Mission Kashmir

[tikistitch]

The horror! The horror!

Plus bright musical numbers!



I think I'm going to preface this by stating that Mission Kashmir has over the past three days its taken to watch it swiftly lodged next to my heart like some kind of tropical parasite.

It think it's like the greatest war movie ever.

So, Hrithik Roshan is an Islamic terrorist. YES REALLY. And it's all set to bright chirpy music.

What happens is, Sanjay Dutt (who just totally ROCKS this movie) is an Indian military officer IG Kahn in Kashmir. He's Muslim, but his beloved wife, Neleema, is Hindu. Their son dies tragically when he has an accident and no one in Kashmir will treat him for fear of a fatwa against Kahn. Kahn then participates in a raid against the terrorists that orphans baby Hrithik. Neleema convinces Kahn to adopt Hrithik as a replacement for their dead son. Things go OK, but then Hrithik finds out that Kahn is the dude who killed his family, and GOES APE SHIT. Baby Hrithik tries to shoot Kahn, and then flees, with Kahn SHOOTING AT HIM as he goes.

Yeah, this movie is kinda grim.

Then fast forward to where baby Hrithik has grown into Ninja Hrithik, a member of the Islamic terrorist cell that his parents were part of. He's now sworn to kill Kahn. BUT he also meets his childhood girlfriend, who's grown up to be Preity Zinta, and he's all, duuuuh. (See video, above.)

So, we alternate between happy sing along songs and DUDES KILLING EACH OTHER. In order to work in the musical numbers they kinda cheat and have Preity Zinta working producing entertainment for a TV station, but some of the songs are also dreams or fantasy sequences. But it's just ... oh man. There's one scene where we're waiting for a terrorist incident while listening to this "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" Coke ad style number. The really freakiest bit for me was Sanjay Dutt breaking into a mellow swing-style song and dancing around with his wife while we're all worried about a bomb in his briefcase.

But somehow ... all this works! The songs are wonderful (Bumbro is a total earworm, and I've been listening to the soundtrack nonstop). There are flaws of course. Hrithik's acting chops were still not up to speed, and he seems to spend the entire last third of the movie HOWLING. But its Dutt's movie, and the dude is amazing. There's a bit where he finally breaks down over his dead son, but runs off to the bathroom to cry so no one will hear, and it absolutely breaks your heart. I've heard he's the main villian in Agneepath, which makes me really wanna see that movie. I just can't imagine any American equivalent of this movie. The only thing I can think of is Apocalypse Now for the weird fantasy sequences.