Riddled with holes

Kurbaan
Director: Rensil D'Silva
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi
Rating: **1/2
A

I want to go to the college where Philosophy professor Avantika (Kareena Kapoor) and Islamic studies teacher Ehsaan (Saif Al Khan) are on staff.

This must be some new Delhi, where people kiss in public, make out in the staff room; where professors never teach and seem to have ample time for coffee breaks; where their wardrobes (however attractive) do not match the humble salaries we know faculty receives. I also want to go to that America where teaching jobs are so easy to come by that Ehsaan lands an interview with the Dean and persuades him to start an Islamic studies course; where the FBI has Ehsaan's details on file as 'dangerous' but lets him through customs; where the US government issues him a social security number but never finds this international terrorist.

In this Utopian world, an oblivious Avantika, who moves back to New York from Delhi with her new husband Ehsaan, finds herself enmeshed in a world of terrorism and fear after she foolishly breaks into a neighbour's house. Dead bodies, bomb plots, imprisonment and heartbreak at Ehsaan's deceit follow her.

She also finds a sympathiser in Riyaaz (Vivek Oberoi) who has personal reasons for wanting the break this underground group. Somehow no one ever calls the police. 911 is a number known world over, yet Avantika never reports to the cops and Riyaaz decides to be a one-man detective show.

During Avantika's incarceration by her husband and his colleagues, we learn of their motives. A one-dimensional political point of view is presented and never balanced out by the script, except once during a debate in the Islamic studies classroom, therefore sticking only to clichéd rhetoric.

Saif Ali Khan is unnecessarily stoical throughout. He is willing to make sacrifices for the woman he loves and his unborn child, but his emotional graph never changes. Even the early courtship scenes lack spark, thereby failing to draw the audience close to the characters. Kareena Kapoor looks lovely and plays her part with sincerity, even though Avantika is not a strong character. Vivek Oberoi surprises with a measured performance. It's also good to see capable American actors playing the ancillary parts. Kirron Kher conveys pained loyalty with conviction, a pleasant change from her hysterical Punjabi mother parts.

Production wise, Kurbaan scores high points. The cinematography (Hemant Chaturvedi), music (Salim-Sulaiman), locations, colour tones, costumes (Aki Narula), action and dialogue (Anurag Kashyap, Niranjan Iyengar) work, however the film suffers from a kind of looseness - emotionally and in pace, which is often the stumbling block for first-time directors. However Rensil D'Silva crafts some moving and suspenseful scenes. If only the screenplay was not so riddled with holes (like, how come no one pulls the chain during a shoot-out on the subway) that suspension of disbelief is not enough. A tighter script and edit, less dubious politics and stronger characters could have made this a great thriller.