Movie Review: Kabir Khan's New York is no Kabul Express

After "Kabul Express", Director Kabir Khan again chose the topic of innocent people being tortured by the American forces. Last time it was the army and air force, and this time, it's FBI. But make no mistake, "Kabul Express" and "New York" are different in approach and concept.

New York is a movie depicting the shock of being a Muslim in the US, particularly in New York during the time of the World Trade Center air-bombing on 11^th September 2001, popularly called the 9/11 attack.. John Abraham plays the victim of such discrimination and Neil Nitin Mukesh has an almost similar role, only difference being that he was tortured 7 years after the incident. Katrina Kaif's character is a typical hindi film heroine character, supporting the hero.

The movie as a whole had an emotional appeal. Technically speaking, the story left a few gaps in places. Music, which was good, seemed to be the only link between the gaps. As for editing, there were too many slow motions and some places things seemed abrupt. The cinematography department did not have anything new to offer. In fact, in some places, especially the close shots, the camera movements were shaky. This obviously made me think that Kabir hadn't forgotten the documentaries he had shot while as a reporter in Afghanistan. Performances were above average, special mention be given to Neil and Irrfan. Neil Nitin Mukesh had the best emotional scenes in the movie and he has delivered them well. Irrfan, as usual, was brilliant. John was uncannily intense although his gruesome torture scenes in the FBI cell and ones after that when he is in shock of the whole experience was applaudable acting. Katrina was mediocre, then again, her accent and look did fit the character she played.

The scenes in the movie highly reminded me of what I've seen earlier. John's first scene saw him doing a Shah Rukh Khan (in Main Hoon Na) in the New York State University campus racing with a guy to pull the string of the American flag on the roof, although this time there was no near casualties. The pub scenes looked highly inspired by Karan Johar's Kal Ho Na Ho. John doing the building stunt reminded me of Hrithik in Lakshya. And Irrfan interrogating Neil was, well, let's just say he has been doing the FBI-slash-Police-Detective-slash-Inspector routine for quite some films now, notably Slumdog Millionaire, A Mighty Heart etc.

New York might be able to do business for the first few weeks but it will not have a big shelf life. It is no epic movie and nothing about the movie is what will make you watch it again. It's a one time watch. The song, 'Hai Junoon...' although will stay for some time.

Hence, the movie is not a college romance, nor is it an intense fast action thriller. It is a mixture of both. It's predictable and yet, you wouldn't still be ready to sleep while watching the film. It has it's moments of laughter and excitement although sparingly.

So, if you go to watch the movie, that is if you really have a thing for Katrina or John or Neil, then, you should have your popcorn in the first half, €˜cause the second half becomes intense and you might choke.

Acting: 7/10

Music: 8/10

Story: 7/10

On the whole MovieRating: 6/10

Copyright  Bollycurry

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