Takethispunch Arms trafficking is taking place in India. An arsenal enters Indian territory via the state of Rajasthan, which makes its way to interior of India with help of many middlemen. Bala Thakur, a gun handler in Chandrapur, provides the arms to Veeran, a forest dwelling brigand. Later, Veeran and his gang attack a wedding bus, mercilessly gunning down every person in it which includes women and children. The government appoints a Special Action Team in Mumbai to trace the roots behind the attack. The team learns about Bala Thakur, but thanks to his informants, Thakur flees before he can be apprehended.

long-ford This film may be overlong but it is a solid entertainer. The production values are good and the direction competent. Aamir Khan and Naseeruddin Shah face off against each other here and both excel. Aamir is convincing despite looking too young for his role. The film is patriotic and squarely blames a rival nation for inciting trouble in India. However, it refuses to demonize any particular community. There are too many songs but some of them are quite melodious. I personally liked a gentle ghazal sung by Jagjit Singh. Sonali Bendre provides the glamor element. Watchable.Overall 7/10

tnkcool This movie leaves the theatre with you and stays in your mind for a long time. A realistic and honest look at the problems our police system is facing is the theme of this movie. Amir Khan, is as usual,incomparable and produces a strong and honest performance. He and his team are a bunch of honest, hard-working cops trying to get Mumbai rid of all the terrorism and criminals. Amir Khan plays a tough cop with a rough past (his brother was killed by gangsters) and the event has led him to try and sweep crime away from Mumbai. All the actors in the movie have done their job very well, especially the actors in Amir Khan's police team. Sonali Bendre has done as much justice as she could to her role, which is kind of minimal and unfair. Yet, the movie is a great one. Naseeruddin shah is amazing as usual, and goes through with his character with ease and perfection.Worth a watch, the movie will surely not fail to impress.

devil.plaything The back of the DVD case claims that Sarfarosh is the first Hindi movie to take a look at some of the real reasons behind terrorism and insurgency in India. This seems like a fairly radical claim that I doubt they could really defend even though my knowledge of Hindi cinema is still far from complete. DIL SE seemed like a pretty honest examination of the subject to me, and that was several years earlier. I don't want to hold the claims on the DVD case against the movie though, as SARFAROSH is certainly an interesting take on the subject.Ajay Singh's brother is killed and his father brain damaged by terrorists when Ajay is a small boy, because his father was going to stand up against them in court or something. Ajay takes this to heart (as you would), and as a young adult he devotes himself to becoming a police inspector and fighting against crime, and terrorists in particular. The movie is essentially about one case, where Ajay has to get to the roots of an operation smuggling guns into the country. The operation is backed by a Pakistani general, with the rationale that arming criminals in India is a cheap but effective way of waging war. The movie does push a fairly unbalanced "Pakistan aggressors, India = victims" message, though it is very careful/keen not to equate this with Muslim vs Hindu and turn it into a religious issue. The movie is fairly serious throughout - although there is a romantic interest (the lovely Sonali Bendre), it's not overplayed and does serve a useful function by building the character of Ajay and putting the case in the context of his life. For the most part though, the movie is focussed on the investigation and the encounters between the police and the criminals as they trace the criminal network closer to its roots. It's quite an action packed movie, and features some of the best action scenes I've seen in an Indian movie. No bullet ballet or kung fu, but quite realistic fights and shootouts that are never-the-less very well choreographed and filmed. The movie bears an 18 rating, because the action does get quite violent. A lot of people die in the course of the movie, and a few of them in quite gruesome ways. One thing I've noticed in quite a lot of Asian movies is that police violence is treated quite sympathetically - even as quite noble. The cops in Sarfarosh don't mess around - if threatening, beating or framing a criminal is the best way to get a result then they don't hesitate to do so. If a criminal happens to get killed in the course of an operation then they don't seem terribly upset either, unless it was somebody they wanted to interrogate .Ajay Singh is played by Aamir Khan, an actor I haven't come across before. He's not a pretty boy by any means, but he does a very good job with the character. It's a good character too - well developed and believable, honorable without being sanctimonius. The rest of the cast all do a good job too, although Sonali Bendre doesn't have a lot to do except look pretty and dance around in the musical numbers.The script for the movie is very tight, with both the criminals and the cops operations and motivations seeming quite convincing. The movie does veer a little towards preaching in places, especially towards the end, but this is forgivable. The direction is very confident and focussed, and sound and cinematography throughout are good throughout.All round, a good movie worth seeking out.