This is supposed to be a work of fiction. But there is only one way to genuinely enjoy this film: by treating it as an authentic recreation of a very important though unfortunate event of contemporary history that we know nothing about. Besides that a woman with a bomb strapped around her waist, in the presence of thousands of people at a political rally, blew up a gentleman who was soon to be re-elected the Prime Minister of India in 1991.
The facts leading up to his assassination make you believe that the filmmakers may have recruited a spy as a screenwriting consultant in here who has supplied details hitherto unknown about how and why the militant Tamil separatist organisation LTTE (represented as LTF) killed Rajiv Gandhi, referred to throughout as the “Ex PM” here. The film partly fictionalises but mostly dramatises the events, laying out a crisp, compelling docu-drama.
John Abraham (strikingly sincere, both as producer and actor) plays an Indian spy. He enters the scene when Rajiv’s government, perhaps to undo the wrongs of his mother’s, is in the process of bringing some serenity and sanity into Sri Lanka.
As the head of LTF, Prabhakaran is known as Anna in this film. John is Vikram, whose short-term assignment is to ensure an election in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. The only way he can do this is by playing dirty with Prabhakaran’s LTTE itself. There is a huge, impressively hand-picked cast of characters placed around the top Indian Army sleuth. While setting up base for his swift operation, he comes across a foreign journalist of Indian origin (Nargis Fakhri, hired for her hotness alone).
This is probably the first Bollywood film that looks closely at India’s political involvement outside of its own shores. The director (Shoojit Sircar: Yahaan, Vicky Donor) ably spins this as a war film, visually referenced to near perfection.
Santosh Sivan’s The Terrorist (1998) on the same tragedy was a more personal film, a cinematographer’s take. This one is a researcher’s delight. The ultimate baap of this genre is Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991). Through inferences and strong evidences, using classified documents, it categorically proved to regular public the CIA’s role in the death of its much loved US President. It shook up America.
This film doesn’t conclusively establish a new angle or fresh motive behind Rajiv Gandhi’s death, besides merely pointing towards western corporate interests. But it makes you search deeper. It’s been over 22 years since. Who the hell gained so much from Rajiv’s assassination? The LTTE is practically defunct now. After the film, we sat and discussed these things for a couple of hours. I’ve bookmarked a few articles on the web already, can’t remember the last time a Bollywood film made me do that.
This post was originally published here.