Hamid Film Review: Aijaz Khan Brings Forth Exceptional Cinema That Must Be Watched And Appreciated!

Movie: Hamid

Director: Aijaz Khan

Actors - Talha Arshad Reshi, Rasika Dugal, Sumit Kaul, Vikas Kumar

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

My Verdict: I Will Remember Watching This Film For A Long Time! – CLAPS!

Aijaz Khan’s Hamid is based on the play 786 by Mohammed Amin Bhat and a screenplay by Rajinder Randhawa, is all that a film should be. What a lovely film, what a beautiful premise. There isn’t much dialogue in the film but the emotions portrayed and the questions asked to the viewing public is eloquent enough to play with the heart strings!

Does God exist? Who is responsible for the way things are in Kashmir today? Everyone has a reason to react they way they do – who is responsible for that “reason” to have cropped up in the first place? Is there a solution to issues between two parties who are sworn enemies of each other?

Everyone, every single soul in Kashmir is waiting for an absolution - an absolution that will never come, (not at least in their lifetime). The film is about these pertinent questions which are brought out through Hamid, played by the apple-cheeked Talha Arshad Reshi. The 120-minute film is set in the tragedy stalked Kashmir. Rehmat played by Sumit Kaul is a loving father who builds boats is forced one night by his son to get him something! Now, it is Kashmir, and going out in the night is always fatal. Well, Rehmat disappears in the dark.

A year later we see his wife Ishrat played by Rasika Dugal is a shaken state of being, a mother who is not bothered about her son (somewhere also because she considers him to be the reason for the disappearance of her husband). The son has taken refuge in faith and is all consumed with the thought that god solves everything. In the course of one of his meanderings in the valley, he stumbles upon a mobile phone and dials the number 786 which is the numerical representation of the Arabic Qalmah “Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim”. The call is answered by a CRPF     Jawan who has other issues with himself.

The film portrays the simplistic yet complicated nature of Hamid’s arduous search through the innocent yet piercing questions he asks the Jawan Abhay, he believes is Allah. Not to forget Abhay too is humane enough to do what is in his capacity to help Hamid, he has a family he hasn’t since a long time, his loses his best friend to the riots yet all of these have never been equated with his guilt or what befalls Hamid in the long run.

There is also a track of a cunning Mir Sarvar who moulds minds of such innocent children and makes way for them to reach the “other side of the mountains”. The screenplay is written such that every character gets their own time to emphasise on their backstory and come up with performances that blow your mind. Talha as Hamid is just so apt a cast. He plays his role to utmost perfection. He is marvellous. Kuddos to the director for being able to extract that kind of a performance from the young boy. Actor Vikas Kumar plays Abhay and he is in a great form as well. Rasika Dugal plays Ishrat and she does a swell job. It just takes a quiver of her lips or the tightening of her eyebrows to convey emotions that wreak havoc in her. One scene worth mentioning here is when She just gives up, she resigns to fate and cuddles her son and wails hysterically.

The cinematography by John Wilmor is breathtaking! The usage of colours indoors and outdoors almost tells a story themselves.

All in all a film that will remain the minds of the viewers for a long time. LOVELY!