New York - 7 Years After

So here we are finally, with the review of the first big release in the last six months. I agree there have been other movies released in the meantime, but none as big as New York. We had seen the promos of New York as early as January, and there was enough curiosity on how the movie would shape up.

New York tries to touch upon a much talked about, written about and filmed topic, the USA, post September 11, 2001. For those of us who have been to New York post 9/11 will agree, standing beside Ground Zero (The Twin Towers), is indeed unnerving. If you have traveled across the USA post 9/11, as an Asian, you may have been subject to random frisking or a security check at the airport. While that experience was scary enough, New York - The Movie, tries to portray the plight of the Muslims post 9/11. How innocent humans were subject to atrocities just based on the fact that their religion was Islam (the same as those of the militants behind 9/11).

Sameer Sheikh a.k.a Sam (John Abraham) plays a young American Indian who is center of attraction at NYU. He studies architecture and is quite a Casanova. Maya (Katrina Kaif) plays the love interest of Sam. Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) plays a Delhi boy who lands up in NYU on a scholarship. Omar falls for Maya, but is heartbroken to learn that she is in love with Sam. Unlike other Hindi movies which have a college theme, this movie doesn’t spend too much time on the campus life. The focus is clearly 9/11, FBI, the physical and mental abuse on innocent Muslims, the portrayal of the repercussions and why the US is still such a great country.

While the film could have done a little more to tackle the issue of global terrorism, it does portray the atrocities on innocent Muslims, detained on suspicion of being enemy combatants, very very effectively. John Abraham once again does a phenomenal job as a Anti hero (after Dhoom). His characterization could have been beefed up further. Niel Mukesh plays his part well, although not as natural as John or Irrfan Khan. Katrina plays a very mature role, looking the simplest she has done in a long time. To my mind both Irrfan and John are the stars of the movie, with Irrfan packing a punch in his every dialog delivery.

Go watch New York, it depicts reality to a large extent. While it is not a great thriller it does leave you wondering as to how the acts of a few religious fundamentalists ruined the lives of several others, of the same religion.