The Attacks Of 26/11 Review

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riyaz12345

@riyaz12345

Beginner

Posted: 12 years ago

Cast: Nana Patekar, Sanjeev Jaiswal, Atul Kulkarni, Ganesh Yadav

Directed by: Ram Gopal Varma

Review by: Komal Nahta

Ratings: * * *

Business Rating : *

Eros International and Alumbra Entertainment's The Attacks Of 26/11, narrates the Bombay joint commissioner of police's (Nana Patekar) account of the terrorist attacks on the city on 26th November, 2008. The film begins with the joint commissioner recounting the events of the dreaded night in front of a committee. It ends with the hanging of the sole terrorist, Ajmal Kasab (Sanjeev Jaiswal), who was arrested. The film shows in graphic detail the killings by terrorists at several landmarks of Bombay including Leopold Caf, Taj Mahal Hotel, CST Station, Cama Hospital and other places. It also shows how Ajmal Kasab was arrested and ultimately the end that awaited him.

Rommel Rodrigues has penned a story based on true-life incidents and his screenplay is fast-paced and engrossing. While some scenes are chilling and leave the audience staring in disbelief, there are others which evoke claps. Instances of the clapworthy scenes are the one in which constable Tukaram Ombale (Sunil Jadhav) lays down his life but does not let go of Ajmal Kasab; the one in which the joint police commissioner lectures Ajmal Kasab in the morgue where dead bodies of his (Kasab's) terrorist-friends are lying; the one in which he forces Kasab to embrace a dead body; the one in which he hurls the choicest abuses at Kasab; the one in which he explains to Kasab what is written in the Quran; etc.

Since the drama is humane and the real-life terrorist attacks had shaken the entire world, the film often touches the heart and shakes the viewers. On the flip side, there is so much bloodshed, violence and gore that many ladies and the weak-hearted will find it difficult to stomach all that. Also, as the drama moves on a single track, it will be found to be monotonous by that section of the audience which watches films for all-round entertainment. It has a docudrama feel to it, and the Indian audience is not used to watching docudramas. Nevertheless, the class audience will love the no-holds-barred narration. Dialogues, written by Rommel Rodrigues, Rashid Iqbal and Prashant Pandey, are excellent although it must be added that a sizeable part of the film is devoid of dialogues.

Nana Patekar gives a fabulous account of himself as the joint commissioner of police. He is terrific in every single scene. Sanjeev Jaiswal does a fine job as Ajmal Kasab. Atul Kulkarni (as police inspector Shashank Shinde), Saad Orhan (as Abu Ismail Khan), Ganesh Yadav (as Amar Solanki in Kuber boat), Jeetendra Joshi (as constable Nalawade), Ravi Kale (as Jadhav), Farzad (as owner of Leopold Caf), Shahab Khan (as inspector at Cama Hospital), Girish Joshi (as inspector at control room), Anirudh Harip (as doctor at Cama Hospital), Sunil Jadhav (as constable Tukaram Ombale), Asif Basra (as the taxi driver) and Vikas Srivastava (as inspector) lend admirable support.

Ram Gopal Varma's direction is very inspired. He has remained true to the script and has made a heart-wrenching film about the attacks which killed hundreds and shook an entire nation leaving life-long scars on its people. But, it must also be said that he has taken up a subject not many in the public may be interested in watching on the screen because of the terrible memories associated with it. Had the film's budget been very limited, his exercise may still have been worth the effort and the monies involved. But the budget of the film is far from modest, and that is a big problem area. Javed-Aejaz's action scenes are as raw as they ought to have been to churn the stomach. Harshraj Shroff and M. Ravichandran's camerawork is marvellous. Amar Mohile deserves kudos for a very appropriate background score. Sets (Udai Prakash Singh) are superb. Sunil M. Wadhwani and Ajit M. Nair's editing is razor-sharp.

On the whole, The Attacks Of 26/11 is a very well-made film but one which will be loved by the intelligentsia only. Unfortunately, the film will not realise its true potential because a lot of people would not like to relive a chapter in the life of India, which was horrific, to say the least. The film's collections in the good multiplexes are bound to pick up by strong word of mouth but that won't at all be enough to make profits because of three reasons – the huge budget (around Rs. 25 crore has been spent to make, promote and release the film), the restricted appeal of the film, and the very poor start it has taken.

Plus Points:

1. Very well-made film

2. Very fine performances

3. Very realistic

Minus Points:

1. Very expensive film for the genre

2. Docudrama feel to the film

3. Many in the public will not like to watch the film because of the memories associated with the terror incidents on which it is based

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Hello_kitta

@Hello_kitta

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

Movie review: The Attacks Of 26/11

(Crime)
Saibal Chatterjee
Thursday, February 28, 2013

SPOILERS Ahead

It couldn't be easy for a filmmaker to re-imagine the horror of that terrifying night that scarred Mumbai forever. Gangsters and other violent deviants are usually fiction. What Ram Gopal Varma is dealing with here is raw reality.

The gash that was inflicted on the nation's psyche by the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 is still very deep. Any attempt to reopen it through a big-screen reenactment of the incident is bound to be viewed with both trepidation and scepticism.

Ram Gopal Varma, who has been trying to live down a string of recent misfires, manages to dispel much of the doubt in the minds of the naysayers.

He comes impressively close to capturing the agony of the last few seconds of the lives of the victims and the heroism of the uniformed martyrs who laid down their lives to contain the rampage unleashed by ten misguided young men from across the border.

This film is an act of obvious courage and, in following through with it at the risk of treading on raw wounds, Ram Gopal Varma presents a precise account of what happened on the night India's financial capital froze amid an unprecedented carnage.

So, is The Attacks of 26/11 recompense enough for the unpleasant shocks that Ram Gopal Varma has subjected moviegoers to of late? Flashes of the old are indeed visible in parts of the film. And that is evidence that all isn't lost.

The Attacks of 26/11 has two distinct halves. The first is presented docu-drama style and is shorn of frills.

It is devoted to just a few hours of the mayhem. It spans from the time the terrorists sneak into Mumbai via the sea to the point when the sole surviving attacker, Ajmal Kasab, is captured.

The second half focusses on the aftermath of Kasab's arrest and subsequent execution after a lengthy trial.

Ram Gopal Varma takes recourse to a degree of cinematic liberty in this segment in a bid to fathom the mind of the terrorist.

He sets up a protracted verbal encounter between Kasab (debutant Sanjeev Jaiswal) and police officer Rakesh Maria (Nana Patekar).

The conversation touches upon jihad, religion, and the meaning of being a true Muslim.

The scene does provide a glimpse of Kasab's personal story, but in the end appears to be too much of an overstatement not to be at odds with the realism of the rest of the film.

Ram Gopal Varma adopts an otherwise largely matter-of-fact approach. It cuts both ways.

For one, it rules out the possibility of the emergence of anything new in terms of understanding the circumstances and mindsets that drove a bunch of young men to script what is by far one of the most shocking chapters in contemporary Indian history.

The details of the event have been extensively documented and reported in the media, so The Attacks of 26/11 spring no surprises by way of the plotting.

Yet Ram Gopal Varma manages to inject an element of drama and a sense of urgency into some of the pivotal sequences.
He steers clear of the sort of technical gimmickry and overdone background musical score that have tended to mar his recent work.

The Attacks of 26/11 does not get carried away by skewed and obtrusive camera angles – one of the biggest banes of Ram Gopal Varma's recent offerings.

The scale of the mayhem unleashed at the Taj, Victoria Terminus, Leopold Cafe and Cama Hospital is conveyed through the means of the good old power of storytelling.

The blood and gore on the screen might put off the squeamish, but the often graphic depiction of the violence only serves to highlight the sheer brutality of the attack.

The attack is seen from the standpoint of the then Mumbai joint commissioner of police (crime) Rakesh Maria.
It is Maria's deposition before the probe commission that serves as the backbone of the narrative.

The device does not, however, always yield felicitous results – it makes the film unnecessarily verbose at times in the second half.

The truly distressing moments – the actual attacks on innocents and the counter-action by the police – are gripping enough to touch some raw nerves. But the film seems somewhat awkward when it tries to step up the emotional quotient.

Packing in an overload of detail into the film's two hours leaves the director with little scope for coming up with the complete picture.

Nana Patekar puts his best foot forward with a measured performance: the known mannerisms are kept on a tight leash.

Debutant Sanjeev Jaiswal in the garb of Ajmal Kasab also makes an impression. He evokes repulsion and that is proof of his success.

Ram Gopal Varma is still not back to his best and The Attacks of 26/11 isn't an unqualified triumph. But it is certainly watchable.

http://movies.ndtv.com/movie-reviews/movie-review-i-the-attacks-of-26-11-i-788

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Hello_kitta

@Hello_kitta

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

Somewhere in re-telling the bloodbath, torrential shower of bullets and bombs that rained down on Mumbai on Nov 26, 2008 a little child sitting lost amidst a carpet of corpses in the posh hotel lobby of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel weeps on the gleaming white marble floor now reduced to a bloodied mess. We then hear another round of gunfire and then, the child's weeping ceases.

The way the soundtrack is used to denote unimaginable brutality and violence in that sequence reminded me of the massacre sequence in Ramesh Sippy's "Sholay", where Gabbar Singh sadistically raises a gun, points it at a defiant child (Master Alankar) and then the soundtrack cuts to the sound of a train chugging into the railway platform.

Varma, in the finest filmmaking foray of his career since "Satya" and "Company", offers us no comfort of cinematic licence in "The Attacks Of 26/11". Not his fault, really. The unspeakably aggravated violence of the events we see unfold in front of our disbelieving eyes happened in, and to, Mumbai just five years ago. Believe it or nuts.

It could happen again. To any city. You or me. That is the terrifying reality that perpetually underlines the gripping narration, clamping the brilliant writing of Rommel Rodrigues down to a whittled numbing sense of hardcore reality where all thrill ends and the feeling of dread begins to creep upon us. We are finally left with only a profound sense of dread and fear.

Welcome to the world of terrorism. The world that we live in.
The volume of research that has gone into the recreation of the events on that fateful night when Mumbai city was under a sanguinary siege, miraculously escapes italicisation in the narration. No aspect of Varma's storytelling is exaggerated.

He displays remarkable restraint even in the way the background music punctuates the relentless violence perpetrated by a handful of self-styled jehadis who crept into Mumbai through water and soaked the city in blood, making sure that the people of this rapidly moving metropolis would never sleep in peace again.

Varma steals our peace for keeps.While the first hour of the film graphically recreates the violence that Ajmal Kasab and his gang unleashed in various strategic centres of Mumbai, where maximum impact was ensured for their mayhem, the second hour of the dread-filled drama, turns into a riveting ruminative debate between the police commissioner Rakesh Maria (Nana Patekar) and Kasab (Sanjeev Jaiswal).

The energetic yet bridled equipoise created between these two polarities of the human existence so effortlessly slips into the zone of a moral debate that we end up listening to echoes of infinite resonance beyond the words that they exchange with such scathing contempt for one another's moral values.

The dialogues on the relevance and true meaning of the tenets in the Holy Quran between Patekar and Jaiswal simmer with an inner discontent, sparking off a kind of existential turmoil in the narrative and in the audience that takes the narrative way beyond the immediate context of terror and terrorism.

While Nana Patekar displays exemplary austerity over his physical and emotional expression of the anguish that every Indian feels for the humiliation of terrorism perpetrated on 26/11, Sanjeev Jaiswal, though every effective as Kasab tends to go overboard. But then we can't really expect subtlety of expression from someone who has been brainwashed by his mysterious 'Aaka' into believing that killing innocent Indians would fetch him a ticket to paradise.

The extravagant violence is not tampered with, though the vantage points of the terror attacks are whittled down. Varma doesn't spare us the details of the demoniacal attack on Mumbai city, when a group of armed men killed men women children in luxury hotels and public places.

"Don't show any mercy to women and children," Kasab's colleague counsels before they rain bullets on innocent civilians.

The recreation of the terror attacks on Leopold Cafe, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and Cama Hospital are so chilling in their vivid detailing that we end up watching scenes of violence not for their cinematic element, as much their unflinching affiliation to the actual events.

Full marks to the superlative technical team. Harshad Shroff and M. Ravichandran Thevar's cinematography captures every moment of the bloodcurdling events with a documentary-like ferocity.

The graphic terror attack sequences are edited (by Sunil Wadhwani and Ajith Nair) in a pattern that replicates the suddenness of the attack. The sound design, and that includes Amar Mohile's muted but angry background score, doesn't sound designed. It seems a vocal 'ear-witness' to the carnage that unfolds in front of our shocked eyes with unsparing viciousness.

By the time the film's mordant milieu melts into a chilling climax, we are no longer watching a film. Varma takes his narrative way beyond the semantics of the cinematic language. The merger of recent history of terrorism and the more human drama that underlines the violence is achieved with a muted cry of anguish that any conscientious Indian would hear in the narrative, if he only cares to listen.

RGV compels us to watch and think. What the movie tells us is that the wounds of the night, must not be allowed to heal. Watching the horrific events in this outstanding film is an experience that defies the normal cinematic experience. This is a deviously dramatic and authentic recreation of the ghastly terror attack.

The film's end-credits roll backwards suggesting that the film imperatively took us back in time to recent history so that we don't repeat the same mistakes of a lax administration failing to cope with suicidal terror attacks. RGV ends the film with a moving rendering of "Raghupati raghav" in the background as Nana Patekar's character gazes hopefully into a peaceful ocean.

Nana holds the film together. He feels every line that he utters. His heart bleeds for each one of the 166 people who died on that night.

When he tells Kasab in a choked voice, "I have a son your age", Nana isn't faking it. His performance goes way beyond acting.

One of the best films in recent times on the wages of terrorism, and on a par with Katheryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty", "The Attacks Of 26/11" is a stunning wake-up call for those of us who think Mumbai's night of terror cannot happen again.

With this one work of riveting resonance, Varma has wiped away the bitter taste of his last half-a-dozen films. Gone is the sluggardness of the 'rogue technique' that shook not just the camera, but also the core of this director's creativity in recent works.
Welcome back, Ramu.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/315735/movie-review-attacks-2611.html

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Hello_kitta

@Hello_kitta

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

The Attacks Of 26/11

By Taran Adarsh, 27 Feb 2013, 15:11 hrs IST

The terror attacks on Mumbai on 26/11 will remain etched in our memory forever. The attacks, which were condemned globally, still send a shiver down my spine when I reminisce about it. The dastardly acts by a terrorist organization at multiple sites of the city, killing and wounding hundreds of innocent lives, evoked myriad emotions. One felt furious, powerless, empathetic, distraught and traumatized at the same time. Now relive the catastrophic attacks on the big screen...

The tragic event, which led to debates, discussions and candlelight marches, gets chronicled on the big screen. Ramgopal Varma's THE ATTACKS OF 26/11 is a cinematic interpretation of the barbaric attacks on 26/11, with the maverick film-maker unfolding the attacks on Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Leopold Cafe, Taj Mahal Hotel and Cama Hospital. Also incorporated in this motion picture is the arrest of Ajmal Kasab, the sole attacker who was captured alive, and his execution by hanging at Yerwada Jail in Pune last year.

A 7-minute showreel of how the terrorists infiltrated into Mumbai -- part of the promotional campaign of THE ATTACKS OF 26/11 -- was spellbinding enough to generate incredible attention for the film. The challenge that RGV faced was to reconstruct the events, replicating the gruesome acts on celluloid. But, I wish to add, one relives the emotions while watching the horrifying events unfold on the screen -- infuriation, distress, grief, helplessness. It leaves you stunned and traumatized, as if you, too, had been caught in the swirl of events that led to the inexpressible misery and carnage. Also, THE ATTACKS OF 26/11 makes you salute and respect the men in uniform, who fought the terrorists tooth and nail. That's precisely why THE ATTACKS OF 26/11 triumphs as a feature film.

RGV restricts the film to the night of the incident, recording episodes between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m., when Kasab was caught at Chowpatty. The movie grabs your attention from the inception itself, when the terrorists hijack an Indian trawler, Kuber, kill the fishermen on board and compel its head to sail towards Mumbai. Though it's impossible to chronicle the events in 2 hours, RGV films the brutal attacks with ferocious passion, conjuring up images that seem straight out of real life. The audacious shootout in the lobby of Taj [replicated at another hotel], the slaughter and mayhem at CST, the blood and gore, each and every sequence that unfolds on screen gives you the goose bumps [this could be a deterrent for those who get put off by too much blood and gore]. Especially the sequence at the interval point [a wounded child watching a cop cry his lungs out]. It is chilling!

It's in the post-interval portions that the viewer gets to know what transpired at Cama Hospital and also gets an insight into the mind of Ajmal Kasab. The sequence when Kasab talks of his Aaka and the fight to save Islam is shocking. But it's the sequence in the morgue -- with Nana confronting Kasab and talking about jihad -- which takes the graph of the film to an all-time high. It's in these two sequences that you realize that the supremely talented storyteller is back with a vengeance.

RGV makes sure he doesn't skip a beat while narrating the vital episodes. Sure, the skeptics may argue, we have read and seen it all through various forms of communication [TV, newspapers, online], but what RGV accumulates is beyond words. This is one film where the real-life episodes take precedence, while technique takes a backseat [unlike his previous endeavors]. The gimmicky camera angles are not there this time, since RGV goes about passionately reliving the horrific tale as it is. In fact, it won't be erroneous to state that THE ATTACKS OF 26/11 rediscovers RGV, who bounces back with renewed enthusiasm.

The screenwriting [Rommel Rodrigues], the lines that the characters deliver [Rommel Rodrigues, Rashid Iqbal, Prashant Pandey], the cinematography [Harshraj Shroff, M. Ravichandran], the shootouts [Javed-Aejaz], the background score [Amar Mohile], the art direction [Udai Prakash Singh] and the edit [Sunil M. Wadhwani, Ajit M. Nair] add credence to the enterprise that attempts to portray the carnage. The impact leaves you stunned and traumatized.

Nana Patekar is exceptional. Such restraint and maturity in a performance is a rarity. He is super in the sequences when he disposes before the inquiry commission and electrifying when he confronts Kasab at the morgue. Sanjeev Jaiswal [as Kasab] is so persuasive that you can't help but hate him and his on-screen actions. The brutality that dwells in some humans comes to the fore as Jaiswal intensely enacts the sequence at the interrogation centre. Saad Orhan [as Ismail] is equally convincing. Atul Kulkarni, Asif Basra, Ravi Kale and Ganesh Yadav make cameo appearances.

On the whole, THE ATTACKS OF 26/11 is akin to watching the barbaric act in rawest form. The film not only chronicles the terror attacks, but also pays homage to the sentiments of the people of India and especially the heroes and victims of 26/11. A powerful retelling of a regrettable event in history. Do not miss this one!

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Hello_kitta

@Hello_kitta

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

Rating **

Remember those images of Ram Gopal Varma at the Taj hotel after the 26/11 attacks? The director was at the site of the terrorist strike to do research, but was tagged as insensitive for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. One would have hoped that perhaps he would have used that knowledge and understanding as a reference for this film.

Unfortunately, The Attacks of 26/11 ends up being a confused piece of work that has neither the well researched methodology of a documentary nor the dramatics of a feature film.With the first eight minutes of the film already released in advance, we know the story is narrated as a deposition of the Joint Commissioner of Police (Nana Patekar) in front of a jury. Maybe Patekar brings seriousness and street credibility to the project.However, we are subjected to long drawn pauses, slow paced monologues and uncomfortable close ups (RGV's camera fetish) that serve no purpose whatsoever.

It is a Herculean task recreating those memories and images from that ill fated day. The story begins at sea as we are introduced to the group of armed men all set to wreak havoc and destruction on the city. As the time line moves we visit the hot-spots (Caf Leopold, CST station, Cama Hospital, Taj Mahal hotel) where the shoot outs and massacres happened. But the way these events evolve are so mechanical and monotonous that they fail to grip you or even make you uneasy. Using slow motion and camera trickery to show blood spilling out of body parts to show the extent of the carnage loses steam as we see multiple frames with similar shots.

Patekar's narrative doesn't work. It simply disrupts the flow, making the pace tiresome. Factually there are several omissions of key officers, places and incidents. Ramu should have high lighted them and gone easy on theover the top climax with Patekar giving Kasab a class in secularism and maintainingthe sanctity of the holy Quran (perhaps a little too late in the day?).

Atul Kulkarni is wasted in a blink and miss role. Sanjay Jaiswal who plays Kasab has a few decent moments towards the end. Nana Patekar uses voice modulation more often than needed. It feels like he is subconsciously fighting an actors block through out the film. Ramu should have ditched the commercialism and gone guerrilla if he wanted to accomplish what he set out to do.

The Attacks of 26/11 feels like a over decorated half baked dish that has the right ingredients and toppings but lacks the taste to titillate your appetite.

http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/review_review-the-attacks-of-26-11-feels-like-a-over-decorated-half-baked-dish_1806061

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NoThanks

@NoThanks

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

I think I am going to give it a shot.Wish me luck.

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Nikita Lakhe

@nikitagmc

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 12 years ago

My friend watched it today- Would like to point out that there are some mistakes in the 'research' done by RGV's team. Cama hospital's full name was wrong, secondly, Cama hospital is a hospital for women and children only, not for other specialities as shown in the movie. Three, to the best of my (and my friend's )knowledge no DOCTORS were killed at Cama hospital.

Plus they didn't even shoot the movie at CST station. They shot at Mumbai Central trying to disguise it as CST and my friend could easily see through it. 😆 wonder why they couldn't replicate a set of CST when they had a budget of 25 crores.

I am surprised none of the reviews have pointed out these things. When you are making a docu-drama in which you are relating the events of that night and not really adding anything new in terms of the story, then it is important to get the details right, in my opinion.

Anyways, I don't think I'll be watching this movie now.

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Kal El

@Kal El

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: nikitagmc
Would like to point out that there are some mistakes in the 'research' done by RGV's team. Cama hospital's full name was wrong, secondly, Cama hospital is a hospital for women and children only, not for other specialities as shown in the movie.

The 'name' thing is probably a legal issue. Maybe they couldn't get permission from them or work something out so that they could use their actual full name. For the other point, maybe it was done to simplify things for the movie. In any case, since they didn't use the full name, the hospital in the movie is obviously not the real one and hence they were free to portray their specializations as they saw fit.

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@DB_reloaded

Trailblazer

+ 5

Posted: 12 years ago

The Attacks of 26/11 Day 2 (Saturday) Box Office Collections

March 3rd, 2013 by Mukul Kr. Sharma

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The Attacks of 26/11 failed to show any increase in the box office numbers on its Day 2. The RGV film based on the real incidents of 26/11 Mumbai Attacks had made an opening day box office collection of 1.45 Crores. Come Saturday and the movie made another 1.70 Crores. Post its 2 Day run at the domestic box office The Attacks of 26/11 has managed to make just 3.15 Crores.

Still from The Attacks Of 26/11 Movie

Despite 2 new releases this weekend, Kai Po Che seems to be the only movie doing some decent business at the box office. John Abraham's I Me Aur Main has seen an equal fate as that of The Attacks of 26/11. It seems highly unlikely that any of the 2 new releases will see any growth on Sunday.