Shaurya

Cast: Rahul Bose, Kay Kay Menon, Javed Jaffrey, Deepak Dobriyal
Director: Samar Khan
Shaurya kya hai?
The nerve to make an original film in an industry where every third film is derived! But a few good men from Bollywood still confuse it to adapting English films to an Indian context.

Shaurya kya hai?
The courage to choose an innovative context as the core and crux of the film! But a few intellectual filmmakers still believe that the issue of ‘victimized Muslims’, over-exploited in Bollywood by now, is fresh to films as yet.

Shaurya kya hai?
The audacity to represent a social theme and yet present it entertainingly! But director Samar Khan confounds entertainment with an item number here and a couple of deftly executed scenes there.

Undoubtedly Samar Khan’s intentions are decent and dignified enough on highlighting the plight of the minority community in our society. But then haven’t we been witnessing that for over a decade now ever since Mukesh Rishi convincingly raised the issue in Sarfarosh for the first time. From Arbaaz Khan in Garv as the victim to Suniel Shetty in Main Hoon Na as the victimizer and a plethora of prototypes in between, we have been there and seen that enough number of times. And coincidentally in all cases, Bollywood is inclined to show the minority being wronged by law. Samar Khan does the same.

Choosing an army backdrop, Shaurya entails a court martial trail evidently inspired from the Tom Cruise – Jack Nicholson starrer ‘A Few Good Men’. And while Indianizing the Hollywood plot, the director decides to raise the issue of the victimized Muslim. One wonders what clicked Samar Khan first – the issue or the inspiration?

Major Akash Kapoor (Javed Jaffrey) gets a military posting in Srinagar. Close friend Major Siddhanth Chaudhary (Rahul Bose) wants to accompany but not on official grounds. Rather he prefers the paragliding pretext in Kashmir valley. Akash manages to manipulate a posting for Siddhanth too but as the defense lawyer of a convict Javed Khan (Deepak Dobriyal) whose case he has to investigate and fight against the prosecutor who would be Akash himself. Basically they intend to maneuver a fake trial whereby Akash gets his victory and Siddhanth enjoys his holiday.

Expectedly Siddhanth seems to be least interested in defending Javed initially. But once he meets Brigadier Pratap Singh (Kay Kay Menon) to whose regiment Javed belonged, his viewpoint changes and he is imbibed with his sense of duty and responsibility. Things take a turn when he fights the case against Akash.

The director lends his finest nuances in setting up the military backdrop of the film. But in contrast he spends too much time on the buildup. The central plot kicks off only by the interval point. The pace is intentionally slow and adds to the effect as each scene takes its own time to mature. But despite that Siddhanth’s change of mind doesn’t come across as convincingly.

While the treatment is sufficiently subtle and subdued, at some instances it isn’t pardoned of filmi liberties. For instance, Siddhanth very assertively claims on a heroic note that his client is not guilty (even before he starts investigating the case) and you feel like blaming the script of being guilty of the typically overconfident Bollywood hero.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to perceive the premise of the issue of the film which makes the second half come across as conveniently predictable. So despite the neatly executed climax courtroom drama (with a brilliant implosive outburst by Kay Kay Menon) the culmination doesn’t go beyond your assumption or imagination.

On the upside, Samar Khan captures a splendid aura while directing the scenes involving Kay Kay Menon and Rahul Bose. The metaphorical conversations between the two are crisply written. Thankfully the romance angle with Minissha Lamba is relegated to the backburner though not before appending a transition song. The refreshing background score soothingly works on a subconscious level while the camerawork is occasionally cool, whenever outside the courtroom.

Of the cast, Kay Kay Menon is the clear scene-stealer with an intimidating and menacing personality and also walks away with the best of lines. Rahul Bose is fairly good while Minissha Lamba comes across as confident character. It’s a pleasant change to watch Javed Jaffrey in a non-humourous role. Deepak Dobriyal speaks through his silence but above that his character doesn’t demand much from the supremely talented actor.

Shaurya, unarguably, is a film with noble intentions. But its lacks novel execution!