Indian

Firstly, I like to say I am a Kamalhassan fan. But you don't have to be Kamal fan to enjoy this film. This is one of his best performances in his career. I rate this film has one of my all time favourites. The climax was very surprising and unpredictable. The film has a great cast. Kamal dominates the film, as father and son. Sughanya also gives good supporting performance. A mixture of a great script, good cast, good songs, and good actions scenes make this a 8.5 out of 10.

Hindustani is a very good film with an unusual storyline. Kamal Hasan rocked in his double role as a freedom fighter and the freedom fighter's son. He is a brilliant actor. I hope that Bollywood directors would try to utilize his talents like S. Shankar did. His Hindi has also improved drastically. Manisha Koirala is good but not great. Urmila Matondkar is a notch above Manisha and she shows a flair for comedy the very first time with this film. I loved her scenes with Kamal Hassan and Manisha though her character doesn't come across as full-fledged at the end. Sukanya as the old Kamal Hassan's wife and Kasthuri as his daughter were good too. Overall, a must watch!

Probably one of Kamal Hassan's best movies ever. It has a good story line to it, different from the usual Indian movies. For once there is no real bad guy in the movie. Yup that is true; the movie shows the evils in the society, which is the society itself.

The cinematography is the movie is great. The locations are too. If there would be anything I would recommend is that to drop the songs, thought they are great and part of Indian movie culture, it really takes away the seriousness from the movie.

The makeup is the movie is great, kamal really does look like someone that is that old. The fight scenes look just as cheesy as they usually do in any Indian movie.

But hey it is great entertainment for the family.

PS. Do not try the stunts in the movie at home.

"Hindustani" is a Hindi Version of a Tamil Movie and was also an official entry to Oscars in 1996. The story of the movie involves the increasing corruption in government offices and how corruption has engulfed the public and country. For cleaning the corruption, a veteran freedom fighter, who had fought for the country against the British ruler, sharpens his weapons and kills every corrupt official he encounters, including his own son.

The story which the film tells is pretty questionable. Is killing every corrupt official a right solution. Despite a very improbable story, the film remains just compulsively watchable and you just feel like clapping when every corrupt official is killed; which explains how important it has been to wipe the roots of corruption. Kamal Hassan in double role is the biggest strength of the film. Especially in the role of an old fighter against corruption, Kamal Hassan excels and you just become compelled to clap for him.

The film is pretty overlong though and many scenes and sequences seem to have no connection with the main theme. Only one-third of the film comes to the main theme and is the flawless segment of the film. The film uses superb special effects in the choreography and in the flashbacks showing the historic war against the British Rulers. Urmila Matondkar and Manisha Koirala have very small roles in the film which they have done well and added glamour to the movie. Overall, despite overlong and flawed, the film shall be remembered for a relevant issue the film raises and an excellent performance from Kamal Hassan.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

I highly recommend to watch this movie for two type of audiences- first, those who expect a good thriller from Indian cinema (of course not only Bollywood) and second, those who have only heard Kamal Hassan's name but never watched his any single movie yet. Kamal parts here dual role, one as an old man (Senapathy) who stops the corrupted people, and the other as his son (Chandru) who works in transport department concerning licenses. Kamal did brilliant job in this movie by offering both the roles of a father and a son. Perhaps, if examined clearly this is his career reflecting movie. There are some high definition visual scenes where we can see the real freedom fighters like Subash Chandra Bose and Senapathy together. This is a remarkable work from director Shankar, or say in Indian cinema. His directorial works are highly appreciable. For action lovers also this movie is a good reference.

In romantic words, this is a love-triangle movie due to the presence of Manisha Koirala and Urmila Matondkar, both who love the same Chandru. They did their own works, and run the movie. But again, this movie falls under three categories- thriller, political (mixed with social) and patriotic as the title itself denotes. I watched countless times, but never felt bored as it is highly entertaining for the three hours continuously. It has two versions, original one in Tamil and another in dubbed Hindi version. In Hindi version there is a slight uneasiness with the uttering words of the actors in their lips as those do not match exactly, since it is a dubbed version.