Movie Review : Aamir (2008)

Aamir is an intriguing tale of politico-conspiracy thriller genre. It’s a debut movie for Rajiv Khandelwal.

It’s a story of a doctor who was living his peaceful and comfortable life in London and all of a sudden he is amidst of enigmatic conspiracy, criminal world and scapegoat of terrorist activities. Aamir Ali who returns from London is surprised to see no one at air port to receive him at the airport from his family. In a dramatic scene, he finds out that his family has been kidnapped by a terrorist group and if he wants to save their life he will have to follow their instruction. Horrified and scared Aamir follow their instruction and thus start his never ending- traumatic journey through narrow , dirty, unknown Mumbai lanes.

Eventually he figures out that he is being involved in a bombing conspiracy. Story also draws inspiration from the theme of Muslim Victimization in the wake of terrorism in the movies of this year like Shaurya, Khuda Ke liye, Black and White, A Hope and Little Sugar. Movie ultimately tries to raise the ubiquitous question – do you choose your destiny or does destiny choose you?
The movie does well in the first half when the story is fast, well bound and well shot with technical excellence. Cameragraphy is good with disturbing camera effects, focus on eyes of Aamir who is running wildly in strange lanes of Mumbai,-horrified, scared and confused. His run scenes are exceptionally well shot and Rajiv’s natural acting is a delight to watch as a common man. The background is well placed with the pace of the movie.

But movie ends rather meekly with some illogical and unsolved questions like why Aamir was chosen for this mission. Its fails in the climax as story becomes loose and untidy.

Movie has its plus points in the acting of Rajiv Khandelwal’s performance as he has played the role of common man. He has shown remarkable talent and we will surely see more of him in coming future.
Despite its all setbacks movie should be applauded for its daring steps and keeping it away from the typical bollywood masala of love angle, item numbers, and songs. Those who like experiments and movies different from Mundane bollywood stuff , are advised to watch the movie.

Casting

Producer : Ronnie Screwvala

Associate Producer : Ram Mirchandani, Alpana Mishra

Co-Producer : Zarina Mehta, Vikas Bahl, Deven Khote, Siddharth Roy Kapur

Creative Producer : Anurag Kashyap

Director : Rajkumar Gupta

Cast : Rajeev Khandelwal

Music Director : Amit Trivedi

Lyricist : Amitabh

Story Writer : Rajkumar Gupta

Dialogue Writer : Rajkumar Gupta

Screenplay Writer : Rajkumar Gupta

Editor : Aarti Bajaj

Production Designer : Wasiq Khan

Playback Singer : Qadir Khan, Murtuza Khan, Amit Trivedi, Neuman Pinto, Shilpa Rao, Amitabh

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