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Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo
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'Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo' When patriotism perverts into jingoism

By Nitika Desai
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

Patriotism is supposed to mean love for one’s country. But in director Anil Sharma’s films it acquires a new definition and becomes hatred towards one’s neighbor.

A film like Ab Tumhare… doesn’t merit a review. Not because it is a poor piece of cinema, but because the very idea behind the story is so jingoistically skewed that it eventually becomes a blotch in the name of true patriotism.

The

movie is not without Pak bashing and there are dialogues aplenty that insinuate towards Akshardham Temple episode, the Parliament attack and the terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir with continuous reference to Pakistani support to militants. Pak jailors are shown as torturers of Indian prisoners.

And the funny thing is that the movie is being promoted as Indo-Pak friendship movie. And what does it show in the name of Indo-Pak friendship – the forces of the two countries joining hands in the end to fight militants who try to sabotage the Amarnath Yatra.

In truth, ATHWS is a venomous, jingoistic flick disguised as a friendship movie. And it comes in very bad taste in the times when the relationship between the two countries is at an all-time high and the cultural exchange has begun between the people of two nations. The only non-irritating thing in the movie is the romantic track between the three leading characters.

Now to the story:

Ageing Amarjeet Singh (Amitabh Bachchan) has seen his son Vikramjeet (Bobby Deol) sacrifice his life on battlefield for the nation. And now it pains him to see that Vikramjeet’s son Kunal (Bobby again) is thinking of quitting armed forces and going abroad.

Kunal is a young and ambitious man in love with a girl named Shweta who he first saw at a desert festival. But Shweta has already been married to an army officer who was called to duty right after their wedding (a cliché). Shweta’s husband Rajiv (Akshay Kumar) was taken prisoner by Pak forces.

By the time Shweta begins to make her mind to settle again, Rajiv returns. But like a true-blooded, self-sacrificing hero, he frees her to choose her own life.

Meanwhile, tensions between India and Pak increase and militants backed by Pak decide to reign terror on pilgrims in Amarnath Yatra.

It is here that our incredibly jingoistic Mr. Sharma introduces an element of friendship by showing the forces of both countries joining hands to fight the terror.

Only Akshay’s performance in the film deserves a mention. He convincingly portrays the many shades of his character without making it overtly patriotic. Amitabh Bachchan has become too predictable in his acting and it is the same thing served over and again in every movie of his. Bobby Deol and Divya Khosla are average.

A film like ATHWS will appeal only to those people who have same kind of thinking as Mr. Sharma has – that patriotism is killing twenty enemy soldiers for every one Indian. The idea is simply neurotic and demands treatment before it becomes a deep-rooted malady

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