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| Cast: Rahul Bose, Minissha Lamba, Kay Kay Menon, Rozza Catalano | | Director: Samar Khan | | Music: Surendra Sodhi/Adnan Sami |
Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films
Years ago, I had asked writer Robin Bhatt if his best work was lifted from Hollywood films and he had unapologetically replied: yes, but my talent lies in knowing what to steal.
Director Samar Khan could perhaps say the same thing. Shaurya is a reworking of Rob Reiner’s 1992 court martial drama A Few Good Men.
So Rahul Bose reprises Tom Cruise’s role, playing a carefree lawyer struggling with his dead father’s heroic shadow. Tom played baseball, Rahul prefers adventure sports.
Javed Jaffrey is a stand in for Kevin Bacon the prosecutor and Kay Kay Menon attempts to outdo the Oscar nominated tough-nut snarling of Jack Nicholson.
These are rather large shoes to fill. But incredibly enough, Samar, his writers and cast pull it off well. Of course the best scenes, like the explosive climax, are cogged, right down to the dialogue, but Samar adds a Hindu-Muslim angle, some nice male bonding scenes and a moving mother figure to the story.
Shaurya’s first half is clunky and dragging. There also isn't much attention to detail. The setting is Srinagar but there is very little trace of Kashmir in the ambience. You notice this less in the second half because the pace and drama pick up.
The acting, apart from Minsha Lamba in hysterical mode, is uniformly good—Deepak Dobriyal, Bollywood's perhaps most underrated and underused actor, is haunting as the Captain accused of killing his superior.
Kay Kay isn’t a patch on Nicholson but in the climax, he breathes fire. Rahul Bose, is as always Rahul Bose, clipped and tightly-wound.
Shaurya is an engaging and heart-felt film. I recommend it with reservation, because it is a copy. I hope that next time around Samar Khan works with original material.
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Surfer Speaks....
Shaurya is a film that is beyond typical stereotype Bollywood movie.I have seen the orginal movie from Hollywood and I must say Samar Khan has done a fantastic job.Rahul Bose, Javed Jaffery,Minisha and KK were great.It is certainly Rahuls best acting .Well done Samar. -- Saurabh Jain (sja35@sfu.ca)
A poor copy of the original.
good acting but just because the punch lines are copied we are bound to compare and thats where it
drops dead ! -- Nina
Absolutely outstanding movie. Thank God somebody picked up this subject and made a movie about it. The excesses of the army are turning an entire generation of a community into terrorists. This is truly a wake-up call for the army to begin being humane and sensitive along with professional and ruthless when needed. -- Rakesh
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