Director: Vijay Raaz
Cast: Vijay Raaz, Manu Rishi, Raj Zutsi and Vishwajeet Pradhan
In the age when international borders are mere information on google maps and frivolous social media exercises, Kya Dilli Kya Lahore builds on an old school thought. What do these lines between countries mean? Where did they come from? Why do millions share a sense of animosity over these divisions? The film answers these questions, albeit wearing its emotions on the sleeve. You could say, director Vijay Raaz could’ve done a better job. But he has given this film his best shot. And given his viewers an honest point of view on the subject of India versus Pakistan.
Two soldiers share an altercation on the border. Their clash of words starts from the difference between Lahore and Delhi, goes onto Jinnah and Nehru and eventually settles down when they discover common ground. It is then that the lines between Lahore and Delhi become indistinct. Vijay Raaz plays the Pakistani soldier Rehmat and Manu Rishi plays the Indian army officer Samarth. This film is like a compact stage production with a handful of actors. Slight in production value, but heavy in its dramatic punch and narrative knock.
Gulzar has mentored this personal project by Vijay Raaz and therefore it’s reflects a poetic sense of tragedy and redemption in a John Milton kind of way. Lines like “Lakeerein hain toh rehne do. Kisine rooth kar gusse mein shayad kheench di” and “Adha ghanta zyada jeena chahte ho toh Pakistan chal lo. Tumse adha ghanta peeche hain na hum!” have an elegiac class about them. They make this simple journey worth the time.
And yet that sense of simplicity is this movie’s Achilles’ heel. Perhaps the dramatic fulcrum is too humble in its artistic sensibility. That the Indian was displaced from Lahore and that the Pakistani had to move from Delhi during partition is a little too convenient. Raaz’s plot developments are predictable. The climax too is fairly foreseeable. But it all comes together in earnestness. Mustering up enough gusto and hitting home an emotional hit.
Raaz’s and Rishi’s performances are fantastic. And Raaz’s direction too is sincere. Don’t mistake this for another No Man’s Land. It’s not as sweeping as the subject could’ve been. But it’s a straight from the heart satire. Well worth the watch.
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