To secure peace is to prepare for war. And to wage a war against war is to show its reality, its absurdity, its horror and to show the lives it takes in the name of peace. 'Tango Charlie' attempts to do that.
The effort by director Mani Shankar is noteworthy but not worthy of praise. Mani, who said in an interview that he detested the romanticization of war in our so-called patriotic films, himself passes through the same trap with the interludes of love episodes between Bobby Deol and Tanishaa that he puts in the film.
However, Mani succeeds in showing the grim and gory realities of war through the eyes of young BSF soldier Tarun Chauhan (code name Tango Charlie). The film finely brings out the dilemmas in the conscience of a man getting exposed to the killings on battlefield and shows his transformation into a strong-hearted soldier.
Tarun is a member of a group of BSF soldiers with the task of flushing out Bodo militants from the dense jungles of Manipur. (Kelly Dorji excels in his portrayal of the Bodo militant.) Tarun's mentor in this mission is Hawaldar Mohammad Ali (Ajay Devgan), a hardened man who understands well the psychology of warfare.
The film tracks the path of Tarun's life from the warfront to the village he goes, where he falls in love with a girl named Laachi (Tanishaa), and his return to the action grounds in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and finally Kargil, where his mentor Ali dies in a mission, and Tarun, like a hardened soldier, chases his enemy and kills a good number of them.
It is good to see that Bobby Deol is finally evolving into a fine actor. He wears a questioning look on his face in the first half - a look that brings out the innocence and the dilemmas of the character he plays.
Ajay Devgan is a scene-stealer with his intense portrayal of a fearless, self-controlled Hawaldar who is deceptive to his enemies.
Sanjay Dutt and Sunil Shetty make noticeable cameos while Tanishaa and Nandana Sen appear in marginal roles.
Movie Review : The anti-war war film (6/10) To secure peace is to prepare for war. And to wage a war against war is to show its reality, its absurdity, its horror and to show...
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