Film Review: "Article 370: Amazing acting by Yami Gautam and Priya Mani.

Producer: Aditya Dhar, Lokesh Dhar, and Jyoti Deshpande

Author: Aditya Dhar and Monal Thakur

Director: Aditya Subhash Jambhale

Cast: Yami Gautam, Priya Mani, Arun Govil, Kiran Karmarkar, Raj Zutshi, Sumit Kaul, Vaibhav Tatvawadi, Skanda Thakur, Irawati Harshe

Duration: 2 hours 46 minutes

The country became independent, but based on the circumstances of that time, Arunachal Pradesh was given some special rights along with Section 371 and Jammu and Kashmir with Section 370. There is never any talk about Section 371. But there was a lot of talk about Article 370 and the demand for its repeal was also raised, which the government repealed on August 5, 2019, separated Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir and made it a separate Union Territory. On this incident, 'Uri: A Surgical 'Strike' director Aditya Dhar has brought the film 'Article 370' as a producer. Which has been directed by Aditya Jambhale. It was urgent to make a film on this subject. But filmmakers are seen saying contradictory things in their films. On one hand, he gives a disclaimer that this film is a documentary but a film based on true events. Any resemblance to any character or incident in the film is merely coincidental. When you are making a film based on a true story, there is no need to keep the names of the characters fictitious. The filmmaker kept Burhan Wani and 'Article 370', but apart from this, he changed the names of all the characters. In the film, when you are telling the story of the abrogation of Article 370, then what was the reason for changing the names of the Home Minister and the Prime Minister? Only Aditya Dhar can say this better. Despite all the publicity and apprehensions surrounding the removal of Article 370, many political leaders claimed that not a single shot was fired after the removal of Article 370. However, in this film, Juni and CRPF soldiers are shown fighting and killing a terrorist. Secondly, the reason for completely ignoring Jammu in the film is also beyond understanding. It is a good thing that Aditya Dhar does not consider it as a political film.

Well, just a few days ago the Prime Minister of the country casually said in a meeting in Kashmir that he has heard about the upcoming film Article 370, which will give people real insights related to the now abrogated article of the Indian Constitution. Only then was it known what kind of film this would be? But the filmmakers forgot that the purpose of every film is to educate the audience as well as to entertain them. But this film is not able to do this.

Story:

The story of the film is divided into six different chapters. A brief history of Article 370 is told at the beginning of the film. Then the film reaches Kashmir valley. Where Juni Haksar (Yami Gautam Dhar), a Kashmiri girl working in an intelligence agency, violates the orders of her senior officer Khawar Ali (Arjun) and along with some other soldiers under the leadership of Yash Chauhan, kills the dreaded terrorist Burhan Wani. As a social and political consequence of Wani's murder, Juni is deported from Kashmir to Delhi. Where he was assigned the task of escorting the visiting VIP.

But Juni's story reaches Rajeshwari Swaminathan (Priyamani), joint secretary of the PMO. Swaminathan gives him a chance to join NIA. Along with this, he is given many special rights. In her way, she starts working with Yash Chauhan and other soldiers to eliminate terrorists in Kashmir with the team she has created. Juni Haksar has to go through obstacles created by corrupt local leaders and militants in her journey to maintain peace and unity in the valley. But she does not know what the real objective of the government is. Then forty soldiers including Yash Chauhan are killed in the Pulwama attack.

After the Pulwama terrorist attack in 2019, the central government came into action, and important decisions were taken for Jammu and Kashmir. The Central Government decided to remove Article 370, for this, it examined the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and identified the loopholes which would help in removing Article 370. Documents from 1954, 1958, and 1965 have been recovered from an old government library here. Important lapses have been revealed in Jammu and Kashmir due to which Article 370 could have been removed from Jammu and Kashmir much earlier. However, before the removal of Article 370 on 5 August 2019, heavy security arrangements were made in Kashmir. Kashmiri leaders were put under house arrest. Internet lines remained cut for weeks. Then the Prime Minister and Home Minister Madhav made a policy and got the removal of Article 370 passed by the Parliament.

Review:

The film works to convey a very important event to the people in simple language. Many famous scenes have been included in the film. But it has also been confused by some unnecessary imaginary events. What happened in Jammu and Kashmir before or after 5 August 2019? The film remains silent on this. The entire focus of the writer, producer, and director was to tell what was happening in Kashmir for money why it was necessary to remove Article 370, and how it was repealed. The filmmaker took the step of increasing national loyalty by placing a Kashmiri woman at the forefront of his film, so that there is no danger of Article 370 being anti-minority, whereas experts say that this did not happen in reality. The film is relatively cautious in its criticism of mainstream opposition leaders, but it does not shy away from questioning local Kashmiri political stalwarts. Perhaps for this reason the filmmaker has avoided keeping the real names of the characters. But will Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti be happy with Jalal (Raj Zutshi) and Parveena Andrabi (Divya Sheth) respectively?

The filmmaker stars as a Kashmiri, an old village sarpanch who says he is tired of 'begging' for help from the current valley leadership and seeing his children being pushed into terrorism. However, the filmmaker did not think it appropriate to even mention Jammu and Ladakh. Not only this, the filmmaker has portrayed Junni Haksar as a patriot by portraying his father's death as a direct result of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank scam (in which Abdullah is facing investigation). The filmmaker, knowingly or unknowingly, has forced the question that if there had been no personal loss, would Juni have become a patriot?

A political, constitutional move requires the contribution of top political officials. That's why the filmmaker had to include the character of Home Minister Madhav (Kiran Karmarkar) in addition to the unnamed Indian Prime Minister (Arun Govil). But could not give much emphasis on the constitutional arguments of Article 370.

The film's director Aditya Subhash Jambhale should be praised for the fact that he has been successful in presenting the noble sentiments of patriotism on screen through the story of the film. The filmmaker should also be praised for the fact that the film's dialogues are free of melodrama. The film's action sequences are particularly impressive. Well, there is no doubt that there will be differences in political views regarding the film, which will come to the fore.

Perhaps this film may not earn at the box office, but the film's director Aditya Subhash Jambhale may be successful in establishing himself as a great director.

Acting:

Yami Gautam has won the role of Intelligence Department officer Juni Haksar. If we ignore Kashmiri's inability to pronounce words properly, his acting is brilliant. Meanwhile, Priya Mani in the role of Rajeshwari, Joint Secretary in the PMO, has also been successful in attracting people towards her. Rajeshwari Swaminathan looks calm, but she is very intelligent and knows how to work in the world of politics. Priyamani has portrayed this very effortlessly with her acting. The roles of Arun Govil as the Prime Minister and Kiran Karmarkar as the Home Minister are quite impressive. The rest of the cast of the film, Raj Zutshi, Sumit Kaul, Vaibhav Tatvavadi, Skanda Thakur, and Irawati Harshe have tried to do full justice to their respective roles.

-Shantiswarup Tripathi

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