new york(review)

the infiltration of reality into designer world

New York is one of the bravest attempt coming from the Yashraj stable . Aditya Chopra has only been attributed as the story writer for the film & to be very fair the film does have a predictable story line .Well you cant blame him for lack of ideas as he is always hidden & reclusive to the world to watch it closely . The film talks about the Muslim point of view in U.S.A post 9/11 . How the most civilized world lost their humanity at the first sign of global danger i.e. Al Qaeeda . Now the Muslim Plight has been brilliantly showcased in the movies like the outstanding Aamir , But 9/11 & America’s reaction to it has not been depicted in Hindi cinema before . So inspite of having a predictable story , the setting is new . That’s exactly what works for New York . What also works for the film is the friendship track in the university . The track with wonderful song ‘Junoon’ playing in the background creates a sense of strong emotions for the characters especially for Neil’s character that lingers on even in the most dramatic scenes featuring Neil . In the same way the big twist though on expected lines works well because the torture scene preceding it has been shot extremely
But thank God New York has been helmed by a Kabir Khan & not a Aditya Chopra or else we would have seen a 3 hr plus movie with loads of melodrama & songs .All these factors would have doomed the movie as it is of completely different genre in contrast to the Romantic epics that Aditya is known to make . Thankfully Kabir Khan comes from a raw & Real school of filmmaking , a facet that we saw in his extremely unique & quirky first attempt Kabul Express . Kabir Khan has a very simple style of story telling , no props , no unique camera angles , just let the story do the talking So none of the songs are lip -synched but are used as backgrounds to set the moods of the scenes , the pacing is fast & important scenes are superbly shot like the John Abraham’s big revelation scenes or the torture scenes .
realistically . It also helps to give John’s character the meat that it required .
Where Kabir Khan does well again is his choice of actor in the most important role of the film . Jus like his choosing of the brilliant Arshad Warsi in Kabul Express ,here too he goes for the superb Irfan Khan for the role of an FBI agent who creates the game which takes the story forward , Irfaan also has also has to mouth some very topical lines as regards to conveying the main message of the movie .Though in the hands of any other actor such lines could have gone into preachy territory , it is Irfaan’s natural talent that he makes all the lines real& restraint .

Though Kabir is not a director who can be called as an expert in extracting great performances from all his actors , which explains the indifferent performances from the 3 leads which varies from brilliance to plain ordinary(the 9/11 scene & their reaction to it is one such example of such inconsistency , seriously the expressions there was quite wooden in sharp contrast to what should have been the case after seeing such a heinous event happening supposedly so close to them) . It was quite expected though as non of the actors are known to be performers & it is after all their 1st attempts at full fledged serious roles .So inspite of the fact that one cant call it a complete performance they still surprise you in many of the scenes . Look at John Abraham , in an effort that can be termed as a performance from him after a long time instead of his regular kind of roles where he has to show the audience his Abs ( sometimes more than that) &just look good , he shocks you in the second half especially the sophistication & ease he brings to his dreaded character .It is easily his best effort till date & his constant improvement & choice of intelligent subjects as a way to enhance his career shows that one day John will be counted as an actor & the wooden tag will be removed , a change that has happened with many other actors ( for Example a certain MR KHiladi)
The same goes for Neil who has trappings of someone whom will evolve into a fine actor & inspite of the fact that he has got lots of scenes with Irfaan he comes out with flying colors expect for the few glitches here & there , it is a fine effort for somebody doing his third film . Katrina largely plays a supporting role to the 3 men , but surprises one as well in her first performance oriented role , yes she still has issues with dialogue delivery , but she has been aptly cast has the sunshine ( ever smiling) girl in the movie .A word for the actor who plays who is brilliant & a complete natural , I wonder why such talents are not highlighted by the media
Having said all the nice deserved things about New York , there is one glitch which I want to covey & that is the glorification of the anti-social . For some reason at one point unintentionally I might add we start rooting for the anti-social rather than the law enforcers , which is a dangerous situation at times especially the message that the makers is trying to convey through this movie . It is quite dangerous in times like these when violence is prevalent in every corner of the society .
3/5