Kurbaan (2009)

Let's be realistic.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

If there's a 0 star rating I would have rated this movie so.The story is very weak, boring, and superficial, specially looking at the "love story" between Avantika and Ehsaan. It is unbelievable.The most annoying part of the movie is how they portray Islam and the Islamic Religion and how they portray Jihad! Renzil D'Silva should get an education about real Islam before disgracing it with this amateur movie. I, as a Muslim, is furiously mad at this piece of junk.It's very misleading and should be banned. As simple as this.The story doesn't even convey a message, if you know nothing about Jihad and Islam you will end up totally confused, not knowing if Islam is Ehsaan's way or Ryiaz's! And in the scene Ehsaan talks about the real Islam, about mercy and compassion, it apposes everything Ehsaan and his group believes it! In his lecture he preaches the real teaching of Islam, and in real life, he does the exact contrary! I advise everyone not to watch it

There was a bit of good acting scattered throughout and the music was decent, but the plot holes were large enough to drive a bus through, and I found the handling of Muslim characters extremely one-sided. Yes, there were a few moderate voices, but they got very little attention, making this seem pretty much 95% anti-Islamic.The story following the FBI investigators was extremely choppy and that investigation was not believable. Leads such as fingerprints that should have been on the murder weapon in the club, or such as the license plates on the burned car were completely ignored as these supposedly-trained detectives stumbled around in the dark and waited for a reporter to solve all their problems.The idea that a terrorist cell would not do even a cursory investigation of a new member right before an attack is also ridiculous.I was however very impressed by the Hindi spoken by random New York Caucasians in the night classes. Shabash! Maybe mine would have improved faster if I'd attended more lectures on religion.

Karan Johar attempts a terrorist thriller/love story and gets Rensil D' Souza to direct it. However, his writing is lacklustre. Not only is the story filled with plot holes (like why Avantika wouldn't call 911), poor characterization (Riaz, who is supposed to be a smart journalist, single-handedly attempting to fight terrorists), clichéd dialogues and and stereotype. There are so many annoying moments that your head literally starts hurting from rolling your eyes so frequently. 'Kurbaan' plays on the media projected stereotype of Muslims being terrorists, that anyone who wears a headscarf, non-Western clothes, goes to the mosque or is a practicing Muslim is a terrorist. They try to balance things off with the Riaz character but with very little success at all. The movie has nothing to offer.On the other hand, the songs are very good and well utilized (except for the song during Avantika and Ehsaan's love scene, which looks amateurishly executed). The background score is pretty good except during the tense moments when a weird sound plays intrusively. Saif Ali Khan tries to downplay his terrorist role but the characters itself is so cardboard that I doubt there was much the actor could have done. Kareena Kapoor ie below average. Vivek Oberoi is good but he is mostly let down by awful writing. Om Puri is passable and Kiron Kher's diction of an Afghani speaking Hindi is laughable. Her performance stands out more in the quieter and more tense moments. Aside from the flaws, 'Kurbaan', moves at a steady pace and even though it is nowhere near a classic like 'Dil se', but still better than 'New York' .

The cover of the movie made me believe this movie could be the thriller of the year. I did not expect it would be a terrorist movie. Although the subject is daring, the movie was very slow. Cast was great, except Vivek Oberoi (great actor though). The biggest twist of the movie, that Saif was a terrorist also, came in the beginning. The rest of the movie wasn't worth watching.It is very clear that in most terrorist movies the Muslim culture is involved. It would be better if that would be taken care of, instead of making movies about it. But making a movie about it, makes people think about it as a subject that leads to discussion. In that fact the movie is very successful.On the other hand the terrorists are shown as monsters. It's like an overblown Nazi-movie where Hitler is a monster. Let not forget, even though terrorists or people who take other people's lives are crazy by putting their action in the hands of religion, they still are people. In that matter Saif Ali Khan gave us a great performance and the other men of the terrorist group gave me a cheap shiver.There is one thing I did not understand in the scene where Kareena Kapoor took the bullet out of Saif's chest; Why did Saif scream a moment later when the bullet was already taken out of his chest and not when Kareena was taking the bullet out?