Almost Kurbaan
Rating: – * * *
Each and every department of a movie, no matter how perfect and up to the mark, can go unnoticed if the basic plot is infected with flaws. That’s exactly the problem with Rensil D’Silva’s directorial debut Kurbaan. One really wishes the plot was as flawless and watertight as the performances, of each and every artist, and the technical aspects.
The story goes around professor Avantika (Kareena Kapoor), who thought her life is a bed of roses when she married her lover Ehsaan Khan, also a professor, (Saif Ali Khan) until she discovered she is being used as a pawn in a huge terror conspiracy. There’s also Riyaaz (Vivek Oberoi), a war journalist with disguised intentions.
As stated earlier, the problem with Kurbaan lies in the plot itself. The whole idea and motive of Riyaaz is devoid of much logic (not going through the details in order to avoid being a spoiler).
Another scene, the most vital in the plot, is plain laughable. Just figure this out – Avantika gets to know that the plane, in which her friend (Dia Mirza) will be travelling, is going to get blown up. What does Avantika do when she couldn’t get through Dia’s mobile phone? She phones at Dia’s office landline just 15 minutes before takeoff and leaves a recorded message urging and pleading her not to take the flight. How the hell can she expect Dia to receive the message in her office just 15 minutes before the takeoff? She could have called the police, the FBI or the airport authorities but looks like she didn’t trust them. 
The above two loopholes turn you off from a rather well made thriller with some terrific edge-of-the-seat moments. Another flipside is the duration of 2 hours 40 minutes. One could afford to miss the initial 20 odd minutes where the hero goes head over heels when he sees his heroine and flirts with her in a typical 90’s fashion. In some more places, the editor should have used his scissors.
Despite the problems, D’Silva does leave a mark. Shooting such a film can be a hell of a task especially when it’s your first one. Therefore, D’Silva should get full credit for it. But the strongest factors come in the form of Hemant Chaturvedi’s cinematography, Salim-Sulaiman’s revolutionary background score, Parvez Khan’s action and Anurag Kashyap and Niranjan Iyenagar’s dialogues.
Salim-Sulaiman’s duo, as music directors, does produce some tuneful melodies but sadly the songs end up being interrupters and the most memorable title track appears at the end credits.
Both Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor enact their parts with flawlessness. Their emotional acts in the climax stay etched in your memory. However, it’s Vivek Oberoi who comes as a total surprise. He has played his part so well that it won’t be an overstatement to assert that the actor is back to his Company, Saathiya and Dum days. In a film which relies mostly on performances, the supporting cast needs to deliver top notch performances and Om Puri, Kiron Kher and the rest of the filling cast do exactly that.
The information and statistics provided in the script and the issues taken to light need special mention. Not many would have known that the US, in their efforts to curb terrorism, ended up taking many more than 15,000 lives in Iraq and Afghanistan which is five times more than the death toll in the 9/11 attacks (3,000).
All in all, Kurbaan is for those who like to enjoy some spine chilling moments without troubling their brains. Despite the big starcast, the film has had just an average opening which will make its going tough at the box-office.
ThE movie is not gr8 nor spectacular , its a decent movie , but the flaws u r talking abt r non existent. Have u really watched the movie ? When u write tht ” The character of kareena when she gets to know tht the plane is gonna blown off n when she cant get through Dia s character s mobile phone , she calls on her office landline , when she should have called police , fbi , airport authorities as only exact 15 mins were remaining. ” this is ur understanding of tht scene n it makes me wonder whether u really watched tht scene or u were concentrating on something else. now let me tell u the facts , When kareena gets up from her drowsy state , she somehow opns her mobile to call n warn dia , She has no IDEA tht the plane is gonna take off in EXACT 15 MINS. according to wat she heard n her state of mind then , she has an idea tht the plane is gonna take off in some time , but tht some time can be 15 mins , 30 mins , 45 mins n even an hour. there is no timer there telling her tht only 15 mins r remaining , Secondly does Kareena have any contact of the FBI , POLICE OR airport authorities , how in the hell inside 2 minutes with the fear of saif s character catching her , is she gonna get their contacts n contact them, n from where is she gonna get the contact numbers from , so does she have any option other than calling on the official landline n hoping for the best. In real life when a normal person under so much fear in tht situation , wat is tht person gonna do , obv try the mobile number , if its switched off , then try the next best option , n tht was calling the landline n leaving the msg. So mr Keyur according to u i think , she must have had such magical powers to get the contacts of the police or fbi etc , thts why u saw a flaw in a correct scence , Hats off to u , Man , . ps , i made my frds read ur review n they burst out laughing due to ur foolishness , n the reason i m mentioning them is cause those frds r ur former classmates too ,
Kareena knew that the take off time was 10:30. When Dia got to know about the take off time, Kareena was sitting right there. And if she is in a state to dial a mobile number she can easily dial some other number. She has to know the emergency number in New York as she has stayed there even before. First get your facts right and then open your filthy mouth to bark.
I agree with u on one thing , tht Editing should have been tightier , but when u write tht” the first 20 mins when the hreo goes head over heels when he sees his heroine and flirts with her in a typical 90’s fashion” , cme on dude it was needed to set up the story , n to understand it from kareena s perspective ,
I just felt it was boring. It’s just my opinion. It’s not necessary that two people’s opinion should always match.
A review is a personal opinion of the reviewer.
Dude kareena didnt even pay attention to the time ,nor was she in any state to remember the exact time , she was drugged n she had to do things quickly , n its no guarantee tht just cause a person has stayed in some country , tht person would easily have or recall emergency numbers , Even now in our own country in our daily life , when people r in emergency , when their minds dont work quickly as urs , most of the people either dont know the cbi or the police or most emergency numbers , when u have just a minute or 2 , or ur own life is in danger , u take the best possible option , , in our own mumbai , most of the people wont know any emergency number in case of emergencies , get real dude , dont stay in ur fantasty land , do u want a open live real debate on this topic?
She was listening to it so I felt she should have remembered. This is just my opinion. And just like we have the police number of 100, there must be a similar easy number and I think she should remember that. This is just what I feel and it’s just my opinion and if you feeling annoyed with it then it’s your bloody problem.
get it straight , u write crap reviews , absolutely awful , , as u were my ex classmate , i used to read to check whether u have developed or no , but u r same or worse , i still have ur report on sports journalism in India , all the lines n paragraphs r copied n pasted , just get real
It really doesn’t matter to me what you think about my reviews. You are just nobody for me.
And not a single line of the report was copied from anywhere. The full report was written by me. But still if you think it was copied, nobody can stop your filthy mind. It’s just that as you dont have anything to say, you are talking shit. But it’s ok. You can continue to bark. Biscuit doon?