Releases of 2008 based on theme of terrorism

They say reel life often imitates real. The year 2008 has seen a lot of terrorist attacks in India. The prominent ones which immediately come to our memory include the deadly blasts which rocked the city of Jaipur in May and the Bangalore serial blasts in July which was immediately followed by more than a dozen or so blasts that rocked the areas in and around Ahmedabad. Strange, as it may seem, many of our films which released this year have been based on the theme of terrorism. While some were based on real life incidents, others have been fictional. Nevertheless, 2008 has been a year where terrorism not just wreaked havoc in our lives, but also made its presence felt in our films. Here's a dekko at some of the films (released this year) set against the backdrop of terrorism.

Black & White

After specializing in directing musicals, revenge sagas and love stories his entire career, showman of Bollywood, Subhash Ghai, decided to shift gears and experiment with a serious film about a suicide bomber out to spread terrorism in the capital. The film had Anil Kapoor and newcomer Anurag Sinha in lead roles and like all of Ghai's films, this one too had good prevailing over evil in the end. Despite being honest in its intentions, the film didn't find too many viewers but Ghai nevertheless had proved his mettle as a fine storyteller in this genre as well.

Aamir

Not many people expected a lot from this small budget film. After all, it didn't have any real big stars, it had a new director (Rajkumar Gupta) at the helm of things and add to it the fact that it was released in the same week as biggie Sarkar Raj. However, once the first show was done, people came out praising this sensitive film about a man who is unknowingly and unwillingly made to commit a heinous act of terrorism. The film was appreciated by critics and the paying public and soon T.V.'s blue eyed boy Rajeev Khandelwal had established himself as an actor to watch out for in the near future.

Contract

Contract was director Ram Gopal Varma's second release this year after the political drama Sarkar Raj. The promos emphasized the fact that while RGV's Satya gave an inside view of the underworld and Company gave an overview of the underworld; Contract depicted the nexus between underworld and terrorism. In spite of being known for making films on the underworld, this effort from RGV didn't find many takers. The fact that the film starred newcomers also didn't really help its cause. This was like a bomb which fizzled even before it could explode.

Mission Istaanbul

After Shootout At Lokhandwala, director Apoorva Lakhia decided to make a film on international terrorism and its repercussions. It's quite a strange coincidence that the day his film Mission Istaanbul opened across cinema halls (July 25th) the city of Bangalore witnessed around 7 serial blasts. In fact the very next day, even Gujarat (Ahmedabad) was rocked by bomb blasts. With the country facing such a grave situation, the last thing people wanted to do was go out and catch a flick depicting terrorism. Hence, Mission Istaanbul which had stars like Vivek Oberoi, Zayed Khan, Suneil Shetty besides clones of George W Bush and Osama Bin Laden fell in to the category of films that just came and went almost unnoticed.

Mumbai Meri Jaan

Director Nishikant Kamat may not be a well known name in Bollywood but the talented Marathi director won a lot of acclaim for his Marathi film Dombivili Fast that depicted the plight and frustrations of the average Mumbaikar with lan. For his Hindi directorial debut, Nishikant decided to touch the topic of the train blasts that rocked the city of Mumbai on July 11th 2006. The film which stars some really talented actors like Irrfan Khan, Kay Kay Menon, R Madhavan, Soha Ali Khan and Paresh Rawal talks more about the way the blasts affected the lives of Mumbaikars. Mumbai Meri Jaan opened across cinema halls recently (Aug 22nd) and has been liked by all those who have seen it.

A Wednesday

Strangely out of all the films released this year that depict terrorism in some way or the other 3 of them have been from the stable of UTV. First came Aamir (UTV Spotboy to be precise) then Mumbai Meri Jaan and now UTV Motion Pictures presents A Wednesday. The film, directed by debutant director Neeraj Pandey, is a fast paced, edge of the seat thriller where the story unfolds on a particular Wednesday. The film brings together two of the finest actors of our industry Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah who would be seen sharing screen space after a really long time.

Hijack

Shiney Ahuja is known more for his intense roles in films like Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Woh Lamhe and Life…In A Metro, but with his latest release Hijack, he gets to do some heavy-duty action. As the name suggests, Hijack directed by noted ad filmmaker Kunal Shivdasani talks about a plane hijacked by a group of terrorists who have certain demands. Shiney plays the chief maintenance officer at the airport and gets involved in the proceedings as his small daughter is in the hijacked plane. While Hollywood has seen some really good films revolving around the theme of hijack, Bollywood has only superficially touched upon the topic in films like Yeh Dil Aashiqana and Zameen. Hope this one indeed promises to have some hi-octane, adrenaline pumping action.

Besides the above mentioned films there were many other films which touched upon the topic of terrorism in some form or the other- Hope And A Little Sugar (spoke about a family's turmoil post the 9/11 terrorist attack ) Maan Gaye Mughall-E-Azam (despite being a comedy, showed a theatre troupe trying to sabotage a terrorist attack), Tahaan (depicts the life of people in the valley of Kashmir through the eyes of a small boy) Mukhbiir ( speaks about terrorism and underworld as seem from the point of view of secret informers ) and Chamku ( spoke about a Naxalite hired by the RAW to carry out secret operations).