Its the Long weekend for us so I thought I will catch up with some of the Movies I had on my "Have to watch" list. Today's pick was a Bollywood Thriller - A Wednesday. It has my favorite actors Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah.
The background for the story is the frequent bombing incidents that happen in India where scores of people die and the police are usually inept or take so long to catch the culprit and the the bureaucracy takes over to extend the time much more, that the dying wont matter anymore. We Indians have a short memory when it comes to how many of us died in terrorist attacks or for that border skirmishes. I havent understood if that is because we have become desensitized to listening to it most every other day or month or because we are apathetic or because we are complacent and get Used To stuff very easily. But yes, most of us will talk about it for a few days between friends and family and then life goes on as if nothing ever changed, except for the dead being dead.
The story starts off as a flash back. A Retiring Mumbai Police Commissioner, played by Anupam Kher, looks back at one of the most challenging and memorable cases during his tenure. He mentions that case wasnt filed or recorded in any manner to leave a paper trial but that he and a few who were unwittingly involved hold it in their memories. The Protagonist is a Nameless Man, who labels himself "common man", played by Naseerudin Shah. Its about a Particular Wednesday when the Common Man decides to act decisively against the Bomb Blasts in India. You have this seemingly invisible Common man walking around with a bag and actually placing it in a Police Station without anyone noticing. Followed by a phone call to the Commissioner's office asking for the release of 4 Big Name Terrorists who were arrested after the 2006 Mumbai Train Blasts and blasts in the years before that. If they werent released within a stipulated time, there will be a series of bomb blasts at strategic places within the city. This is a fairly common occurrence in India - There is always a demand to release the "In Custody" terrorists, with bomb threat to any particular group of people or businesses or politicians. So following that logic, you see all the symptoms of this nameless man being the Terrorist and the Police being the good guys out to catch him. For a while I thought they copied a version of the Movie Speed. But it wasnt and had a surprising end. I specially enjoyed the Monologue of the common Man at the end. If I tell you more it would be a spoiler. But if you do want to know, you could check out the Wikipedia plot synopsis and Youtube does have the entire movie with english subtitles.
Over all I give it an almost 4 out of 5. Enjoyable Watch.
