A movie with a great bunch of actors, a crisp story with a strong underlying social theme and portrayed in a no-nonsense manner gives me a kick man!

And that’s what Neeraj Pandey’s A Wednesday is all about. And what’s best about this movie is that it gets across the message on terrorism without actually having to show the gore that goes with it! I am not going to spoil the fun here by recapping the story, but will only stop short of saying it is only the 2nd good bollywood movie that I have seen this year. Nasseruddin Shah and Anupam Kher deliver a power packed performance . . . and Jimmy Shergill definitely seems to have come of age in his acting.

The movie raises few very serious questions, which I was left thinking about -

1) Is the police so inept as they show in the movie? Is it really so easy for someone to just walk in and plant explosives in the police station? Is there no security or checking of people who walk into a police station? For ages, police in movies have been shown as inept; isn’t it time that the police force of this country attempted to instill at least some confidence in its junta?

2) 11 blasts in major cities in India in the last 4 years; in the US I havent heard of one after 9/11. As a country, are we so vulnerable ? And why are we so vulnerable – one heated discussion says its the population; so many people so how will you track who should be in your country and who shouldn’t? I personally would think that the people traffic across the borders of US would be far larger than India . . . if they can prevent a untoward happening in the last so many years, why cant we? I know its not a question easily answered, but if the taxpayers money is not going towards ensuring a basic minimum life security . . .

3) Technology obsolescence – The war room in the police headquarter – I couldnt really make out if they wanted to show the sophistication of the police; it looked pretty comical from the outset;  or the technological obsolescence as shown later when a “cool dude” helps them trace the anonymous caller…how do we even hope to wage a war when you cant even track down a phone call in your own city?

4) What Shah does in the movie – is it right? I think that’s a tough one to answer . . .there are too many shades to that answer . . .

Is it because that we as a society are fatalistic in outlook and hence accept and take everything into our stride . . . and survive?