July 19, 2013.
Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Irfan Khan, Shruti Hassan, Huma Qureshi.
Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Irfan Khan, Shruti Hassan, Huma Qureshi.
Director: Nikhil Advani.
D Day is a surprise package
coming from Nikhil Advani both content wise as well as execution wise.
After a few moments showing
the 1993 Bombay blasts the film comes to the present, where, during the
discussion between a top police official and the Chairman of R&AW, the
possibility of an operation to hunt down India’s most wanted criminal ‘Goldman”
(Dawood Ibrahim) in the lines of Operation Geronimo is discussed.
The fiction that follows
talks about the possible route that the Indian Government could take in
bringing down Dawood through a covert operation using four Indian operatives.
A few minutes into the film
“Operation Goldman” takes place and from there on the brilliantly crafted
screenplay cuts across to 40 days prior to the operation, gradually coming back
to the operation by the middle of the film and then moving onto the current day
events. With a lot of realism in the way the film pans out you are in for a
gripping piece of art.
No praise is enough for the
amazing screenplay that links so many events in the most perfect way possible.
The set pieces showing the nabbing of Goldman first in the initial scenes and next
that comes later on are so beautifully written and executed. Add to that the
wonderfully choreographed fight sequences coupled with top class editing and
the Zero Dark thirty kind of camera, and you have a film that is really
appealing. The music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy is much better compared to their
last outing Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.
Coming to the performances
it is Rishi Kapoor and Arjun Rampal who steal the limelight followed by Irfan
Khan to a large extent. This is definitely one of the best roles of Arjun
Rampal till date. Rishi Kapoor seems to have really enjoyed playing Dawood
considering the end product on screen; apart from some of the best dialogues in
the film going to him the lengthy dialogues in the climax are surely gonna be a
showstealer!! The rest of the cast also comes out with equally good
performances, thanks to the able direction and screenplay.
The romantic angle
involving Arjun and Shruti, though well shot, could have been avoided as it
does not help the film’s cause in any manner whatsoever. Advani makes sure not
to add masala at all in any of the scenes, however, showing how serious he
wants this film to be, which works almost all the time.
The film made on a
documentary style to a large extent is a cut above the usual bollywood films.
I am giving a 3.75/5
for D Day. Thumbs up to the effort from Advani.
Rating
Scale (Out of 5)
Less than 2
-
Unwatchable.
2 to 2.25
-
Below average.
2.5 to 2.75
-
Average.
3 to
3.25
-
Good.
3.5 to
3.75 -
Really Good.
4 to
4.25
-
Great.
4.5 and
above
- Extraordinary.
