Refugee - Movie Review

Published: December 29, 2009

By JENNIFER HOPFINGER

Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Sunil Shetty, Anupam Kher

Abhishek Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor act like old pros as the leads in their first film, Refugee, which garnered them the Filmfare Best Male Debut and Best Female Debut Awards. (However, they both subsequently struggled for years to prove their merit before becoming superstars.) Great material—filled with tense conflict, constant danger, and love against all odds—bolsters their performances.

 

The film is gripping right from the get-go, but a basic understanding of the history of East Pakistan and Bangladesh—something most Americans know little about—is necessary to follow the plot. In 1947, the British granted independence to the newly formed countries of India and Pakistan—the latter had two provinces, East and West Pakistan, which were thousands of miles apart, with the expanse of India in between. At the time, millions of Muslims left India for one of the two provinces. In 1971, East Pakistan seceded, and following a civil war, became the independent country of Bangladesh. Scores of refugees fled Bangladesh, and many who had once left India to live in East Pakistan made the epic journey across India to illegally enter West Pakistan (which came to be called, simply, Pakistan).

 

In Refugee, a man named Manzur, his wife, his ailing mother, and his daughter, Naaz (Kapoor), are among those refugees who make the trek from Bangladesh. In order to cross the border into Pakistan, Manzur must pay a guide the last of his money to take them over an immense clay desert, called the Rann of Kutch, which is heavily patrolled by Indian and Pakistani border guards. Against this incredible backdrop of adversity and peril, Naaz falls in love with their guide (Bachchan), a man with no home, no family, and no name—he is known only as “Refugee.” He risks his life escorting anyone willing to pay the price across the dangerous Rann because he has no life to lose. He’s a decent, earnest man, but hardened by suffering, and he regards his customers as nothing more than cargo, even though the humanity of these desperate, determined individuals is heartrending.

 

Refugee sees Naaz—a pretty firecracker—for the first time when she removes the black veil of her burqa to splash water on her sweating face. He scolds her for wasting the precious commodity, but also tells her she’s more beautiful than the moon. “Stare at the moon instead,” she sasses back, but she brazenly flirts with him nonetheless. This lonely hunk—who likely doesn’t get to gander at too many lovely ladies—reacts with understandable ardor. The group makes it across—barely—and Manzur and his family begin a new life in a village near the border. Refugee continues making trips back and forth while courting Naaz. Their happiness is threatened when Refugee’s enemies in India tip off the police about his activities and a Pakistani border guard (Sunil Shetty) starts sniffing around Naaz’s house with hopes of marrying her. Things get really hairy when Refugee unknowingly helps terrorists cross the border into India. He quickly learns that he’s not an island after all and that his political isolationism isn’t tenable. As a result, he finds a purpose for his aimless life and an even greater sense of belonging than Naaz gives him.

 

For all the wonderful high drama, though, as the tone of the film grows increasingly moralistic and patriotic and the clashes with terrorists become Rambo-esque, the story loses some of its power.

 

Refugee is rated Worth Watching.

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