I have been traveling with the film ‘The Attacks of 26/11’ since beginning. I got the privilege of going through entire script when the first schedule of the shoot was on. I got shocked, surprised and saluted director RGV for his shrewdness and attention to detail. At a point of time, while discussing with him the ins and outs of the film I felt that he must be the man beyond those attackers, otherwise he cannot imagine the happenings with such a conviction.
Well, RGV is not a Criminal but no criminal on this planet can match his criminal thought; that has been my opinion when he explained the emotions of criminals, police, people and system on a whole.
As the project ‘The Attacks of 26/11’ has been moving ahead, RGV got a thought to remake a part of it simultaneously in Telugu with Prakash Raj in the place of Nana Patekar. I was asked to translate Nana’s Hindi dialogue into Telugu for Prakash Raj. I did it swiftly in a day. I got gooses while doing that. But the project didn’t take off due to time constraint and other reasons. Hence finally it was dubbed directly.
Ever since he was making, I got the chance to watch entire film in bits and pieces sometimes in Mumbai and sometimes in Hyderabad. And the most unforgettable moment was when he screened 15 minutes of the film for all those who were present at the launch of my book ‘Vodka with Varma’ in Hyderabad. Everybody got carried away and many discussed with me how sincerely and sensibly he made it. Then I got confidence on myself that I'm getting carried away since RGV did it!
And later, I watched the complete movie- but not amidst crowds. It was beyond what I imagined- no words to express the feeling but it has to be experienced. The scenes haunt me, the dialogues linger in my ears and what else..!
The parts that shook my heart and soul for empathizing the victims and experiencing the sheer brilliance of the maker:
Terrorists silencing the Indian boat walas
Abrupt noise, eventual bloodshed and the wild violence in Taj Hotel-The scene of a crying child.
The violence in CST and Taj were shot more painfully than that of Richard Attenborough’s Jalianwalabagh scene in Gandhi
The girl at the CST
The scenes at Cama hospital
The morgue scene and Kasab
Nana’s class to Kasab explaining Jihad
Nana’s closing dialogue
And there are many more- countless moments. I can say one thing- you cannot walk out for any urgent phone call or natural call once the first starts. Get prepared and don’t miss to watch it.
Simply to say in one short line, ‘RGV is back’.
If anyone asks me to rate the film, I rate it at: 4/5
