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SARFAROSH (1999) ("Rebel")
Produced, Written and Directed By John Mathew Matthan Music: Jatin-Lalit Starring: Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Khan, Sonali Bendre, Mukeshi Rishi, Akash Khurana, Smita Jaykar, Sukanya Kulkarni, Akhilendra Mishra, Ahmed Khan, Pradeep Rawat, Makrand Deshpande Running Time: 155 Minutes
CineRating: 6 out of 10
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Exploring the ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan and the secret conspiracies that intensify it, John Mathew Matthan's debut feature is a welcome respite to the slew of Pakistani-bashing action flicks that Bollywood regularly produces, but its thoughtfulness is undermined somewhat by its dry visual style and inconsistent tone. More complex than Vidhu Vinod Chopra's later Mission Kashmir, Matthan's film nevertheless could have benefitted from the technical polish of Chopra's movie.
Aamir Khan, in rare action-hero mode, stars as Ajay Singh Rathod, a lovestruck college student in Delhi whose attempts to hook up with flirty fellow pupil Seema (Sonali Bendre) are soundly interrupted when terrorists kidnap his father and kill his brother. After several days in captivity Ajay's dad is released, but only after having been severely tortured and left mentally and physically disabled. Ajay and his family pack up and move to Mumbai, where he joins the police force and becomes the Assistant Chief of Police (ACP). He presides over a case involving the smuggling of arms to terrrorists and criminals in India via Pakistan's intelligence agency (ISI). The investigation hits its first major snag when Inspector Salim (Mukesh Rishi) is dismissed from the case following his botched apprehension of a Pakistani suspect. Although Ajay values Salim's expertise and requests that they continue to work together, Salim bitterly refuses, believing that he was punished because his Muslim background (the movie uses the term "Mussalman") has cast an unfair light of disloyalty upon him. However, Ajay's dogged pursuit of the arms smugglers inspires Salim to have a change of heart, though even he may not be able to save Ajay from the increasingly ruthless tactics of the nervous smugglers.
John Mathew Matthan's script examines the controversial issues surrounding the Indo-Pakistani conflict in a passionate manner and has the benefit of current events to give the story both weight and immediacy. However, his handling of the dense material is too choppy and unfocused at times, particularly in the film's first half, where the movie's lack of a strong visual style and its inability to transmit the emotional intensity of what's happening onscreen make for a less-than-galvanizing experience to anyone not well-versed in the storyline's intricacies. It's only when Aamir Khan's character becomes deeply involved in the arms smuggling case that the movie begins to hit its stride, as the various plot threads finally weave together to form a compelling whole. Khan, too, is markedly better in the film's second half, where his physically expressive talents are unleashed after being constrained by the banal romance of the opening hour. The action sequences are well staged but overly generic, and the finale is derivative (see Lethal Weapon 2's "diplomatic immunity") and not particularly convincing.
As expected, the Muslim characters are presented in a mostly unfavorable light, but they do at least seem human here, unlike the sneering ready-for-slaughter caricatures of Sunny Deol's action films. And although the inclusion of Salim -- a heroic Muslim cop -- seems done primarily to help balance the ethnic and religious scales, the character is well played by Mukesh Rishi, who vividly conveys Salim's frustrations at being pigeon-holed because of his Muslim background. As Gulfam Hassan, a Pakistani ghazal singer who strikes up a close bond with Ajay, Naseeruddin Shah adds another layer of complexity to the material, calling into question whether anyone can ever truly be trusted in such a volatile situation, while also evoking the immense conflict inherent within those who consider both India and Pakistan to be a part of their homeland.
Like Mission Kashmir, Sarfarosh is a political thriller with various song-and-dance numbers, most of which have no apparent reason for being other than to appease the Bollywood marketplace. The musical bits are even less welcome in Sarfarosh because Matthan has worked them into the storyline by way of an incompatible romantic subplot that too often stops the story dead in its tracks. Granted, at first the romance does seem to have a real purpose in the film's larger scheme of things, but by the start of the second hour it's obvious that its real function is to serve as intermittent comedy relief and as the perfunctory segue-way to the film's showcase song-and-dance numbers. While "Jo Hal Dil Ka" can easily stand on its own as a well-picturised number, it belongs in an entirely different movie. Sonali Bendre (Zakhm [1998]) is at least attractive and appealing as the bubbly love interest, but the only substantial thing her nonsensical character really adds to the storyline is an extra thirty minutes.
The out-of-print (but still available) DEI DVD offers a sharp picture and is generally considered the superior of the film's two DVD releases -- with the other being from Eros/B4U. The DVD's only real downside is the frequent appearance of splice lines at the top of the picture.
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DVD Specs:
DEI DVD
All Regions
Removable English Subs (none for the songs)
No Extras
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