Paisa 'Kurbaan'

MY VIEWS:I watched the much-awaited Karan Johar movie Kurbaan yesterday. I had watched the trailers and was expecting a good flick as it stars a band of well-established actors who have proved their acting prowess in many films. The fact that the movie was directed by a debutant Renil did not bother me much as I knew that movies coming out of the Karan Johar banner were usually neatly made and smartly shot.
I had to stand in line in the morning to get the advance booking done. So there I was, waiting to get inside the theater and hoping that the movie would provide me with a good culmination for the already eventful weekend.
But sadly, I was in for a 2 hour and 45 minutes of sloOOow draggy film that really didn't appeal to me much. I couldn't hear anyone coming out of the movie-theater talking highly about the movie.

THE PLOT:The story revolves around the Muslim-Hindu couple of Saifeena who decide to settle abroad in New York (strangely, almost all terrorist based movies are based on NY). I won't be letting the cat out of the bag when I say that Saif is our terrorist of the movie. There are others too but Saif wins the 'terrorist of the movie' award comfortably. He, along with his band of Islamist jihadi loyalists hatch a plan to once again execute a horrendous act of 9-11 style plot.
Kareena, meanwhile stumbles upon the body of a Muslim friend (who was her neighbour) while trespassing in their basement. This leads to Kareena (and us)finding out that Saifu baba is also a terrorist and understandably freaks out. In this process she also reveals that she is pregnant and that if she lives, she would not want Saif have anything to do with their baby(again understandable). The movie then progresses (sloooowly) to show us how Kareena gets in touch with an outsider - enter Vivek Oberoi(I'll come to him later in my review) and how he gets involved in this terror plot.
and of course I am not a spoil-sport to tell you who lives and who dies in the end (although it becomes almost predictable in the last half an hour)...and why the name of the movie happens to be 'Kurbaan'.
The movie's slow rate fails to gather too much momentum(it tries its best to raise ur blood-pressure) in the climax scenes.

MUSIC:The music and the background score is pretty decent and apt for a movie with a dark theme. The opening song is the one I liked the best. I counted only three songs in the movie by the way...don't know where the others went.

THE ACTING: The 'surprise performance of the day' award undoubtedly goes to Vivek Oberoi who tries (successfully I think) in this movie to revive his career by playing the role of a modern young Muslim anti-jihad radical. There are other beauties like Dia Mirza and Nauheed Cyrusi who have very brief roles in the movie. Om Puri does well as the 'Bhaijaan' and the mastermind of the terrorist activity in this movie. The film has an interesting scene wherein Vivek argues with Americans in a class (being taken by Saif) about how the americans are worse killers than the Al-Quaida and all by stating interesting facts and leaving you with the thought that 'hey!...he's right you know'.

Overall, I'd say that the movie ain't worth spending 200 bucks for the multiplex show. Go to this movie if you are a Saif or Kareena fan or if you simply have nothing to do on the weekend. I'm not saying that the movie is nonsense or utter rubbish, but its story certainly could've used a small extra-dose of suspense or action.

MY RATING: 2.5 / 5