Faraaz movie review: Hansal Mehta titles the movie after a person, only to make him so less important that he felt cheated!
Star cast: Aditya Rawal, Zahan Kapoor, Juhi Babbar, Sachin Lalwani
Director: Hansal Mehta
What is good: The chilling atmosphere you get when you show the inside of a terrorist attack
What’s bad: Anything and everything except that atmosphere! (except for some performances, background music and camera work)
Loo break: Somewhere in the second half it starts to drag
To watch or not?: Watch it without thinking of the title of the movie (Why? Read the review to the last to know!)
Language: Hindi
Available on: Theatrical release
Duration: 113 minutes
User rating:
The story tells the deadliest terrorist attack that happened in Bangladesh on the night of July 1, 2016 and begins with a day in the life of the country. Malls, trains and playing trench cricket kids and reminiscent of every other thriving city like Mumbai, Colombo, etc. Holey Artisan Bakery, a place of class, serving tempting desserts to the rich class of Bangladesh, becomes the target of five deluded young ghosts who support the brainwashing that says ‘Bangla Muslims’ should come in support of the protection of Islam.
Nibras (Aditya Rawal, the grandson of Paresh Rawal) leads this group of extremists who enter the cafe alone with the motive of killing non-Muslims in the house. They ask people to read every verse of the Quran as their ticket to stay alive, but Faraaz (Zahan Kapoor, grandson of Shashi Kapoor), son of a multi-millionaire conglomerate head, chooses to stay behind for his Hindu friend and the good part of the ‘good versus bad Muslim’ debate. What happened to him and more than 30 other people that night is what the story is about.
Faraaz Movie Review: Script Analysis
Ritesh Shah, Kashyap Kapoor and Raghav Kakkar have written a story that could easily have been written after watching a 10-minute video on YouTube about the attack. Not to disparage the effort or offend anyone, but the writing team missed a lot of “available on the internet” material to demonstrate the heartbreaking atrocity that happened that night.
“How can this happen? He was the only earning member of the family. What shall I do with my two daughters? My two daughters are too young to understand what happened to their father. They call his mobile every day, but it’s off,” this BBC interview of the chef’s wife who died that day gave me more chills than this entire film. “I can never again guarantee everyone’s safety,” Arsalan, co-owner of Holey Artisan Bakery, said after the incident. Why didn’t all of this make it to the climax instead of a speech that had no impact?
Yes, Faraaz did an extremely brave job of choosing death over a terrorist who questioned his ideology, but you must first establish his character to connect us emotionally with the sacrifice he made. You give us a few lines from Faraaz about how he wants his Islam back from the terrorists and expect us to not only support his view but also accept that the whole movie is based on him. IMO, that’s a little more to ask for from an audience that’s already seen several similar films.
Hansal MehtaPratham Mehta, the trusted cinematographer of long time, remains the best thing to happen to the otherwise routine story. The tension in the cafe’s corridors builds amazingly as the camera pans through the deadly atmosphere created by the trio’s tight screenplay. Amitesh Mitesh Mukherjee’s tight editing helps keep the overall pace in check despite the dragging story in the second half.
Faraaz movie review: star performance
Aditya Rawal brings the requisite innocent wickedness into Nibras’ character. The way he goes from awful to downright neighborly is something that is extremely difficult even for seasoned actors. The blank stares he delivers say a lot about the kind of actor he will be in the industry.
Zahan Kapoor sadly falls victim to poor character writing as despite being given the titular role, he’s not one to stay at the center of the story. He’s decent with his act, but you’d want more of a character you see on every promotional material and even the title of the movie. Juhi Babbar, as a mother who does everything she can to make sure her child is safe, delivers a thoughtful performance. Sachin Lalwani, next to Nibras the only terrorist who gets some screen space, remains yet another good actor with an unsatisfactory character.
Faraaz Movie Review: Direction, Music
Hansal Mehta, the man behind some classics like Shahid, Aligarh and CityLights, fails to skillfully depict the manipulation of radical mindsets that are brainwashed for the purpose of which even they are not free.
The film consists of only one song, Musafir Ko written and composed by the extremely talented Sameer Rahat (My dil got rahat for entering the film industry). The background score of Siddharth Pandit hauntingly supports the tension created for a fitting viewing experience.
Faraaz movie review: the last word
All said and done, Faraaz is a film that should not have been titled Faraaz in the first place. It’s not about Faraaz, it’s just about the attack where he lost his life and so it should have been named accordingly.
Faraaz trailer
Faraz will be released on February 3, 2023.
Share your viewing experience with us Faraz.
For more recommendations, read our Kuttey movie review here.
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