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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Red Alert

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Sunil Shetty, Ashish Vidhyarthi, Gulshan Grover, Bhagyasree, Seema Biswas, Sameera Reddy
Director : Anand Narayan Mahadevan
Music : Lalit Pandit, Monty Sharma (bg score)


I don't know how many of you go through the censor certificate of a movie, shown in the beginning. Such a habit got developed in me since the olden days and it helped to give an awareness of some extra details of the product you are going to watch (you might think, whats new in it, as we got the internet facilities to get those info; but i am sure, no where you are going to find the censored date or the names of the censor board members participated in the screening of particular project, let us stop these arguments, I just told about my habit). Going through such an area of the movie 'Red Alert', it was known that the movie is not new, it is being censored last year. Though it created a small shock, I was not ready to lose the temper at that time (the promotional posters of this movie, bearing a big star cast which included Nasrudeen Shah and Vinod Khanna also, along with the above mentioned names were still there in my mind).

This is the story of naxal groups that has got roots in the north east India. A brief introduction regarding the origin of naxals in the country are given in the beginning. Here the story happens in Andhra Pradesh. Narasimma (Sunil Shetty) is a poor village man who is carrying food for the naxal groups (Ashish Vidyarthi, Seema Biswas etc) hiding in the forest. He got stuck up with the group during a police attack. The group asked him to stay with them so that he can cook food for them. On a police station attack, the group finds Lakshmi (Sameera Reddy), who is being raped by the police. She also joins the group and now she has started training the war methods. Narasimma always thinks about his wife (Bhagyasree) and kids. The police officer (Gulshan Grover), who is on a mission to destroy the groups, a journalist (Makrand Deshpande, 'Swadesh' fame) who came to interview the naxals, the chief commandant (Vinod Khanna) of the naxal leaders, a double agent of the police who works with the gang etc also becomes the main characters of 'Red Alert'.

Director Anand Narayan Mahadevan, who came the television field, has not given big notable movies before. Some of his movies includes 'Dil Maange More', 'Aksar', 'Aggar' etc. The director had chosen a good location in the deep forest for telling this story. Some sequences has got resemblance with Santhosh Sivan's 'Terrorist', that told the story of a similar atmosphere. The absence of depth in the story line and the stability of the characterization done by writer Aruna Raje is neatly evident. The real issue of naxalism is also not described in detail.

The twist happening to the group leader character and its after effects sequences should have done in a more realistic way. The house in the climax and the journalist's residence shown before, felt the same. The characters of Narasimma and Lakshmi always raised some doubts, but nothing happened till the end. Narasimma who wants to leave the group, asks for money most of the time, which is not understandable. The sequences involving the home minister and the police officers needs more seriousness. The climax happening to the gang happens within seconds, which should have been done in a more believable way. The odd behavior of the leader shows his immaturity to be in the group.

Though the fatty Sunil
Shetty doesn't suits in a poor man's look, he tried his best with the controlled emotions. Ashish Vidyarthi and Seema Biswas did well in their roles. It is not advisable to cast Sameera Reddy in a role that needs emotions, give her an item number that requires glamorous appearance, she will do her best. Bhagyasree ('Maine Pyaar Kiya' fame), which is seen after a long time, appears with flowers on her head most of the time; the required emotional density in her role is absent. The brilliance of Nasarudeen Shah is wasted by giving him such a small scene. Rajkumar's cinematography is excellent. Monty Sharma has given the bg score in a classical style using flutes, which felt different. The fighting and bombing sequences are done well.


'Red Alert', that discusses a serious issue, needs more professionalism in the scripting side and its execution.


Rating : 5.5 / 10

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