Bollywood's 'Sehar'

Last weekend, me and my roomies went shopping..the usual, first stop - desi shop, then a walk around city center and dinner at a thai restaurant. We are four guys among which one is married and waiting for his better half to join him sometime later this month. Munich is a lovely place, has heart, soul and the city is very attractive..except for the cold, that is. It was especially cold on Saturday, the day we were out and we were glad to have caught the tram from outside our apartment to the city center. On the way, Sashi, who we call Mr.? because of all the questions we get from him each day asks me..'Bro, how's Sehar?'. I ask, 'What, the movie?'. 'Yes'. Having already watched the movie once a few weekends ago, I said 'Yeah, I thought it was okay, kinda slow moving..but a good movie nevertheless.'
And that ended the conversation. We came back home, our tummies full. Next morning, we carry out our usual sunday chores and settle down for the 'matinee'..our post lunch dvd session. Sashi pops in 'Sehar' and we settle down in our designated couches. I was apprehensive about watching this movie again for a repeat viewing. Only Ajay, the other guy has seen the movie and Venkat was naturally looking bored already after having learnt that 'Sehar' means Dawn in Urdu!! Anyways, we are 15 minutes into the movie and all four of us are watching the movie with rapt attention. Me, I was kind of surprised about my ability to sit still without a comment on my second viewing. An hour into the movie, I had to tell the guys that the cinematography reminds me of Ram Gopal Verma's 'Company'...which I would regret saying later.
'Sehar' is a movie which has been made with utmost care, precision and most importantly, an honest intention to make an honest movie. And director Kabeer Kaushik succeeds in doing so. I have not experienced the joy of watching a movie the second time so much since a long long time, and a bollywood movie at that! Even watching 'Company' which I wrongfully mentioned earlier, a second time seemed stale. Sure, Ajay Devgan and Vivek Oberoi have great screen presence but Arshad Warsi is no comedian in this movie. To cut a long story short, 'Sehar' is just falls short of being a perfect thriller of a movie.
The story: SSP Ajay Kumar is newly transferred (for the 14th time in his career) to Lucknow and the first thing he has to face is indifference from his superior officer on how to eradicate organized crime in the city. Slowly, the story moves on to how Ajay manages to convince his superiors of allowing him to create a special task force specially for combating organized crime. The man they are up against is Gajraj Singh, who with pure ruthlessness has managed to wipe out every single hurdle in his path and is well on his way to becoming a don with 'absolute power'. I will not reveal much more of the story here, but would like to mention two more characters which will leave a lasting impression on one's mind after watching the movie. Naved Aslam, as 'Solanki' is the gritty police officer and Pankaj Kapur, as the professor both of who work for Ajay Kumar. Kaushik's direction is depicted in harsh, realistic style with stunning visuals as backup. Dont miss the climax, which I thought was just awesome, just looking at the way it was picturised.
It was really hard for me to imagine that this movie has been directed by a first time director whose background was ad making. I mean, looking at the way Kaushik builds his characters, takes care to show the slightest detail in his shots, the subtlity, its amazing. Screenplay plays a very important part in the fact why this movie is so enjoyable in watching. So is the Cinematography. Music? Beautiful. Performances? Terrific. So what is it that's not good? The pace...there were a few instances when we looked at each other and thought..'I can imagine myself wanting to go out for a loo break if this were in a movie theatre.' For some reason, maybe conscience...the director lets the pace drop in a few instances which could have been easily avoided with various 'fillers'. But apart from that, Sehar is a movie worth watching just for the 'narration style' as Venkat put it and of course, Warsi's career best performance to date. Watching this movie, I couldn't help but thinking about these new directors who nowadays are popping up with these incredible films..sense has started to 'dawn' upon bollywood.
Rating 4 out of 5 stars.