The 'Haider' Phenomenon

          This recent Shahid Kapoor starer release has inadvertently put critics versus patriots and sparked a new debate. This is a four pronged war  rather than a regular 'for' and 'against' debate  and you are a part of it whether  you watched it or not. The four warheads are : 

                1. Critics : These are the people who appreciated the high points of the movie irrespective of the fact that who liked it or who was hurt.  And at least the acting and performances can be appreciated by everyone alike leaving aside the controversial parts.

Note: It also includes movie buffs/Shahid's fans/mechanical hearts who just went in to have a good time, appreciated the jig and just dispersed into the crowd.

                2. Die hard patriots/customary Indians : They just refused to watch and talk about it on the pretext that it is anti-Army and observed an absolute boycott.

Note: It does not include people who refused to watch it due to any other reason.

            3. The sympathisers : They  are  the people    who   were  moved by the pain and sufferings of kashmiris  either after watching the movie or were preconditioned to do so. Although the range of emotions spanned from casually putting their view when time called - to thrusting their anger up everyone’s ass.

               4. The progressive minds :  These are the people who may or may not have watched the movie but appreciate the performances, agree/ sympathized with the torture the kashmiris had to face  and MOST IMPORTANTLY advocate the missing BIG PICTURE. It may be true that many have suffered but the fact that the soldiers have risked their lives for our own safety cannot be ignored and if they were not here many more would have suffered at the hands of these militants.  

I            'If the kashmiris live in fear , so does the soldier'.  You cant imagine the fear a soldier bears who has survived a mine attack on an unsuspecting army convoy, leave aside the loss of a soldier who succumbed to it.

Flaw in the script :

   

    

           The writer failed to include the terrorists in the story (may be intentionally). And the ones shown in the movie seems more like saints than extremist and are never seen hurting people. This is unfortunate because it completely ignores the fact that Army was put there with special powers to restrict the  militants only and not the innocent civilians as depicted in the movie.  It should also be noted that AFSPA would not have been in place if there was not a continuous risk of Pakistani militant insurgency  or extremist revolutions. It has put the Honorable ARMY in a dubious spot which is not expected of filmmaker of Vishal Bhardwaj’s stature .

Verdict : Critically acclaimed but Should Have Included Terrorists.