How sad is this?

good back-story, and good acting

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Blistering performances.

I don't know how many will take this review in the right spirit, since majority of prior were 1,2 or 3 starred. As i defined the title, this movie is rare, audacious and inspiring.I have been to Kashmir and can say that director has made sincere effort while writing the content and 90 % of the screenplay was authentic. Some can find this to be an exaggerated stuff but the tone of this movie is the voice of internal politics of valley.First half of the movie comes up with lots of characters and Second Half sums up all end points and hence make this as a complete circle; yet movie fails to embark any high voltage drama since many of the cine-mongers were unable to understand the climax, it was same what went wrong for Mission Kashmir.Before i can explain the climax of Lamhaa i think Mission Kashmir needs few lines, Kashmir is a very different state and it is divided in two parts, one wants to be with Pakistan and the second wants complete autonomy.By No means GOI will ever make any judgment which will please the above two categories and hence the only option left is make Kashmir as an International Issue. IN MK (Mission Kashmir)the attack on Hazzart bal (Most reputed Shrine) and the follow up on Shankracharya (Shiva Temple in Kashmir) was shown as an attempt from Terrorist to make Kashmir issue to be an International Issue, and seek UN's Intervention. So one can say that climax made some sense but yes it was not shown properly.The Current sate of Kashmir is like that non Muslim are not at all welcomed hence this makes Kashmir as a very different place. The plot of Lamhaa was to create such situation in other parts of India and hence make GOI to succumb. Sequel to MK's climax is Lamhaa.... Migrants who left Kashmir in 1989 are in Jammu and Terrorsit planed suicide attack at the rally which was supposed to be reconciliation effort from moder day Kasmiri Muslim. The High point is if any such incidents happens in Jammu, then again it will lead to multiple conclusions, probably People will left jammu to seek more safe and better place or Jammu will become Armageddon (Hindu-Sikh Vs Muslims) or something like that....Apart from climax, the 1989 holocausts was dealt as if one explains definition, some detailed interpretation would have made this docu-drama better. Editing was bad, some scenes could have trimmed very easily and hence would have made screenplay more effective. The most absurd part or the only thing i disliked about Lamhaa is that it tries too hard to explain small things and left major chuck unnoticed and finally tries to compile and give some solution, this actually questions the intellect of people who are dealing with Kasmir issue for last 20 years.Yes Lamhaa never explains the scenario in detail, and i think its quite justified because this can lead up to lots of controversies(dangerous ones) and that too which can vandalize the current peace of state in Jammu and rest of J&K minus Kashmir. In short, Its a true film about Kashmir and gives the insight of what actually happens in day to day life. A must watch affair.

This movie is not all about Kashmir. This what they think of Kashmir. The tag-line of the movie say "The untold story of Kashmir", and believe me the story inside is not of Kashmir, its of the hate and racism. The game is on in Kashmir with the help of Indian military. And when the Kashmirs fight for their Kashmir, they say it militancy? What a joke? The movie is a joke filmed on this joke.The characterization of Vikram (Sanjay Dutt) is good but he doesn't look to be in his full form. Bipasha has done all fake as one can feel from his face expressions. I wonder does the director had no other choice?The movie openly blames Pakistan for its interactions in Kashmir, but do not gives any proof of this interaction. So blaming is an old game for India and so for Indian Cinema.!

Everyone, says someone important in this searing document of our times, is playing politics in the Kashmir Valley. In a milieu of all-pervasive politics, thank the Lord for a creative voice that can look into the burning Valley with dispassionate compassion.Lamhaa is one of those docu-dramas that could have easily toppled into the territory of over-statement and over-simplified politics. And boy, haven't we seen that happen in very successful political cinema in recent times?! Rahul Dholakia who earlier made the gently persuasive Parzania on the aftermath of the Gujarat riots, doesn't lose his storytelling equilibrium even when the sitiuations of crises described by the skilfully-written plot scream for attention.Restraint and honesty go hand-in-hand in Dholakia's Kashmir, which we'd like to believe, is the real Kashmir, unalloyed, non-magnified, intense and utterly devoid of artifice.The camera moves restlessly through the dangerous crowded main roads and tense bylanes of Kashmir where anything can happen.The cinematographer James Fowlds seems to know the Valley of the damned with the transparent scrupulousness of an insider who can place himself outside the explosive bustle of a portion of earth that's rapidly slipped into the stratosphere of anarchy and mayhem.The high-octane screenplay has no space or time to shed tears for the innocent and the dead. Miraculously liberated of overt sentimentality Lamhaa moves with candour and confidence through a world whose politics has become progressively impossible for the outsider to comprehend. Dholakia's narrative moves through a labyrinth of pain and violence without trying to make common sense of them.Lamhaa is not an easy film to watch. It comes to no decisive end. It takes into consideration the entire politics of Kashmir without careening towards excessive drama.This is that rare political drama where every component in the jigsaw of politics and terrorism is put on screen with a sensitivity and precision that repudiate melodramatic excesses.A word of special praise for Mithoon's songs. The lyrically lush tunes break into the deafening sound of bomb blasts and roaring guns to remind us that once the best poets of Kashmir wrote poetry on the beauty of the Valley.

Lamhaa (moment) is a one step below follow-up by the maker of Parzaania, Rahul Dholkia who has taken up the issue of Kashmir with a lot of research work on his part. He has chosen a good script and done his casting very intelligently. Lamhaa is thoroughly engrossing and maintains an air of thrill throughout. It is a fast movie which appears to be even faster because of its short length and proportionately very large canvas to cover. Definitely it is not a classic like his previous venture Parzaania but able to leave its mark notwithstanding.The story is nothing but the turmoil in Kashmir by the zehaadis with the help of Pakistan to tackle which a military intelligence officer is sent in the disguise of a disgruntled Kashmiri Mulsim. He searches like-minded Kashmiris to strengthen his hands and helps them on one hand alongwith seeking their help in uncovering the true faces behind the leaders of the anti-government forces on the other.The director has ended the story without offering any solution to the problem or passing any kind of subjective strictures. He has shown his better sense by presenting the status of the things as it is alongwith the mentality of the people of all kinds involved therein. The director's research work and honesty of narration is clearly visible in the movie. It is a movie made with a great effort and toil.The problem with the narrative is that the director has chosen a very big canvas for his script but made a movie lengthy of hardly two hours. That's why he has attempted at several facets of the problem but fell short of time in dealing with each one of them effectively and meaningfully. That's why certain things (viz. the plight of the Kashmiri pundits) have been just touched and certain things have been treated quite superficially. The maker of Parzaania was expected to be more insightful in his approach. There was no need to make an over-crisp movie and some additional length would have given him room to fill proper colours in all the frames of his outline.However Rahul Dholkia's effort cannot be underrated by any angle as he has made a fast-paced, action-packed, adrenaline-pumping movie. If you look at it from an entertainment viewpoint, it is an engrossing thriller without allowing the viewer any time to think (though the subject-matter is thoughtful as well as thought-provoking only). You won't regret after watching it.Casting is very intelligent. Sanjay Dutt has been taken over by age (he is 51 years old now which is clearly visible in his looks). However he is the best choice for the central character tying all the ends of the story together in a single thread. Bipasha Basu has her own fan following in India (perhaps abroad too) and let me frankly tell you the name of one of her die-hard fans - Jitendra Mathur. She is gorgeous, appealing and effective, all at the same time. Among others, Anupam Kher has done well whereas Kunal Kapoor's weakness of character has let him down. Perhaps the director has tried to insert some of his personal views regarding the solution of the problem in the movie through the character of Kunal Kapoor which looks a bit unreal. The complete supporting cast has done exceedingly well.Songs with the background score, locations and art direction, cinematography, editing, production value; everything is Aclass. The cinematographer has done an outstanding job by capturing the eternal beauty as well as the tormented status of Kashmir in the best possible manner.The movie is quite realistic in the major part of it and quite superficial and oversimplified at certain places. Yet, one thing is certain that it is thoroughly gripping, from beginning to end. In fact, the style of story-telling in this movie is similar to that of J.P. Dutta in his trilogy of Border, Refugee and LOC-Kargil.The narrator has shown what the Indian intelligentsia thinks and feels about the Kashmir issue, nothing new. The fact is, the director, despite his sincere research, cannot work like the hero of his story to dig out the all the hidden things. Hence he has portrayed what he himself considers the reality behind the havoc. The secret hidden behind the curtain may be something else. Who knows ? Now-a-days, the use of explete language is increasing in the Hindi movies in the name of showing the reality as our censor board has got extremely liberal with respect to the language.Lamhaa is also no exception. However I completely disapprove of it as it snatches the flair of dignity and decency from the movie. When each and every reality cannot be shown, why can't we abstain from the use of vulgar language.Kashmir has been converted into a company delivering profits to several interest-groups and looting the common Kashmiris, has been reiterated quite often in the movie and it appears to be the reality. The issue of flesh-trade of the Kashmiri girls has been quite humanly demonstrated through the statement of them - Hamen To Har Koi Lootata Hai Chahe Wo Military Ho Ya Zehaadi (we are looted by everybody whether it is the military or the militants). The scene of bashing of Bipasha Basu by the mob is heart-tearing.All in all, a better movie was expected by the maker of a masterpiece like Parzaania. However it is not a disappointing one. I sum up the Kashmir issue in which the biggest sufferer is the innocent, with the words - Ladaai Abhi Zaari Hai (the fight continues).