Dhokha

Dhokha -- Deceit

MAIN CAST
Muzammil Ibrahim -- Zaid
Tulip Joshi -- Sarah
Anupam Kher -- Sarah's grandfather

BRIEF PLOT OVERVIEW
Zaid, a police officer and moderate Muslim, is wholely devoted to his career and his beautiful wife, Sarah. When a fundamentalist suicide bomber strikes and Zaid's wife is blamed, he sets off on a quest to discover the truth behind this betrayal.

FILM -- 3.5/5
Dhokha has a lot to boast about. Pooja Bhatt directed the film wonderfully, and the camerawork is incredible. Some of the scenes...guh! The dialogue, unfortunately, often falls flat or becomes melodramatic, which I think is unnecessary when you deal with such serious themes. Actually, the whole script is a bit random, and I got a bit lost at certain parts. They would jump from one thing to another, and while I know these things were all related via "prejiduce against Muslims," it was very poorly executed. In short, the flow and pacing are off. The music is not integrated very well; there are some parts where the song breaks are very inappropriate or are picturized poorly.

CHARACTERS -- 4/5
Newcomer Muzammil Ibrahim is amazing. I hope to see more from him; he has a lot of on-screen presence, and I'm sure he could become an absolutely awe-inspiring actor with a little more work. He's also a truly beautiful man, which is a rare thing for me to say, and his modeling career can prove it. Tulip Joshi manages to craft a dichotomy between the innocent Sarah of Zaid's dreams and the fundamentalist martyr he fears with her body language and facial expressions. I've always thought of Anupam Kher as a comedic actor, a man who best fits the role of the "doting father," but he takes a more serious turn in Dhokha, and he shines! The supporting cast is kind of bland, but is otherwise unremarkable.

SOUNDTRACK -- 3/5
Dhokha's background music is very classical and ethnic, while the lyrical songs are more modern, with a lot of sythpop beats and electronically-enhanced vocals. Namely, the title track could have been really awesome, but the vocals are AWFUL and are mixed very poorly. Also, the wedding song between Zaid and Sarah is very lovely; it reminds me of a sweeter, softer version of K3G's "Suraj Hua Madham." In the end, I'll never like Dhokha's lyrical soundtrack as more than occassional background music, but I'm sure most people will be much more interested in it. The instrumentals, however, are gorgeous, and they're definitely worth a listen.

OVERALL -- 3.5/5
I can see why so many people love Dhokha. It handles the powerful and controversial theme of Islamic terrorism--and the resultant prejiduces against Muslims as a whole--very well, and it includes an incredible cast of newcomers. There are some awesome, powerful scenes, and the soundtrack is good if you're in to more modern music. Unfortunately, the story is choppy and uneven, and I found the pacing and tone lacking in certain parts. I'd still recommend Dhokha to anybody who likes a good drama, and I'm glad I bought a cheap copy of it, but the truth is that I found it unremarkable on the whole.

TOTAL SCORE -- 14/20 (really good)