Lamhaa

Rating:**

Watching ‘Lamhaa’ is like reading the daily headlines : every ill that has beset Kashmir since 1947 is in the film. As it unfolds,we are introduced to characters we have either read about or imagined in the continuing story of Kashmir: the Pandits who have fled,the bearded ‘maulvis’ who are funded by the ISI,the corrupt army officials and the crooked politicians who have sold out,and the power brokers whose only religion if money,and the reformed terrorist who wants to fight elections.

Dholakia has shot in Srinagar and surrounding areas,and that gives the film much of its immediacy : no set on earth can replicate streets and sounds and sights. So the valley that used to be ‘jannat’,and is now the ‘most dangerous place on earth’,according to special agent Vikram Sabharwal ( Dutt),is displayed in all its corrosive beauty. Sabharwal’s mission is to save the valley from itself,and to that end he gets to meet all the dramatis personae : Haji ( Kher),his adoptive daughter Aziza ( Basu),Altaf ( Kapoor) who wants ‘azadi’ through the ballot,not the bullet,and other assorted characters.

The film takes its time giving us all these familiar characters we’ve met in newspaper columns,or in other films on the same subject ( ‘Tahaan’,Yahan’),and that’s its chief problem : nothing in it is strikingly new. Some dialogue is,some nicely done scenes are. But overall,the density of its content overwhelms the film. No one else rises above it,except Dutt,and this statement,which can bear repeating : Kashmir is like a company which everyone wants to exploit,and no one wants it to be ‘azad’.

shubhra.gupta@expressindia.com