Movie Review: Torbaaz

Terrorism has spread its deadly effect all over the world. And one of the tactics used by terrorists to unleash fear and bloodshed is suicide bombing. According to a report, as of mid-2015, about three-quarters of all suicide attacks occurred in just three countries – Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, 1059 such attacks have taken place until mid-2015 with many of these attacks carried by child suicide bombers. Sanjay Dutt-starrer TORBAAZ focuses on this burning issue and it’s something that we haven’t seen in Bollywood films. So does TORBAAZ manage to thrill and entertain the audiences? Or does it fail to impress? Let’s analyse. <img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1157666" src="https://ift.tt/3qLTIpi" alt="Movie Review: Torbaaz" width="720" height="450" /> TORBAAZ is the story of an ex-army doctor seeking to bring children joy through cricket. Nasser Khan (Sanjay Dutt) was an army doctor in the Indian Army. At one point, he was working in the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. His wife Meera (Priyanka Verma) and son Aryan (Preet Bhanushali) also shifted there. Meera started doing social work for the refugees along with Ayesha (Nargis Fakhri). One day when Nasser, Meera and Aryan were shopping in the market, a child suicide bomber carried out an attack. It killed Meera and Aryan instantly. A few years later, Ayesha invites Nasser to Afghanistan for the inauguration of a refugee camp called Tomorrow's Hope. Nasser goes there reluctantly as the death of his family is still haunting him. At first, he's bitter but later moves on when he meets the father of Niaz, the kid who carried out the blast. Ayesha then invites Nasser to another Tomorrow's Hope Refugee Camp, which is located outside Kabul. Here, he sees that the kids comprising Baaz (Aishan Jawaid Malik), Gulab (Rudra Soni), Sadiq (Rehan Shaikh), Ali Sher (Tapajyoti Sarkar) etc love playing cricket. Nasser realizes that they are immensely talented and that their future can be bright if they take their cricketing career seriously. Hence, Nasser announces that he'll coach them in cricket and if all goes well, they can one day they can play in the Afghanistan Cricket Team. Sadly, there are too many obstacles. For starters, some kids are Pashtuns while the others are from Pakistan. These two groups don't see eye-to-eye. The Pakistani group is accused of being the ones carrying out suicide bombings. Not just that, the terrorists lead by Qazar (Rahul Dev) is trying to find the Pakistani kids whom he trained very well and who are potential suicide bombers. He finds out that they are residing in the same refugee camp where Nasser is trying to build a cricket team. He tells his men that he wants these children to further his terror agenda. What happens next forms the rest of the film. Girish Malik's story is excellent and the need of the hour. Not many would be aware about the sufferings of those who lost their loved ones in suicide attacks or also of the refugees in Afghanistan. The story throws light on these aspects and helps in adding to the viewer’s knowledge. But Girish Malik and Bharti Jakhar's screenplay is poor and insipid. Very few scenes leave an impact. Also, this should have been a fast-paced saga but is instead quite long at 2.13 hours. Girish Malik and Bharti Jakhar's dialogues are nothing special. Girish Malik's direction is the biggest culprit. This could have been a great flick if the direction was better or it was handled by someone else. But sadly, Girish Malik’s execution spoils the show. A few scenes are random and are added for the heck of it. Moreover, there are scenes of drone attacks and wars going on between terrorists and armed forces. The tone of the narrative changes suddenly in these scenes and the film turns into a documentary or a film festival-type of a film here. Also, the use of stock footage looks bad. On the positive side, he has handled a few scenes here and there with élan. TORBAAZ begins in a very bizarre and random manner. The film then gets on track as Nasser gets introduced in the narrative and he reaches Kabul. His ordeal of losing his wife and child could have been better depicted. The parallel track of the kids is interesting and it’s something that makes the film bearable. But the documentary style of scenes put in the film at regular intervals further hamper the impact. The cricket match scene doesn’t impress and we have seen better versions of an underdog team time winning or giving a tough time in recent times in films like CHHICHHORE [2019] and CHHALAANG [2020]. The final scene is well thought of but again, badly directed. <img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1157665" src="https://ift.tt/2IDMtyu" alt="Movie Review: Torbaaz" width="720" height="450" /> Sanjay Dutt is decent and nothing special. But he is likeable in this avatar and character. Nargis Fakhri is wasted. Rahul Dev is over the top as the villain. Priyanka Verma is decent in the cameo. Preet Bhanushali doesn’t have much to do. Rahul Mittra (Colonel Junaid Khan) suits the part but his performance is weak. Gavie Chahal (Shariyar) is fair while Raaj Singh Arora (Harpal aka Billu; the coach) is decent. Mohd Haq Peer Khan (Niaz), Daljit Sean Singh (Niaz's father), Rockey Raina (Abullah; driver) and Nira Suaraz (Baaz's mother) are okay. As for the actors playing the refugee kids, Rehan Shaikh leaves the maximum mark as the smallest kid, Sadiq. The way he scolds Sanjay Dutt in a few scenes is hilarious. Aishan Jawaid Malik has a crucial part as Baaz and gives a very good performance. Rudra Soni comes next and leaves a mark. Tapajyoti Sarkar, Kanha (Imlal) and Ballu Panchal (Wahid) are also good. Vikram Montrose's music doesn’t work. <em>'Maula'</em> is forgettable. This should have been a song-less film. Bickram Ghosh's background score, however, has the thrill element. Hiroo Keswani's cinematography is beautiful. The locales of Kyrgyzstan are very well captured. Javed Karim's action is sans and blood and gore. Orozbay Absattarov's production design is realistic. Shaahid Amir, Bhagyashree Rajurkar and Pallavi Patel's costumes are straight out of life. Post House's VFX is average in a few scenes and fair in the rest. Dilip Deo's editing (additional editing by Protim Khaound) is haphazard at places. On the whole, TORBAAZ rests on a fine idea and tells an important story. But the poor direction ruins it all. Disappointing.

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