Normally I would not be attracted to a movie if someone told me it was on Kashmir or whatever, but I went along with a friend to see Sikandar and it was truly a very good experience.
From the first scene the story grips you and it kind of becomes a sort of roller-coaster ride filled with the crazy politicians, terrorists, religious leaders and normal people who comprise both the victims and culprits of the problems in Kashmir.
What impacted me the most though was the fact that somehow the story is not just about Kashmir. I remember reading about some of the middle eastern countries, and how its so easy to tempt a child into violence, as they have grown up in lives filled with violence, and so becoming an oppressor rather than the oppressed has an attraction. And that was what moved me about the movie. As we've all seen in the traielrs, the movie is about a young boy who finds a gun and who is tempted by the power the gun has to offer - to deal with his bullies, to solve some other problems, etc., and just for that, he is a prime recruit for a Jehadi terrorist group. Something in the news like this we just saw a few weeks ago.. Kasab is another example of a young boy trained into violence.
So the story is very interesting about the battles that go on in this world - small inner battles in the boys head, and well as bigger battles where the child is atually the victim of the battles played by the politicians (here very well done by Sanjay Suri, who I loved in Jhankaar beats), military (I think Madhavan did a good job - nice and easy for him as always), and the terrorists. The cinematography is really nice too, though the background music was bit odd at times.
I really liked the story of the boy, who could be a boy in any part of Indian I guess - the northeast perhaps where there are other issues of violence, or even a big city with all the tensions we have now. And I liked the thing that the movie was actually very gripping, with us wondering every few minutes where the twists would take us...
