We may have heard and read about the war-torn country of Afghanistan and the issue of terrorism that is deep-rooted. While jihad is a term most of us may be familiar with, Sanjay Dutt’s Torbaaz takes it a step further to look at how it impacts children who grow up surrounded by war. Directed by Girish Malik, the film revolves around Naseer (Sanjay Dutt) an ex-army officer who suffered a tragic past when he lost his wife and son in an attack in Afghanistan. Naseer comes back to honor the NGO his late wife had started to help young afghan children live a good and peaceful life. Naseer soon realizes that a group of boys from the refugee camp have been trained to be suicide bombers and makes it his missing to hone their love for cricket to try and bring a transformation within them.
More than the plot, it’s the acting…
Sanju baba is definitely his brilliant self. He plays the emotional parts of his character very convincingly and overall does an ace job. However, the star performers in the film are the kids. Each of them do such a brilliant job and are so convincing you won’t think for even a second that they are just actors.
A Grim Reality!
A part of the movie that really jolts you is the way young boys are taken away and brainwashed and made to believe they are fulfilling a higher purpose. There are scenes of young boys made to line up and shoot at command. Unfortunately, this issue transcends the movie and is a reminder that this is a reality that exists.
It’s all good, but…
The heart of the film is in the right place and the acting is on point. However, the film could have definitely done with a tighter screenplay as it meandered quite a bit and lost a little bit of the impact along the way. This heartwarming film could have definitely delivered a stronger impact had the writing and editing been tighter. Another thing that needs to be mentioned is that we’re not too sure why Nargis Fakhri was in the film. It felt very necessary.
WATCH OR NOT:
Torbaaz is a film you can definitely add to your weekend watch list. What it lacks in pace it makes up for in the acting.
