Chilling wife, spy duality role
RAAZI (Agree). Directed by Meghna Gulzar. With Alia Bhatt,Vicky Kaushal, Rajit Kapur, Shishir Sharma and Jaideep Ahlawat. At Ster-Kinekor Cavendish. between the characters who live on opposite sides of the border.
They are depicted as real people who are often the victims of war, no matter their rank in the military or their status as civilians.
Sehmat is a student at college who is asked by her sick father, who is dying from a malignant tumour, to take over his duties as a spy for the Indian government. His father had tasked him with the duty when he passed on and he is asking his only child to do the same.
The manner in which she accepts and the way she reasons this situation adds to the realism depicted in the film.
Her infiltration of the military family and the manner in which her relationship unfolds with her husband, Iqbal, is wonderfully juxtaposed.
At once she is a dutiful wife and daughter-in-law, but also a spy bent on obtaining private Pakistani war plans for her government.
The situations she finds herself in, to obtain the information, adds to the tension.
Audiences will be kept on the edge of their seats as she is often on the verge of being found out.
Her trainer in the Indian government, brilliantly played by Jaideep Ahlawat, at one point asks her if she’ll have any problem killing someone that may stand in her way of completing her mission. She naively responds that there may be other ways of settling the matter. Later in the film, this scenario presents itself and her response is chilling.
Here the director and writer show the depth of their skill and are ably abetted by Bhatt who shows how far she has advanced as an actress in a relatively short space of time.
Her scenes with Vicky Kaushal who gives a great performance as Iqbal, her husband, are understated and the romantic scenes beautifully developed, never rushed.
Rajit Kapur and Shishir Mishra are equally strong as their respective fathers with a talented supporting cast providing good performances.
The trio of Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy offer a moody musical score which adds much to the enjoyment of the film.
Jay IPatel’s evocative cinematography complements the production design by Subrato Chakraborty and Amit Ray which perfectly captures the period of the 1970s era.
Raazi is an intelligent thriller and a must-see film.