Sara Ali Khan leads this fancy dress show
When Congress leadership was incarcerated, an intrepid, young Usha Mehta (Sara Ali Khan) came up with the idea of a covert radio station to reignite the Quit India Movement. This unsung but important strand of the Indian freedom movement is undone by heavyhanded treatment in Kannan Iyer’s Ae
Watan Mere Watan.
The film’s emotional notes sound either superficial or a little too earnest for a large part. Instead of taking us to the period, the wellmeaning venture unspools like a fancy dress show where actors seemingly read out their character sketches from cue cards. In an attempt to connect with the digital generation, it loses the veracity of the time it seeks to recreate.
The start is particularly stagy where Usha, shackled by the love of her father (Sachin Khedekar), a judge devoted to the Raj, is struggling to choose between her family and motherland. The two talk in the affected tone of a television commercial, so much that when Usha laments to her friend that she did not know that doing the right thing would hurt so much, one wonders why saying the right thing would demand such decoration.
In her bid to portray the earnestness of the character,
Sara resorts to chipmunkish behaviour. Here, it is reflected in her expressions and body language. However, gradually, in the company of Sparsh
Srivastav, playing a freedom fighter with polio, named
Fahad, she settles into the role and, more importantly, the period. Towards the end, they create a hearttugging scene where the incompleteness of a woman in our society is linked to that of a disabled person.
The writing of Darab
Farooqui and Kannan is not without potential. When the film talks about how the British government controlled the big media and how the radio spread lies, it rings a bell. So does the need for sach ki ghutti (potion of truth) when opium is being fed.
Without pandering to an agenda, the film underscores that much before the current regime took on Jawaharlal Nehru’s idea of India, there was his comrade Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (Emraan Hashmi) who stood up against blind devotion and obeisance. Emraan, in an extended guest appearance, brings alive the honest demeanour of the leader.
The problem is that the text is not engaging and rousing enough and the subtext comes through like bullet points in an essay writing competition. Historical pieces need to be sparse and contemplative but our period films are turning the past into an objective exercise.
In this Karan Johar production, gloss overrides the moment’s truth, making the period piece feel made up.