Review : 26/11 india pai daadi

• Title :26/11 india pai daadi (2013)
• Star Cast: Nana Patekar, Sanjeev Jaiswal
• Director: Ram Gopal Varma, Producer: Ram Gopal Varma , Parag Sanghavi
• Genre: Thriller
• Author: Telugu Mirchi, Creator: Swathi, Publisher: Telugu Mirchi

Ramgopal Verma’s creativity got lost long back when he turned producer with an intention of making money. The producer in him put the director to deep sleep and the result is what we have been seeing for a long time in the form of horror films like Bhoot. Despite his string of ridiculous films, his fans still waited with hope that some day he will come up with that master stroke. Now after a long time the director wakes up and shows that the creativity in him is still alive.

It is a tragedy that the nation can never forget. The terror strike on Taj, on how the terrorists came by the sea and walked in comfortably with their machine guns dispersed themselves and shot people like flies. The government’s lapse of security, the police being blown to smithereens all were shown on screen and he had cashed on this sentiment. He unfolded the story that everyone knew.. how the handful terrorists hijacked the boat and entered Mumbai, the decisions that the cops took, how the government responded, people’s feelings and the reaction of the victim’s families, thoughts of Kasab who was caught alive and finally the film ends with his hanging at the Yerawada prison in Pune.

This is not a film, it is a documentary on the killings that took place on the fateful day. What happened inside the Taj and how the attackers mercilessly killed the people was portrayed stark naked by Verma. Not as a director but as a journalist who had chronicled the events. He tried showing the emotions of those who were trapped in the fire, the Indians and foreigners, the police, the feelings of the attackers. In short he took the audiences inside the Taj. In one way as a director he fulfilled his responsibility and showed his love for the country. If Verma does a sincere and a honest job, this is how a film looks like. He drew flak for picking up the wrong people for his roles but this time as a casting director too he fetched many brownie points.

When one is picturising a real incident, a bit of drama and melodrama, some creative liberties are taken to elevate the emotions, even Mani Ratnam does that but it is here we remember Ramgopal Verma who is almost forgotten. He never went overboard while showing the incident as it is. Nana Patekar excels as an actor in the film, we do not remember the rest of the faces and it is not needed also. He shows his skill technically in all aspects of film making here from cinematography, to music to RR etc.

But what is the reason and benefit behind making the film except refreshing our wounds once more? Or is it a warning to the future generations? Maybe even Verma will not be able to answer this..he might have showed his technical skill but he did not venture into the other side of the story, the reason for such mindless killings, and the repercussions thereafter. The film leaves behind only trauma to those families who lost their people in the attack. No one would have cared for Verma if he had made this film when he was in full form. Now that he has delivered a big string of duds, we tend to see him with a sympathetic light, it is like a batsman who’s been on a zero consistently and suddenly scores 30 to 40 runs.

The film becomes useful to him only in one aspect, it puts the director in him on the tracks. His fans will definitely like this one and this is a must for those who are interested in watching a real incident that took place on a fateful day called 26/11.