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Movie Name: Torbaaz
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Nargis Fakhri
Director: Girish Malik
Run Time: 133 minutes
There are no winners in a war, for innocent lives are always lost no matter who wins. But who is the most affected? The answer is, children.
Those who are unaware of what caused the devastation and whose future is shaped by the trauma they experienced in the face of war. But then there’s always hope.
Sanjay Dutt starrer Torbaaz, which is streaming on Netflix, is a story of this hope which helped a group of children in Afghanistani refugee camps dream and strive for a bright future.
Directed by Girish Malik, Torbaaz is set in current time Afghanistan, which is affected by the battle of guns between the Taliban and the NATO forces.
It is the country of thousands of children who have lost their families and loved ones in this never-ending war and are now residing in ill-equipped refugee camps with the support of various NGOs.
But the story starts in 2007 when the Taliban started using kids, as young as 10, as suicide bombers to accomplish their ill motives. They brainwashed them in the name of religion and jihad, and trained them to become Fedayeens.
Sanjay Dutt is a retired officer, Nasser, who served in the Indian Army as a doctor. He was once posted in Kabul where he lost his wife Mira and son Aryan in a Fidayeen attack.
While in Afghanistan, his wife had started an NGO that worked for people affected by war. Therefore, despite having no will to go back to Afghanistan, when he is called to the country again by Ayesha (played by Nargis Fakhri) to see how the NGO is working, he couldn’t say no. On his return, he is faced by the harsh reality of how young kids are being used as suicide bombers in Afghanistan. So he thinks of a plan to help these brainwashed kids get back on the right track. And guess what, cricket helps him do that.
Nasser goes to a refugee camp which is inhabited by the children of war. The camp has all sorts of children divided by their ethnicity, caste and class.
But they are united by their love for the game of cricket. In this group, there are three boys who were once trained to be Fidayeens. One of them, Baaz, is an exceptional all-rounder. The group trains hard and forms a team of their own. But then, did you think it would be a smooth ride? The Talibani organisation, in search of these boys, gets to know about their whereabouts and takes them back to their terrorist camps. Our hero, Nasser reaches out to the Taliban and asks them to let the boys play a cricket match he had set up with a local cricket club. The story doesn’t end here.
https://youtu.be/stbAOQiNMdk
The writing of a story is as strong as the research that goes behind.
Many important aspects were ignored in the name of creative liberty. It is known that the region where the film is set is heavily deployed by foreign defence forces.
But in the film, their existence is of no significance. A retired Indian Army officer is freely moving in the country, something you can’t fathom.
He not only moves freely but also meets the most wanted Taliban head Qazar (played by Rahul Dev), who even the NATO forces are unable to catch, with no difficulty as such.
We with all our heart give the film 2.5 stars.
