Terror Has Two Faces
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SYNOPSIS
A young Pakistani man is chasing corporate success on Wall Street. He finds himself embroiled in a conflict between his American Dream, a hostage crisis, and the enduring call of his family`s homeland. `The Reluctant Fundamentalist` is based on a novel by Mohsin Hamid by the same name. The film premiered at the 2012 Venice Film Festival and stars Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Riz Ahmed, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi among others.
CAST
Kate Hudson
Actor
Om Puri
Actor
Liev Schreiber
Actor
Kiefer Sutherland
Actor
Chandrachur Singh
Actor
Imaad Shah
Actor
Shabana Azmi
Actor
Riz Ahmed
Actor
Adil Hussain
Actor
Gary Richardson
Actor
Martin Donovan
Actor
Christopher Nicholas Smith
Actor
Haluk Bilginer
Actor
Victor Slezak
Actor
CREW
Mira Nair
Director|
William Wheeler
Screenplay|
Shimit Amin
Editor|
Lydia Dean Pilcher
Producer|
Mohsin Hamid
Writer|
Ami Boghani
Writer|
Declan Quinn
Cinematographer|
Rashid Irani (HIT)
A Pakistani immigrant working as a financial analyst for an A-list Wall Street company is tasked with closing down a failing Istanbul publishingfirm. At one of their meetings, the publisher talks of his countrys ancient Christian-Muslim conflict. The analyst is also presented with a book of his poet-father in a Turkish translation. Soon afterwards, he goes to a basilica-turned-mosque to pray, has an epiphany and decides not to chase the American Dream anymore.
The lack of subtlety which pervades Mira Nairs film is especially evident in these crucial scenes. Adapted from the 2007 novel by Mohsin Hamid, this well-intentioned political thriller uses the terrorist attacks of 9/11 as a springboard to probe abidingly relevant issues of xenophobia, violence and extremist ideologies. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a long and lurching saga of Changez Khan (Ahmed), the twenty-something financier disenchanted with the United States.
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Vaihayasi Pande Daniel (Rediff)
Do you know what a janissary is? Before you head out to see the new Mira Nair film do look that one up! Janissary: a member of an elite military unit of the Turkish army organized in the 14th century Random House Dictionary. Young boys were cruelly whisked away at the age of seven, or less, from Christian families in the Ottoman Empire, forcibly converted to Islam and trained to serve and be loyal footmen of the empire. Kara Khalil Chendereli, founder of the Janissaries force, said: The conquered are slaves of the conquerors, to whom their goods, their women, and their children belong as lawful possession ( Albert Lybyers The Government of the Ottoman Empire in the Time of Suleiman the Magnificent.) The main protagonist of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the film based on Mohsin Hamids novel, is the young, upwardly-mobile Pakistani Changez Khan (Riz Ahmed).
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Renuka Vyavahare (TOI)
Can you be who you really are when the world around you forces you to believe otherwise? 9/11 changed the West`s perception of Islam forever. While various films have had the unsettling issue as a backdrop, Mira Nair`s riveting adaptation goes way deeper. Its sensitive yet unsubtle narrative succeeds at retaining the book`s ambiguity, as well as raising pertinent questions on Islamic fundamentalism, emigration and USA`s interference in Pakistan. Nair captures the finer nuances of the thought-provoking tale with great conviction.
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