Sehar - Review

During the weekend, I happened to watch two movies – Sehar and Yahaan. Watched the DVD of Sehar, while Yahaan was aired on Sahara One. I had always wanted to watch these two movies right from the time I heard about their release. Unfortunately these movies were never released in Chennai, and I had to be content with the reviews from my friends in Bangalore and Mumbai that these movies were really good.

Both the movies have a simple, but realistic storyline. A strong message at the end, and a sincere effort from every individual related to the movie.

Spoiler Warning: Ending of the movie, alongwith major sub-plots discussed below.

Sehar, which means dawn in Urdu boasts of a superb storyline and excellent performances from Arshad Warsi, Pankaj Kapur, Sushant Singh, Suhasini Malay and Mahima Chaudhary. Its directed by Kabeer Kaushik, who has also penned the story. I was amazed at the richness of Hindi which the actors spoke in the movie.

The story set in the backdrops of the upcoming organized crimes in UP during the late 90’s and the attempts made by a sincere police officer to curb it. Arshad Warsi plays SSP Ajay Singh, whose father commits suicide when he was young over accusations of deserting the army due to cowardice. This incident plays a major role in Ajay’s life as he is determined to become a righteous and fearless police officer and to remove corruption and crime out of the society.

His work ethics results in a number of transfers in a year, and he lands up in Lucknow. Lucknow is the breeding ground of crime and corruption. Railway contract related corruption is at its peak. A new entrant in the field, Gajraj Singh (played by Sushant Singh) wants to claim absolute power in the crime world.

Initially the police remain mute spectators as Gajraj kills all his opponents in the crime world, since he is wiping out people who have been wanted in many police cases, but have been avoiding arrests. Things starts to turn sour when Gajraj shows signs of being linked to ISI and expand his business from Railway contracts to real estate and politics.

Gajraj’s mode of communication is mobile phones, which were recently introduced in the country. The local police are unable to trace the calls and obtain information regarding Gajraj’s operations. They enlist a professor (played by Pankaj Kapoor) from the local college, who is an expert in telecommunications, to track the criminals.

Unable to enlist the local police for operations against Gajraj - since the information is leaked to Gajraj who easily escapes from the police - the UP police constitutes a Special Task Force, under the leadership of Ajay. These police personnel have special privileges, which helps them in tracking Gajraj and a majority of organized crime in UP.

The end is what made me love this movie. Ajay goes down trying to capture Gajraj. All the police men who were part of the STF are killed, while on the other side all of Gajraj’s men are killed and he is wounded, but alive. Pankaj Kapur, who had a distaste for firearms and violence, and who was a mute spectator to all the killing of his team members, takes up the pistol and shoots Gajraj.

The facial expression of Pankaj Kapur, the anger, the fear of using the pistol is excellent. In his anger, he pumps 2 cartridges into Gajraj.

Mahima as Ajay’s love interest does not have a big role, but she looks very beautiful in her sarees and sleeveless blouses. The song “Palkein Jhukaao Na” was brilliant and you keep humming the tune even after the movie is over.

Suhasini Malay as Ajay’s mother is also good. Her fears for her son’s safety, her agony over her husband’s suicide and being branded a coward are very well captured in her actions.

A final word about Arshad Warsi – he is an amazing actor, who has been unlucky not to have got a lucky break. His performances in serious roles are as good as his performances in comic roles.

Its disappointing that good movies like these have not performed well in the box office. If movies like these are not encouraged, then there may be a dearth of good cinema and story in the near future.