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Saturday, March 22, 2025
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HOLLYWOOD THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST
EDITOR'S PICK
`The
Reluctant Fundamentalist` - a superficial saga (IANS Movie Review)
Rating: ** 1/2
The film, based on the acclaimed novel of the same name authored by Mohsin Hamid,
is a typical Mira Nair film in terms of the cascade of colours, textures, frames
and characters. Unlike the novel, the films is a blunt, slow and pretentious
work of art.
It`s about the meteoric rise and fall of a Pakistani migrant in the US.
The film begins with an intimidating situation, where an American professor at
Lahore University is kidnapped. The CIA with the help of Bobby (Liev Schreiber),
an American journalist, tries to ferret out information about the kidnapping
through Changez Khan, also a professor at the same university.
At the start of the conversation, Changez insists that Bobby should listen to
his story -- How his life has been turned topsy-turvy after 9/11. How he was
inadvertently humiliated. And why he had to abort his American Dream to return
to Lahore.
The 130-minute narration meanders for the first hundred minutes and rapidly
picks up pace during the last thirty minutes in a very melodramatic manner.
The film unfurls in a non-linear manner and that layers the narrative with
series of incidents that are hackneyed and predictable. With the protagonist
being on an even keel, the script does not delve deeply into his psyche, but
operates functionally on the situational complexities of the plot; hence it is
unable to involve the audience emotionally.
Riz Ahmed`s portrayal of Changez`s transition from a pragmatic and efficient
business analyst to a patriotic professor in his country is superficial. The
intensity of neither his humiliation nor his pain reflects in his demeanour.
This is evident in the two scenes that could have changed the equilibrium of the
film. The first scene is where he disagrees with his boss (Kiefer Sutherland) to
sack the editor publisher of a publication in Turkey and the other scene is at
the art studio, when he is angry with his girlfriend Erica (Kate Hudson) when
she displays her indulgent art exhibits.
Liev and Sutherland`s performances are solid but add little beyond their
characters` stereotypical American reactions to Changez`s decisions. Hudson with
her unkempt hair and gaudy dramatics is a misfit.
Om Puri as Changez`s father is a fascinating personality, but his limited screen
presence is a shortcoming so also is the case with Adil Hussain`s character,
Mustafa Fazil.
Shabana Azmi as Changez`s mother walks through her role nonchalantly. Imaad Shah
as Sameer, a student activist, appears comfortable on familiar grounds and is
noticeable.
The only plus point in the movie is its soundtrack. The film kickstarts with the
qawaali "Kangnaa" sung by brothers Fareed Ayaz and Abu Mohammed, but
it is the song "Mori araj suno" by Atif Aslam that is haunting. Meesha
Shafi`s brilliantly sung "Bijli aaye ya na aye" steals the show.
Meera Nair has taken great pains to ensure the authenticity of the settings. The
smooth flow of the visuals, though appealing, is often broken with the unsteady
hand-held camera work. So the rapid edits, especially during conversations, are
jarring.
Despite its unwieldiness, the film nonetheless gives an impressively thoughtful
exploration of the immigrant identity in the US. It is also worth a watch to see
how America radicalises the world.
