call the cops when you're in need, not run out of the house through the back door when bad guys are entering the front door... not saying anything to anyone whn you have solid proof that you've found a terrorism organism and instead "take care of it all yourself" haha

But if you can get over those mistake, it's a pretty solid movie. I really Liked it :-)

This movie is full of surprises, just like life. The plot involves strong political emotions as well as being majorly disappointed with a spouse. Love conquers all. I would consider this a love thriller genre. The movie was filmed in Philadephia and New York. (I am a minor actress in the Brooklyn Bridge scene).

Sadly, "Kurbaan" did not get much exposure in US movie theaters. It is a well-made Bollywood movie. The music is terrific. Great special effects. Dialogue is in Hindi, but subtitles are available on DVD. Plotline may seem "anti-American" to some viewers. Disc #2 was a surprise bonus, especially the "how the explosion scene was done".
(Some scenes were shot in Philadelphia; my wife and I were background actors).

Kurbaan, is the latest movie about terrorism and the presence of a sleeper cell in every neighborhood.
Kareena Kapoor is Avantika a visiting professor in New Delhi who meets a colleague Saif Ali Khan as Ehsaan, another professor. He starts to pursue her and eventually they fall in love. Her time in India is up as she has to return to NYU in the fall, Ehsaan agrees to come but under one condition they need to get married. In America Ehsaan starts teaching a class on Modern day Islam. However life in suburbia is not peaceful, suspicious neighbors who are wife beaters and terrorists emerge. Avantika finds out that her husband is a terrorist as well.
The movie borrows its plot from the film Arlington Road. Muslims are shown as terrorists as usual with the lead terrorist played by Om Puri and his wife played by Kirron Kher. The reasons that they decide to become terrorist are flimsy as if any reason is convincing. Vivek Oberoi plays an American Muslim journalists who is against terrorism but goes underground to prevent these terrorist from carrying out their deeds.
Normally I avoid movies about terrorism because so many have been made and most of them were bad. We just saw a few in the last year, New York, Khuda Kay Liye etc...All lead actors sleepwalk through their roles, Kareena Kapoor is clearly wasted save for the couple of erotic scenes that she gets to perform with Saif. Production values are okay. I watched this because it had received so many positive reviews. Clearly disappointed I will give it two stars.1/31/10