So I just came back from the cinema after watching the controversial Alia Bhatt starrer movie Raazi directed by one of my favourite director, Meghna Gulzar. I just had to write the review because after watching the movie, I was wondering what was the need for so much controversy about it being called anti-Pakistan.

The movie is based on spy thriller novel “Calling Sehmat” written by Harinder S. Sikka and is based on real-life events. It’s a story of an Indian Kashmiri girl, who is married into a Pakistani family for the sole purpose of working as a spy for Indian Intelligence before the 1971 India – Pakistan war.

Watch the trailer here, if you haven’t

We (me and my very patriotic husband) thought it’s a BRILLIANT movie! And I’ll give you my 2 cents here, why we think this way…

Anti Pakistan or Not!?

If you ask me, the movie is NOT AT ALL against Pakistan in any way (take a deep breath people, who think otherwise and read on). After the India Pakistan partition, there was bad taste and hatred on both sides (and frankly I know some people who still think that way). A lot of lives were lost on BOTH sides. They killed us and we killed them… so let’s not point fingers.. that’s how war always is! Brutal!

This story is about an Indian Kashmiri spy, who was planted in a Pakistani Army officer’s home to spy. So if you think openly, they are accepting that India was planting spies in Pakistan (and let’s not forget its always been vice versa as well – because that’s how the Intelligence Agency of ANY country works!)

The movie also admits about India’s interference and role in East Pakistan’s separation from West Pakistan – again a reality that they are admitting in the movie.  And oh well, Alia Bhatt plays an Indian spy (not Pakistani…). So Pakistanis please relax, because if they are brave enough to accept and show what they did in history… we should be able to as well.

The movie shows how Pakistani Army was planning to attack India because of their interference to break Pakistan (East and West), but thats what happens in wars… Strategies are made, Intelligence is used to intercept and decipher those plans and prepare for a counter attack. Whether it is Pakistan Army or Indian Army… they fight for their own country and against the enemy… thats the reality of warfare.

What I loved about the movie is that they showed the human element of war.. the human cost of it.. even for the spy, and I thought that was just so brutally real! For the Indian spy girl or for her Pakistani Army Officer husband, their love for their countries came before anything else… Human emotions & relationships, everything was secondary for them in times of war but yet the movie portrayed how difficult it was for them to remain insensitive to the emotions they had for each other.

The reality is (and I have seen this in life), that when a soldier kills another soldier across the border (on any side) and surviving soldier returns home as a war hero, the thought of the widow and the orphan of the man he killed, haunts him for the rest of his life. Thats the human price of war!

There is a brilliant dialogue in the movie which sums up the reality of warfare…

There is no ME or YOU in war… There is ONLY War!

And bravo to Alia Bhatt! She is a powerhouse of talent! She blew me away (yet again!) with her super performance. And also Meghna Gulzar for making such a brave movie!

My Verdict:

A MUST watch for everyone who enjoys some quality Bollywood cinema.  The movie keeps you at the edge of the seat and there is not one minute in the movie where I looked at my watch to see how much time is left!

Caution: If you are one of those who jump out of their seats at the name of Pakistan being mentioned in an Indian movie and cannot rationally see that war is brutal on both sides.. then please don’t bother to watch it.

And if you have missed my husband’s poetry on his encounter with an Indian Airforce Pilot, you must read it here.