New York (2009)

New York is Bollywood's first mainstream film on the 9/11 issue. Fortunately, it is not a rehashed Hollywood 9/11 film, but it treats of issues specific to South Asians post 9/11. However, by the end of the film you wonder whether New York has been sponsored by the American tourism department as a PR campaign to keep Indians coming to America. A reassurance perhaps, that: "It's OK for you to come to America, if you are not a terrorist, we will love you and treat you as our equals, or maybe even better."

Before I go onto discus relatively minor issues of the technical aspects of the film-making of the film, I want to discuss the more major issues that a film on 9/11 requires deliberation on: political ideologies. As many have remarked in earlier reviews New York seem to have a confused political ideology. In the first half, you are exposed to the horrors of the Patriot act, detention centres and torture to which many South Asians, particularly those of Muslim descent were being subjected to, and how this lead to huge alienation and radical sentiments amongst the Muslim population. So you think this is a film made on the plight of these innocent people and will be critical of such policies.

In the second half,these policies are justified by blaming Muslims themselves for alienating themselves from America. Prior to this, America was a benign, secular, free and embracing democracy in which Indian students were actually not just amongst the most popular in American college campuses, but the most popular. Everyone was happy, free loving and enjoying their life. It was the fault of Muslims that all this changed.

By the end of the film, because the Muslims have rectified their ways, America loves Muslims again. So much so that the child of an actual terrorist is the most popular kid in his school. It's all free and loving again. There is even a message in the end-credits on how Obama has closed down the detention centres - now we can all live happily ever after.

Of course, many know that none of that is reality. No, America was not a completely benign, secular and free embracing democracy in which Indians enjoyed equal or even better status prior to 9/11. Nor, was it the fault of Muslims that America enacted policies like Patriot act, illegal detention and torture, and instigated wars. These policies were already in the pipelines long before 9/11. One simply has to read the policies of the Bush administration prior to 9/11 to find virtually all the post 9/11 policies contained therein.

And finally no, none of these policies have changed. If one looks at the statistics the alienation of Muslims has not decreased, but increased. The detention centres are still open and fully operational. The wars are still going on and more are being planned. Americans are still losing their civil rights by the day. And as for Obama, let alone closing Guantanamo, he has called for prolonged detention of anybody who COULD be a terrorist in the future without warrant, without trial, without evidence.

It is a given that the Bollywood formula is mostly a fantasy genre of film-making. It is not suppose to be reality, but a hyper-real reality, more vibrant and more idealistic than the real world. However, it is insulting to ones intelligence, when it transposes this formula onto serious issues like 9/11 and human rights issue. Such issues demand realism, deliberate critical and intelligent political commentary and pain streaking research. But, in "New York" we get a New York that

Fmovies: First, we should all applaud any popular entertainment that takes on the crimes of the recent American past. Here is a (largely worthwhile) Indian effort that is too far to the implausible end of the spectrum for my tastes. But it also has a political blind spot that makes it troubling and not only a bit foolish.

The part I found troubling is the way the US is defended. The filmmaker succeeds in making terrorist sympathizers of the audience, then lamely states the US case with totally unconvincing platitudes. The US government relentlessly behaves in a brutal and unapologetic manner throughout the film, and is then defended with a line like, "People make mistakes. Countries do, too." Well, if my wife made a mistake as severe as the US makes in this movie (drawn heavily from the headlines), she darn well better apologize or I'm gone! But do the Americans apologize? Have Americans ever apologized, i.e. the way Kevin Rudd did recently? There are MANY films that deal with these moral/political issues far better. The Bollywood epic "Mission Kashmir," for all its Bollywood silliness, does a far better job. The outstanding Indo-American film "The War Within" is my favorite of these issue films. And any of the movies of Mani Ratnam show how a popular entertainment can also be smart.

This film had a good message and was well directed. The entire cast gave great performances--even Katrina, who is known for her poor performances. While I don't condone the actions of either terrorists or the U.S. government, I do agree that we have to grow up and stop playing the blame-game or behaving like schoolchildren in a playground fight--violence in return for violence--each attack more vicious and stronger than the one before. Who knows who is responsible--jihadis-->Guantanamo Bay-->Osama-->Cold War-->?? We need to stop spreading hatred, understand other cultures, and become better diplomats for a hopeful, albeit slow, recovery to humanity and justice.

New York fmovies. Truly this movie delivers what it promises. It starts with a bang (literally) and keeps the audience at the edge of their seats! I liked the fact they didn't push any unnecessary songs into the movie. The acting was amazing. Neil Nitin Mukesh, John and even Katrina, did a fantastic performance. Hats off to Kabir Khan and Sandeep Srivastava for writing such a sensitive topic. I liked the fact that this movie wasn't all "anti America", nor was it to show sympathy for terrorists. The movie states the facts and shows each side of the issue. There weren't any music nor song that really captivated much of my attention, it could've been much better. Overall, I would definitely recommend everyone to watch this movie for both the performances and of course the story.

Kabir Khan's 'New York' is nothing but a masterpiece.'New York' has truly delighted me.I don't know why i'm even giving this comment.This movie cannot be described by mere words.People always criticize Bollywood movies because of the lack in realism in them, but 'New York' is so realistic that everything in the movie feels like 'real'.The acting of every actor in the movie is commendable.Songs are used only when they are required.Everything about the movie was just perfect.I have always liked John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Irrfan Khan but I had a feeling that Katrina might spoil the movie, but her performance left me speechless.After a series of dull and boring movies in 2009, New York came and changed everything.I must say that this is the movie we were waiting for.

Despite having heard lots of depressing opinions on this movie I decided to watch it & I am really happy that I did. Although, yeah, most of the points were predictable, I'd give it a better than average vote for depiction of the agony, loss of confidence & retaliation that develops due to gross mistreatment. This part was well done. I liked the balanced & nervous character that Neil portrayed. I wasn't fully convinced with the rationalization that Roshan (Irfan Ali) made; that part should be given more work. If Karan is to come with his version of 'New York', he'd have to keep this rationalizing part real impacting.

Most people commented about the movie not being aptly emotional. I disagree. I'd like the way how the team worked to make it what I call "Not Sappy".

I'm really happy that the Indian Film Industry is making these bullshit free movies. Thanks for this.