Torbaaz is the latest offering streaming on the Netflix platform that is written and directed by Girish Malik. It is a story of orphaned refugee children staying in camps on the borders of Afghanistan adjacent to Pakistan, whose parents have either died in Fidayeen attacks (suicide bombings) or whose parents have been Fidayeen themselves. Fidayeens are the self sacrificing human bombs who for their own religious cause perpetrate suicide bombings.
What could have been a story of victory over the evil forces of self-proclaimed groups who in the garb of changing the system or ethnic cleansing are but perpetrating terrorism, and thus Torbaaz turns out a damp squib.
The Talibani terrorists target the refugee children of fidayeen attacks and shamelessly train them to be suicide bombers. Here was an excellent story premise but was ruined due to directorial weakness.
Good star cast, great setting but the punch was missing. You like what’s going on the screen but it does not pull your heart strings not does your heart go out for the child protagonist, ‘Torbaaz the Black Falcon. Even an actor like Sanjay Dutt has been wasted cause he looks good only in parts his role is half baked and under-cooked as if he was going through the motions a bit matter of factly and doing as directed without his heart in the proceedings.
Nargis Fakhri was another ornament which decorated the proceedings but did not leave any impact whatsoever. This role could have been done by any other female artist. Rahul Dev as the Talibani terrorist Azhar looks convincing. All this for a cricket match which is not even club class is slightly hard to digest. Even the cricket match thrills which were visible in such a cricket match shown in movies like Lagaan is missing here.
It appears from the end credits to be a real life incident but it is highly implausible. What strikes you about the setting is the brightness of the surroundings that really catches your eye if the story would have been told in a more subtle way it would have left an impression, which was missing in the directive. Still one feels for the children of the refugees and is sorry for whats going on in a country like Afghanistan for all these years. It was a good attempt to highlight the difficulties and the goings-on in our neighbouring country.
Torbaaz feels more like a documentary rather than a feature film. The emotional scenes looked unreal and choreographed. The usually effective Sanjay Dutt appears out of sorts, it seems that the Sadak2 effect lingered on in his act in this movie which has a running time 133 minutes
– Reviewed by PAWAN GUPTA
Cast of Torbaaz:
Sanjay Dutt as Naseer
Nargis Fakhri as Ayesha
Rahul Dev as Qazar
Gavie Chahal as Shariyar Khan
Kuwaarjeet Chopraa as Habibullah
Humayoon Shams Khan as Raghu
Rahul Mittra as Col Khan
Rakshit Wahi as dawlatzaahiPriyanka Verma as Meera
Vansh Sayani as one of the boy in the group
Rockey Raina as Abdullah
Credits of Torbaaz:
Production companies: Clapstem Entertainment, Rahul Mittra Films
Produced by Raju Chadha, Rahul Mittra, Puneet Singh
Directed by Girish Malik
Story and Written by Girish Malik, Bharti Jakhar
Music by Bickram Ghosh, Vikram Montrose
Cinematography by Hiroo Keswani
Edited by Dilip Deo
Streaming on Netflix