Awarapan (2007)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Let's be realistic.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Wow. That is really all I could say about this movie because, for me, it was amazing. Emraan Hashmi took the character to a whole other level and just performed it flawlessly. I really couldn't think of a better actor to play the part. Ashutosh Rana was also great in the film and came off as intimidating and caring at the same time. Shreya Saran looked gorgeous and was perfect for her role. Everyone else in the film was also very good, but it will take me forever to praise each one individually.So, after seeing this movie, it puzzled me immensely to see that this film was nominated for hardly ANYTHING! Where was the best actor award for Emraan Hashmi? Where were any nominations for the amazing and heartfelt music and lyrics? What makes me really mad about the whole situation is that this movie was so much better than Om Shanti Om, but this movie couldn't be nominated for anything because SRK wasn't in it. And trust me, the Awarapan songs are much better than the Guru songs, so I really don't see what the jury was smoking when nomination time rolled around.Now that I've vented, please see this movie because it is one of the greatest pieces of cinema you will watch.

I like Mahesh Bhatt's productions, but I do not go to see all his movies. If some directors, visuals, story-lines, music, actors appeal to me, I venture to those Bhatt cinema. The posters of this movie appealed me.This movie is a re-make (what else Mahesh Bhatt productions can do?) of South Korean movie "The Bitter-sweet Life".The story is about henchmen Shivam (Imraan Hashmi) who works for international mafia / girl trafficker Malik (Ashutosh Rana). Malik instructs Shivam to kill his comfort woman (purchased from girl trafficking trade) Reema (Mrinalini Sharma). But Shivam is not able to kill Reema because Reema reminds Shivan of his old lost love with a Muslim girl (Shriya of Tamil Sivaji fame). Instead Shivam decides to fight for Reema's freedom and unites Reema with her boyfriend.The Director Mohit Suri maintains a tight script throughout the movie. The first half builds up the story and the second half paces if up with actions and fights. The musical score / songs by Pritam is also very good. Imraan Hashmi has acted well and has improved a lot since his debut. Ashutosh Rana steals the show with his powerful performance. Shriya in the small role leaves behind good memories and one would look forward to her Bollywood movies. Mrinalini is good in calm scenes but overacts in tense scenes.There is an overload of action in the second half. The biggest drawback that let me down in the movie was the scripting of Imraan's escape from goon's hands. Throughout the movie all goons were shown immediately drawing out guns – in that scene, strangely none of the 15-20 goons had gun with them to shoot our hero. I think that scene could had been thought out more creatively to look acceptable.It has also the Hindu – Muslim, the India – Pakistani and Believer – Atheist angles to it. Mahesh Bhatt likes this kind of stuff for making some personal points of his philosophy and also appealing to different audiences' tastes.Overall the movie is okay – but could had been much better.(Stars 5.5 out of 10)

I was really impressed with this movie, it was very different to so many Bollywood films out there and even Hollywood films. The acting was good, the setting beautiful and the plot very original. It had a good message at the heart of it about faith and belief in god and what I particularly liked was, it avoided delving it in to stereotypical views of female Muslims. Nevertheless there are one or two boring scenes as in too long, albeit there are some very beautiful, simple and symbolic ones too. Thankfully there's no unnecessary sex scenes (although the topic is very mildly discussed in two scenes). Emraan Hashimi was very good as was the actress who plays Aliya (very beautiful girl). Yes there are one or two unbelievable scenes but that aside its definitely worth watching, there's action and romance although zero comedy so people looking for good time should avoid. Its a movie that leaves you thinking, and I especially love the second to last scene- stunning...The music is gorgeous and fits each scene in its played in as well as the whole movie overall perfectly....

Awarapan comes from the stables of ace movie mavericks, Mukesh Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt, famous for crafting Bollywood's biggest musical hits, Zeher, Woh Lamhe and Gangster.Shot in Hong Kong, Bangkok and Pakistan, Awarapan is an intense and compelling drama about love, passion and betrayal with a chart-busting soundtrack that features for the first time an array of top-notch music artistes from Pakistan.Awarapan tracks the journey of Shivam (Emraan Hashmi), a godless heartbroken boy who has never known or felt love. In order to escape the ghosts of his tragic past, Shivam dedicates himself to serve his gangster boss in Hong Kong with unflinching correctness and loyalty. His boss trusts him enough to ask him to keep an eye on his alluring girlfriend, Reema (Mrinalini Sharma) whom he has kept away from the eyes of his adversaries.Shivam's heart melts on seeing her innocence and vulnerability, as he is able to draw parallels with his girlfriend from the past (Shreya Saran). The atheist turns into a believer and begins smiling and responding to life. Reema gives Shivam reason to believe that she likes him. Existence begins to blush for Shivam but only till the reality dawns on him that Reema has a secret lover tucked away and was planning to elope with him. Her game was merely a smoke- screen created to gain freedom.A shattered Shivam is in a dilemma on realizing that he has been heartlessly used - does he inform his boss or does he earn his wrath by helping his unrequited love to achieve the freedom she yearns for? If anything, 'Awarapan' showcases the acting talent of Emraan Hashmi. The actor steps out of his usual chocolate boy image and plays a very serious and intense role with full conviction. He may not be the deadliest looker around, but he sure does know the art of restraining and underplaying his characters. And his performance in 'Awarapan' proves that he is one of the under-rated talents in Bollywood.Mrinalini Sharma overacts in certain scenes, but manages to play her part fairly well on the whole. Shriya Saran's acting looks very natural. She looks very comfortable playing the brief role she has in the film. Ashutosh Rana is another actor who delivers a superb performance.Mohit Suri succeeds to a great extent in translating an interesting story on celluloid. There are many scenes and sequences (like confrontation between Emraan and Aaliya's father, or Emraan's final sequence with Ashutosh Rana) that are intelligently conceived. The cinematography is visually appealing and the music (by Pritam) is also good.On the whole, 'Awarapan' is worth watching once.