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It's difficult to explain just how good A Wednesday is without giving away too much about the film. Because believe me, it's a film best seen without any impressions. It's a film whose charm lies in its unraveling.

The film stars Anupam Kher as Mumbai's Police Commissioner Prakash Rathore who receives a phone call from an anonymous person (played by Naseeruddin Shah) demanding the release of four militants, failing which he threatens to set off a series of bombs across the city.

The veracity of the caller's claims is confirmed when he leads the cops to a bomb he has already planted in a nearby police station. Unable to trace the caller or his location, the authorities decide to hand over the militants instead of watching Mumbai burn.

Written and directed by Neeraj Pandey, A Wednesday is an engaging thriller with a twist that's more dramatic and unpredictable than anything you're likely to imagine.

Films about terrorists holding a city to ransom aren't new. It's a theme that's been exploited many times over in the movies, especially in standard Hollywood action films like the Die Hard series.

What elevates A Wednesday from your average action thriller is the fact that it comes loaded with a very solid ideology - there's more to this film than just a race against time to save a city. It's well-intended and makes its point emphatically.

Dissecting the film in further detail would amount to giving away too much, and that's a crime you don't want me to commit. A Wednesday may not be a perfect film - there are clichés that could have been easily avoided, and you may or may not agree with the moral decision in the end - but the film still makes a very important point, and does it bravely, so you're willing to overlook its handful of flaws.

The director assembles an ensemble of fine actors who perform their roles competently - Anupam Kher as the conflicted Commissioner, Naseeruddin Shah as the anonymous caller, Aamir Bashir as one of the two younger cops assigned the job of transporting the militants to the designated spot, and finally Jimmy Shergill as the other young cop, hot-blooded and impulsive.

It's Shergill who shines in this film with a performance that is measured and meticulous. It's the most 'showy' of all roles in this film and the other actors allow Shergill to steal the film. Meanwhile, Naseeruddin Shah's greatness as an actor is evident just in the manner in which he doesn't draw any special attention to his performance even though he's the film's most central character.

The real hero of A Wednesday however, is writer-director Neeraj Pandey who makes an assured, confident debut with a film that truly pushes the envelope. I'm going with four out of five for A Wednesday, it's a film you'll find hard to get out of your head days after you've left the cinema. At last a film that has the power to change how we look at the world.

Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)

by ibnlive.com