Piyush Jha’s Sikandar has a refreshingly different story. The film looks at the conflict in Kashmir, without taking sides. The story focuses on a kid who becomes a pawn in a dangerous game played by politicians and terrorists. Sikandar movie review…
Quite smartly the director draws attention to the present day newspaper and television clippings that highlight the truth that kids are being used in wars waged in the name of religion.
Sikandar (Parzaan Dastur) is a 14-year-old schoolboy whose parents were killed by militants 10 years back. Since his early childhood, he has lived with his aunt and uncle, in a small town in Kashmir.
It happens so, one day, on his way home from a school football match, the young boy Sikandar finds a gun lying on the path. Despite admonishments by his newly made school friend, Nasreen (Ayesha Kapoor), Sikandar picks up the gun unleashing the darker side in him, thus begins a journey into the darker side of his nature.
As the story unfolds, it is the quiet yet strong Nasreen who becomes Sikandar’s conscience keeper. She often tries to dissuade him from giving in to the lure of the gun.
Unfortunately the innocent boy gets embroiled further and further in situations beyond his control further and further and people get killed.
There is Lt. Colonel Rao (R.Madhavan) who is the army commander of the area. With many years of duty in Kashmir he has the ability to see beyond the obvious as he steers through the under-currents, of the political and religious kind.
Mukhtaar Mattoo (Sanjay Suri), a reformed militant leader constantly attempts to broker peace between the militants, the army and the religious leaders. And we have the feared Zahgeer Quadir (Arunoday Singh) – a militant leader and Area Commander of the Kashmir Azaadi (Freedom) Force.
As the story unfolds, Sikandar becomes the innocent victim drawn into a game being played out between the militants, the peace bartering politicians and the religious heads of the little Kashmiri town.
Towards the end, story suddenly moves into the suspense-thriller genre with a predictable suspense. There are some sequences that leave an impact – like the one when a blast occurs during the pre-climax – mind blowing. But at another instance, the army officer hands a gun to Sikandar to avenge his father’s death. Now this looks unlikely.
Director of Photography Somak Mukherjee captures the scenic beauty of Kashmir very well with some stunning visuals of the valley. Parzaan acts quite naturally, Ayesha is okay. Madhavan comes up with a brilliant act as the Lt. Colonel. Sanjay Suri underplays his part impressively. Arunoday Singh with his strong on screen personality makes a striking debut as the terrorist Zahgeer Quadir.
Cast of Sikandar:
Parzun Dastur – Sikandar
Ayesha Kapur – Nasreen
Sanjay Suri – Mukhtaar Masoodi
R Madhavan – Lt. Colonel Rajesh P. Rao
Arunoday Singh – Zahgeer Quadir
Nassar Abdulla
Credits & Crew of Sikandar:
Banner – Sudhir Mishra Productions, Big Pictures
Producer – Sudhir Mishra
Director – Piyush Jha
Story / Writer – Piyush Jha
Editor – Dev Jadhav
Cinematography – Somak Mukherjee
Lyricist – Prasoon Joshi, Neelesh Misra
Music Director – Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy
Casting – Shanoo Sharma
Production Design – Shruti Gupte
Stunts – Parvez Shaikh, Feroz Sheikh
Background Music – Uday Kamat, Justin
Sound – Subhash Sahu
Singers – Shankar Mahadevan, Anousha Mani, Mohit Chauhan, Mehrajuddin, Hrishikesh Kamerkar, Yash Narvekar, Shilpa Rao, Hamsika Iyer
Sikandar, movie review