Review by NISHTHA BHATNAGAR


Cast: Suniel Shetty, Sameera Reddy, Ashish Vidyarthi, Vinod Khanna, Seema Biswas, Ayesha Dharker, Bhagyashree
Director: Anant Mahadevan
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours 5 minutes
Rating : 3.5/5



We find ourselves fairly gripped in the opening few scenes of Red Alert- The War Within. The topicality of the film makes it very inviting as the Naxal movement occupies centerstage in the country's history like never before. The filmmakers deserve credit for cashing on a theme like that and also attempting a film that has none of the razzmatazz of new age cinema and only revolves around jungles, shabbily dressed extremists and whole lot weaponry. But then a brave attempt like that also needs to be backed by a lot of craft and deftness in filmmaking and complete clarity of thought. The main problem with Red Alert lies here.

The makers pick up a few incidents from the life of one man forced into taking the gun and try to construct a complete picture. The result is a movie that yo yos between a projection of reality and an attempt to distinguish between right and wrong. Red Alert tries to show us both the sides to the naxal movement but ends up justifying neither. Even if the intent was to show the victory of good or evil eventually, it is done in a rather half baked confused manner.

Suniel Shetty plays Narsimha, a poor cook trying to make ends meet for his impoverished family. Not knowing who his master is, he is asked to deliver food in the forest. Little does he know that his life is going to change forever. While on his way to the jungle, he gets caught in a crossfire between the Naxals and the police. Rescued by the Naxals, he must pick up the gun and fight against the system. The rest of the movie revolves around his predicament and mental turmoil in the midst of the bloodshed and action.

The movie has a realness to it and has been shot well. It sort of constructs the image you have had about these extremists vividly for you. It shows you how the Naxals live, how they hide their weapons, how they loot their weapons, how they have their share of debauchery, how they are so completely brainwashed into believing their leaders and how the Sarkar is trying to curb them. It is interesting to see both the government and the naxals trying to scheme and strategise against cheating the other to prepare for attack. But then despite all the content, Red Alert will seem cumbersome, heavy, long and non-enduring. The movie forgets that the viewer needs to thrive on either adrenaline rush or a sense of sympathy or for that matter provocation of thought. The movie gets too busy in its own agenda and conveniently ramble on with it sidelining the need of the viewer completely. The end of the movie is most disappointing and hangs out like a sore limb.

Suniel Shetty does a good job of his role but his character is not well etched. For example, his tranformation from the simpleton into the terrorist and back to the simpleton isn't done with precision. After all if he is the central protagonist, he ought to have been given that privilege. All the other actors like Sameera Reddy, Gulshan Grover etc are good but one doesn't get to see too much of either to be able to comment on performances.



Verdict : A believable story