Reg no : 180021006235 A FEMINIST READING OF THE FILM RAAZI Project submitted to Mahatma Gandhi University In particular fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature ANAKHA.K 6* Semester B.A English (model II) Devaswom Board Pampa College Parumala Head of the department of English supervising teacher Asso. Prof. Arun. Guest Faculty Mrs. Nimmy. S ‘Name and signature of External Examiner July 2021DECLARAT), Thereby declare that the project titled A FE} FILM RAAZI is a Bonafide record of the Date : ANAKHA. K VI Semester B.A English DB Pampa College ParumlaACKNOWLEDGMEN It is a pleasure for me to express my sincere thanks to all those who helped me in completing my project work successfully . express my gratitude to my supervising teacher of the Department of English , Nimmy miss , for her valuable suggestions and timely guidance throughout my project . Talso express my heartfelt thanks to all the other faculty members of Department of English D.B.pampa College, Parumala for their guidance, suggestions and encouragement, 1 also use this occasion to express my gratitude to the principal of our college Dr. Lekshmi Parameshwaran Above all, I am thankful to God almighty for the blessings that he has showered on me all through this enterprise. ANAKHA.KChapd Introdu Cinema, in contemporary era is one ot the most important and powerful social institutions. Cinema entertains the audience, «1 ges the audience, and influences the audience at large. Cinema broadly affects ihgsociety through its vast canvas ofgenres. This means that cinema is all about imagination, illusions, disillusions and sometimes even beyond that. Tt is about the tempral illusion that is unfolded in the narratives of the cinema with the help of cinematig text embedded in the fabric of story. j Cinema acts as an agent of socialization, along with all forms of media and thus it cannot be underestimated. In addition, cinemas invoke our thoughts on various social institutions such as marriage, family, and culture. It is a way of looking at the very social construction that patterns our lives and provides us with the glimpses of the forces that shape the lives of others has argued. sian Communist leader Lenin, who proclaimed cinema as the best language to the masses. Lenin exalted cinema, due to its contour being silent and vistas an advantage since it has the power to communicate with the illiterate. This is ly appreciated in a country with a high proportion of people unable to re ite, Similarly, cinema acts as a medium to share the thoughts and ideas in a ce India, where it can dialectically influence the illiterate public at large, mos! facing poverty and living below the poverty line. Cinema as an institution has come to take up an it t place in the daily life of human beings across the world. In India, entertaim a privilege for small section of elites. However, cinema has broken this ishing itself as a India. As whenIndustrialization transformed the world, the field of cinema also shaped itself and became a medium of expression in the society. Cinema can be said to participate in a process of transforming the public space in which, itis seen. ‘Although Indian cinema is one of the oldest world cinemas, and the largest in terms ofoutput, its evolution in parallel to the West with little crossover until very recently leaves a lot of Western moviegoers with the impression that it's daunting andinscrutable. But with a few simple guidelines, any American movie buff should be able to explore Indian cinema, particularly when it comes to the massive Hindi languageindustry based in Mumbai commonly known as “Bollywood.” The term “Bollywood,” though often inaccurately conflated with Indian cinema as a whole, refers just to the Hindi-language industry in the city of Mumbai. There are several different regional film industries throughout the country, each in a different language; the most prominent ones are Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, and Kannada languages, The regional cinemas share a variety of common tropes (music, dancing, fabulous costumes, high melodrama, etcetera, and infinitum), with noticeable differences; in a general sense, the south cinemas, Telugu and Tamil in particular, are more floridly rowdy than the comparatively restrained Bollywood industry. The highest paid star in Asia after Jackie Chan is the Tamil-language star Rajinikanth, also known as “Superstar Rajinikanth” — who, when such things were in vogue, featured in the Indian version of Chuck Norris jokes, owing to Rajinikanth’s similarly titanic dominance over all forms of cinematic villainy. Bollywood movies consist of many genres and categories like drama, comedy, , Experimental documentaries and i suspense thriller, Action, Horror, Romance, Bio Jot more. Not all Indian films are masala films, but masala films are uniquely Indian.| Masalatilms are the cinematic equivalent «¢ dye melange of spices used in Indian cooking that provides the name, With multinte genres happening, simultaneously — let's say, a romance subplot, a comedy sup yg, and a melodrama subplot all alternating under the auspices of an action-iygnture main plot — there are, ‘nvariably, tonal shifts that ean take some geiving used to. Everything is heightened: the hero's hey the heroine’s beauty, the Villain’s evil, Another simpler way to look at mb is as you would approach Shakespeare, or any classical dramatic literature: sudden thunderstruck true love next to low comedy next to high drama next to history, And, when necessary, sword fights. Apart from this, our directors try to invent new genre risking and experimenting their creativity like this year’s invention war comedy. Popular genres in Bollywood are; Action, Adult, Adventure, Animation, Biopic, Children, Comedy, Crime, Culture and Society, Dance, Documentary, Drama, Education, Spy films, Fantasy, Historical films, Horror, Masala, Romantic, Science Fiction, ‘Sports and recreation, Suspense thriller. This thesis deals with spy films. The spy is the most contradictory hero in cinema. Although money and sex have motivated many spies in real life fiction, the essential motivating force behind espionage is devotion to cause, usualy a nation that is best expressed by concealing it, Because sucessful spies place loyalty to their country-or to their faction, their insurgency, or their politcal agenda-over all other loyalis,inchuding their tiesto family and friends, the Hes they tead ae Lies. They Imay seem tobe ordinary citizens, even citizens of enemy Rations, but the mission that drivesthem can succeed only to the extent that it is hidden from those around them,‘The most successful real-life spicy mgy well remain unknown to this day. But since popular entertainment has no room {iy- ypknown heroes, spy films features either unsuccessful spies, characters whose egyert attempts to gather secret information about their cause’s enemies med to failure when ‘they are ry ‘unmasked, or spies like James Bond, whose suggess is somehiow compatible with conventional Hollywood heroism, even fame argong his fictional peers. These two- character types represent the two leading tendengies in spy films. We have a great history of spy thriller mavies; spy flicks are not new in the Indian Film industry there are some good spy films which were released back in the 1950s and 1960s. Spy films still is a less explored genre in India. Proper spy films need a huge budget, you need gadgets for different foreign locations for the shoot which is not possible for all directors. The Indian Film industry has created a fair understanding of India's security concemsand responses to it among the general public, They have also importantly brought theIndian intelligence and security agencies to the fore. By doing so the industry has made significant contribution to India's soft power as expression of its new image andvisibility. This genre of movies has created its own fan following and this will onlygrow from strength to strength. Another development that needs attention is the &, rise in the number of books on the subject of Indian intelligence and security if past 23 years. Let me draw attention to "Spy Chronicles, RAW, ISI and thelllusion of Peace” featuring AS Dulat, former head of R&AW and Maj Gen Asad Durrani formet of ISI. Another book "The Unending Game" by Vikram Sood,former chief of RAW gave insights into the world of espionage. There are books byAmar Bhushan, rellf€d Special Secretary,i teresting Government of India and others that bron jqto public domain some very 1m pieces of information on subject that remained close chapter. Special mention must be made of Nitin Gokhale's Coffee Table book which celebrates the life and contributions of late Mr. RN Kao, founder of RgeAW. Tilak Devasha's detailed coverage of Pakistanis an invaluable treasure tye of information on that country. Several former Foreign Service officers and scree servants have written extensively on international relations, foreign policy and national security bring into Public domain their perspectives on the subject. Itreinforces my view that Indian films on espionage, subversion and sabotage havecome to occupy a central part in our entertainment industry. It is great to see Indianintelligence agencies, security agencies and the military being portrayed withsophistication, technological prowess and slick’stories dealing with host of scenariosboth within and outside India. Today's situation is a far cry when we were treated towestern movies, both classical and otherwise, often set in cold-war times that saw battle of wits between the western bloc and the former Soviet Union or China, James Bond movies also held the imagination of people, Movies and books above create groundswell bpport for Indias image and visibility. They also bring tothe fore an understanding national priorities and in their own way are game changers and force multplit® Mas off 9 the Indian fi Im industry for its immense contribution. Bollywood has given some marvelous spy MOVl8S: They are: ¢ypy isse Farz(1967), 16 December (2002), Baadshah (1999), Kahani (29)9).y, 2), Naam Shabana(2017), Raazi (2018). This thesis focuses on Meghna Gulzar, starring Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal. Ras;of 1971 wartime. Alia Bhatt playing Sehmat, a RAW Agent, is married to an officer of Pakistan Army. She is there to find out their secrets and for that, she has to survive and do unimaginable thin, ‘The present thesis aims at analyzing the feminist aspects in the movie Raazi. This study attempts to find out how Sehmat progressed into an empowered women and the way in which patriotism helped her to acquire the feminine power.Chapter 2 Feminist Approach Feminism has no single definition. It is a collective term, having various perspectivesand historical backgrounds. It is critical of masculinist, patriarchal, sexist ideologies and themes and is informed by an analysis of woman's position in society as a woman, It reveals the women's subordinate position and of gender as problematic category. Western feminisms have tended to assume that the struggle andplight of all women the same. As a consequence, the experiences of women fromunderprivileged backgrounds are not given the importance they deserve. It cannot be assumed that all women experience the same things, in the same way. Thisunderstanding of feminism implies that there is no universal view of representationfor anyone to insist. ‘The contemporary feminist theories recognize the importance of binary thinking in construction/ interpretation of the cultures. Human Thought hasalways worked through opposition. The feminists believe that the binary thinking is apowerful tool for the understanding of dominance of patriarchy. Binary system ofthinking has a strong bias towards patriarchy - hierarchically almost in every binaryopposition female corresponds to the weaker, powerless, negative ones. For example: Activity/Passivity, Sur/Moon, Culture/Nature, Day/Night, Father/Mother,Head/Emotions, Intelligible/Sensitive, Logos/Pathos. In binary situations, bothcomponents cannot thrive at a time - one has to die or become passive. Invariably thefemale plays that secondary or insignificant role. ' Either woman is passive or shedoesn't exist’. Feminists want to undo this logo-centric ideology: to proclaim womanas the source of life, power and energy and to hail the advent of a \ new, femininelanguage that ceaselessly subverts these patriarchal binary schemes. ™»Film theory and Feminist theory have a peculiaraffmity to each other. Even asthe film theory moved from the credo of ‘art for art's sake’ to ‘art for society’s sake’.Femi theory was also inclined to amplify the indexical relations between womenand their status to impact change and development. Both these theories reinforcedtheir aims and objectives. Ann Kaplan's work on representation of women in film was part of a movement to make depictions of women more realistic. In 1970's the growing female presence in the film industry was seen as a positive steptowards realizing women's emancipation, by drawing attention to feminist issues andputting forward alternative, and true to life views of women. Femininity is a culturalconstruct: one isn't bom a woman, one becomes one. Accordingly, Feminist studies.as a larger field of study, has become a global movement in which femininity in allwalks of life have been scrutinized. Feminist studies have examined representation ofwomen on screen, television and writings on gender. The impact of cinema on criticalstudies over the years have been significant and has focused on the misrepresentationor lack of representation of ‘women in films. The reasoning behind this is that alldominant images are basically male constructs. Feminism explores the large domain of Indian Cinema in order to unearth the hiddensecrets of internalization/socialization with the help of psychological/ sociologicaltools. These involve psychoanalytical (Freudian and post-Freudian), and semiologicalconcepts, But the basic attitude is common in all forms of feminist criticisms, They recognize the under-representation of woman in artistic activities, which they want toconfront, Thus, feminist film criticism, like other feminist activities, struggle around the lack of artis ic expression and representation. Eee‘The roles of women in traditional Indian cinema compared to the art house film genrewhich has provided a social criticism of the construction of womanhood andfemininity and the condition of women in India, and modem Bollywoodfilms whichhave also diverted away from the traditional woman especially in terms of sexuality. The word 'female lovers’ has been used in this research work and it refers to the leadactress or the ‘heroine’ of the movie. Women have marked a considerable change inher image in the society; they have no longer been self-sacrificing door- mats. Theyhave emerged as a powerful, independent and confidant self who is bold enough inher expression of every emotion be it love, anger, passion, resentment, pleasure,elation or anything that she was known to be silent about. ‘As we know that cinema isthe reflection of our society so the changes in the image of women can be seen in themovies down the age. Bollywood actresses are now getting bolder and moreexpressive apart from the sweet, simple, romantic, beautiful conventional image thatshe used to play. There are certain prescribed roles, that have existed for womenthroughout the history of popular Indian cinema. The four main categories that theremarkable majority of female roles have conventionally fallen into are that of thePerfect Wife, The Perfect Mother, The Vamp, and the Courtesan. The role of thePerfect Wife is stereotypically branded by sexual purity and devotion. She is typicallya depiction of the usual traditional Indian woman, who remains in the domesticdomain and believes intensely in idolizing her husband. She is also very family-oriented. Some of the great ironies in the representation of ‘women in Indian films arethat woman can be victimized and worthless wives while instantly being respectedmothers. The character of the Perfect Mother is deeply embedded in Indian culture forits connection to the Hindu faith, Mothers are often10 Tepresented to be great protectorswith incredible strength, much like the mother goddess Shakti. Women were portrayed as being rescued by the male character, the hero.Every movie of the 1980s and 1990s had more or less the same style of femalerepresentation on screen, Rarely did the cinema negotiate a strong character, which would compromise with her situation in the end or stay single as themovie comes to a close, reflect upon the fact that the men in our society are notappreciative of bold and independent women. Hindi movies have been areflection of the Indian culture. An example is PurabaurPaschim (1970)which focuses on the construction of the Indian woman which can be traced inmany later movies with similar themes like Pardes (1997),Dilwale DulhaniyaLe Jayenge (1995), Swades (2004). Recently, women have taken the spy movie industry by storm, earning lead roles inmany well-known movies and TV shows. In a traditionally male-dominated genre,spy movies are moving in the right direction, casting women for powerful roles.Admittedly, whether these movies are going about the right way in doing so iscontroversial; however, the recent boom of powerful women characters in spy moviesis a very promising development Historically, nearly all spy movies have featured men as the lead role, from theinfamous James Bond to the clever John le Carré. Now, the leads are progressivelybecoming more inclusive; in the past year, many films have started portraying womenas the lead spy. Take, for example, Tehran, the television show about an Israeli spy,who is a woman, on a mission gone wrong? ‘Tech-savvy main character TamarRabinian excels not only in computer hacking, but also in martial arts, managing hermany enemies in combat, For young girls watching,“Tamar serves as a role model andrepresents a woman capable of doing everything a ‘man can do and more. Nonetheless, the increased presence of woman leads in spy movies is encouraging For years, many thrillers, especially spy movies, have focused mainly on the successand bravery of male protagonists, but now it is possible for young girls to findinspiration in strong characters that they can relate to who successfully conquerchallenges. Still, the change to more powerful and strong women- representation willnot happen overnight. Although there are many empowering films starring women,many movies such as Enola Holmes have failed to capitalize on their good intentionsand create a character who can truly stand on her own. Indian movies depict diverse varieties of women characters mostly revered andidiolized. Among them Schmat from the movie Raazi is an influential character forher courage, wisdom, and chastity. The present work is noteworthy for the fact thatthere are still movies which give worthy and satisfactory space for women likeSehmat.Chapter 3 Feminism on Raazi Raazi is a movie inspired by the story of Schmat Khan, a Kashmiri Muslim spy whowas wed into a Pakistani family of high-ranking Pakistani army officials. This was upon her father’s insistence, in order to gain critical information for Indianintelligence rightbefore the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. The protagonist Schmat's (Alia Bhatt) introduction in Raazi is pretty typical: sherushes to save a squirrel from being run over by a passing vehicle, and almost ends upbeing run over her. Contrast this with when a few months later she is running overan old man, in the middle of the night, in a different country, operating a vehicle thatshe has momentarily stolen. She is sobbing as she commits the brutal act, but as theaudience, the director is asking you to ponder over the fate of this innocent, young girlwho goes on to carry her family’s legacy, of fighting for one’s land. Her father did, her grandfather did, and neither she nor her father thinks her gender is an issue tocontend with. Sehmat is almost timid girl, too afraid to look at her own blood in oneof the early scenes, but bold enough to agree to join a near-suicidal mission during thecourse of the movie. ‘When her training is complete, her handler asks her why she'd agreed to join themission. She answers: ‘Mujhe watan ke saamne kuchh nahi dikhta, khud bhi nahi, main hi toh Hindustan hoon’, At this point, Sehmat comes across as just another handto-heart patriot like the ones we have seen in so many other movies in the past. Butone of the more organic and definitive scenes comes to pass when her handler saysshe may have to turn into a killer during her time in Pakistan. Noticing an obvioushesitation, he inquires, “Kyun koi problem hai?” She retorts: “Kyun? Nahi honichaiye?!” And that set the tone of the movie for me; a protagonist far removed13 fromthe ones we have seen so frequently in the past, people who accept, or rather glorify,taking human life as an obvious corollary of being a ‘patriot’. For a moment, when Sehmat questions her handler, my indoctrinated mind almostthought of her as a ‘dervish among patriots. At this time in India’s history, we oftenconfuse loyalty to the country with being an acolyte of the government of the day, us morals remain hijacked, and asking questions is likely to invite labels of being aheretic, an anti-national or unpatriotic. We are in some sort of a communal amnesia, wherein we have forgotten that a true patriot is one who actually saves his countryfrom its government. As the plot unfolds, we find Sehmat coming to terms with the hesitation to carry outdreadful killings but not without getting scarred in the process. Her character clearlystruggles to balance her sense of love and duty between her watan and the act oftaking a precious human life. This is not the kind of film which effectively talks about women ‘empowerment orfeminism through its narrative. Its strength lies in how it replaces the decades-old‘Male hero’ with a ‘heroine’ that is equally formidable. It does not allow its viewers todiscriminate between male-centric or female-centric narratives and subtly proves thatthe audience is equally receptive to organic female characters if the film can boast ofgood content. Even as the film gets carried away in its dramatic ‘moments, there’s little attempt to open the internal conflict of a character who appeases two masculine’s forces - patriarchy within the home and the Indian military outside. What was thespace beyond, where Schmat negotiated her displacement from the multiple aspects ofherself home, family, country, self? Perhaps she had a lifetime to ponder upon that, and that would have been a so far unexplored space.“4 Raazi is a film about a woman, but it still prizes that she was able to do, as a ‘woman, what men have. In that sense, it celebrates masculine enterprise. It is smart, because ittaps into the two popular sentiments of the current time: nationalism and a version offeminism where masculinity becomes one to aspire to. But as cinema and television are developing a keen interest in representing women’s lives that challengeconventions. ‘The man who Sehmat marries, Iqbal, is a shining example of how to askfor consent, even in a marriage. On her first night in her new home, it is clear that sheis fully expecting him to take advantage of his ‘marital right’ to her body. Instead, hesays that it would be better if they got to know each other first, specifically sayingthat he would like to get to know her, acknowledging that she is a person in her ‘ownright,and worth getting to know. Even later, when they do get more intimate, he takes her consent before making any advances. In so many stories in which a woman does spy work, she uses her body to get favours or information from others. This movie has none of that. Schmat does get into a situation in which she is able to spy on Pakistanby marrying into a Pakistani military family, but nothing more. All the actual spyinginvolves the usual things you would expect a male spy to do.She was critical to foiling Pakistan’s attempt to sink INS Viraat ~ a Centaur-classaircraft carrier by the Indian Navy by the coast of Andhra Pradesh, by providingeritical intelligence. Sehmat’s story wasn’t that of a seasoned spy who had many successful missionsunder her belt. She was a young, ordinary girl who was urged by her father to becomea spy for India. The film’s success lies in the fact that it doesn’t succumb to thecritical flaw of most movies that have female leads in predominately1s, maleprofessions. In order to be the strong women capable of taking on importantmasculine jobs, most women in such movies attempt to conform to toxic, masculinestandards. Iis important for the protagonist to be ‘different’ than other women and most of themdo that by being the perfect patriarchal idea of what a man should be. It is as thoughthey can only be accomplished, worthy of respect and competent if they can establishthat they are not like other women, implying that you cannot root for women in spymovies until they are men. The making of successful female spies includes beingmore like men and dissociating from their female identities as much as possible. Bhatt’s character, though, is nothing like the different woman who embracesmasculine standards to prove her worth. After every close call where she was almostdiscovered, her character was given room to feel scared, anguished and helpless. In aparticular scene where she is almost discovered by a loyal household ‘servant, Bhatt’scharacter breaks down in tears and has a moment raked in fear and anguish and allowsherself room to go through her emotions. When she is forced to run down the sameservant to prevent him from exposing her truth, she cries for several hours after themurder, in disbelief that she now is a killer. Unlike men and different women in spymovies, Bhatt’s character wasn’t made to accept the fact that she took somebody’s lifewith nonchalance and a shrug that says “bad things happen in the line of duty”. Hercharacter was allowed to explore the intensity of her actions and even question itsvalidity and necessity, Schmat has all the vulnerabilities and afflictions of a person who knows they will bemet with death if their truth is revealed. Her emotions are raw and exposed. BY ‘beingtrue to who she is and not attempting to fit into any mould to convince people of16 hercompetence, who dismiss it due to her gender, Alia Bhatt’s character makes apowerful statement on behalf of women. Another striking feature in the portrayal of Alia Bhatt’s characteris that she takescharge of her sexuality. Sex is usually used as either a weapon of manipulation byfemale spies or a something they have to unwillingly do in order to not blow themcover in most movies, but Raazi takes an unprecedented direction in this regard. AliaBhatt’s character doesn’t have sex with her husband Iqbaal (portrayed by VickyKaushal) as a weapon or as a chore; instead, she does it because she wants to. She consents with enthusiasm. Bhatt’s character was allowed to be a sexual being and thiswas never in conflict with her role as a spy. Raazi does promote the same old andtoxic ideas of patriotism and nationalism. Bhatt’s character puts her country’sinterests above her own and this is constantly depicted as a virtue only capable of afew. For the most part of the movie, we are expected to root for any character willingto put their watan or mulk ahead of themselves, their lives, and relationships. Raazi does not resort to tired stereotypes in its portrayal of Indians and Pakistanis. Itdoesn’t portrays Pakistanis as soulless monsters, which usually happens in Bollywood. There is no hypocrisy in terms of what this movie portrays as virtuous. If we areexpected to root for Alia Bhatt’s character for putting her watan before herself, we arealso expected to root for Kaushal’s character for putting his mulk before his love forhis wife. Raaziintrigues, not just because it is a gripping spy thriller, but because itopenly questions the extent to which a woman can break the shackles of the identitythat patriarchy bestows on her, to follow her conviction.7 The Indian audience, moralistic, patriarchal at heart watches, passing a judgement on her every move, her every look, her every step. Each one measuring her with themown yardstick of tradition, even as she went ahead and did what she thought wasright, just like the millions of Indian women who continue to do so despite themoralistic, traditional judgements they are subjected to every day, every minute. After over two hours of an outdated lesson in patriotism and valuing your countrymore than your life, the last few minutes of the movie are what save it. After anattempt to kill Alia Bhatt’s character by the Indian Intelligence Agency, as perprotocol — when an agent is about to be discovered by the enemy ~ Bhatt’s charactermanages a narrow escape, goes to her superior and says she is not capable of senselessmurder and she can no longer stand to watch the murders of innocent people in the name of war. She yells and asks to go home, again something that no character would do in a spymovie, in order to maintain the image of a rational and ever fearless, patriotic spy whois willing to die in service and but never quit. She says that she wants to go backhome before she tums into these people who are willing to kill without a thought orregard for human life. Her character’s monologue about the senselessness of war andthe cruelty of taking away lives finally steers the movie away from being a Bollywoodcliche that portrays war as sacred and murder in its name as a necessity. Raazi concludes with a scene years later, where an army officer is telling youngrecruits, one among which is Sehmat’s son, that all casualties of war aren’t dead,some continue to live on. The scene cuts to an older Schmat sitting by a window, thusimplying she is a living casualty of war. But this reminds us that casualties of warsaren’t only the people who lost their lives or people like Sehmat. Casualties ofwarsare everyone who lost someone they love, who have their lives twisted and turned,and every person who has everything they have ever known taken away from them. It reminds us of something we often forget — that war isn’t sacred, there is no glory inwar and there is no pride in it.Chapter 4 Conclusion The burdens of women's hearts and the parts of them that they've had to the reject orrenegotiate to be accepted are rarely explored with deserved poignancy in cinema.Raazi stands taller than any other Hindi film about spies was in its human, rather thanhyper-nationalist, treatment of the subject. It showed that lives are ruined on bothsides of the border during a war. In the end, when people have been through so muchloss and suffering, a spy’s successful mission may not be a moment to celebrate but acruel reflection on the cost of it all. Based on Harinder Sikka’s book Calling Sehmat, the film also deserves praise forshowing spies who put heir lives at risk for the country don’t do so while wearingtuxedos and sipping martinis. More often than not, they are the ones hiding in plainsight. These spies could be running a simple grocery shop in crowded street of Pakistan, a flower kiosk next to a mosque or just a young bride sent to the lion’s denon her ownwith a little training and a lot of courage Raazi is a proof that women have done many incredible things in life and this needs tobe shown to the world where we still need to fight for equal opportunities. ‘And what better medium than movies, especially with the kind of promising female talents inIndian Cinema. ‘Sehmat really falls in love with her husband, a Pakistani whom she is supposed to spyon. She is never shamed for these feelings, which are unrelated to her spy work in anypractical sense. Her love for her husband instead shows the human cost of war.By breaking these stereotypes; Raazi joins a league of classics as it refrains from theusual ‘larger than life’ portrayal of characters. Also, it does not20 meander into the zoneof ‘hyper nationalism” and ‘jingoism’ to bring out the patriotic fervor in theaudience. It would have been easy to make Raazi an aggressively nationalist, anti- Pakistanifilm. But the filmmakers avoided this ‘trope, creating well-rounded Pakistanicharacters who were not inherently bad because of their nationality, and instead haveemotions, beliefs, and interests like any character would have. Meghna has a clearvision as a filmmaker, She manages to strike an adequate balance between realismand thrill. Her screenplay along with Bhavna Iyer is so good that the film willtransport you back in 1971 for those 140 minutes. Her knack for sketching hercharacters is very impressive. She assures you that no one in the narrative let youdown. There are hardly any loopholes in the film except for Schmat being such a smooth spyin Pakistan especially at her house, however, it is backed by a seat edge thrilling storywhich is highly convincing, so it can be easily neglected. With not a single dullmoment despite of slow pace in the first half, Raazi won’t bore anyone even for asingle second, Overall, Raazi celebrates the spy-thriller genre and proves 00d content prevails. Perhaps, a lot of aspects make this film unapologetically finest of 2018 so far. Hats offto the entire cast and crew of Raazi for making a fi Im that will be remembered for along time to come.