Friendships in the Big City, Bent by 9/11
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Parts of the film play like a typical Bollywood romance. Before 9/11 a triangle forms — and is sealed in a song montage — at the leafy New York State University. Sam (John Abraham), who has been in the States since childhood, and Maya (Katrina Kaif), an American-born Indian, befriend Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh), a newer arrival from Delhi. The athletic, all-American Sam wins Maya’s love. And then history intrudes.
Spoiler alert, from here on: After the terrorist attacks an innocent Sam gets in trouble with the F.B.I., which tosses him in a detention center, refuses his request for a lawyer and tortures him. (There’s a brief depiction of waterboarding.)
The ultrabuff Mr. Abraham, who has made a career of displaying his toned torso, here uses his body to show the privations that flesh is heir to. In a particularly powerful shot, a naked, shackled Sam is curled into a tiny boxlike cell that fills the movie frame.
While Mr. Khan’s depictions of American life occasionally seem silly and the plot has some crater-size holes, “New York” is continually fascinating. It benefits from the performance of Irrfan Khan, who adds layers of complexity to his character, a Muslim F.B.I. agent who recruits Omar to spy on Sam.
Indian films often deal with the problems faced by a Muslim minority. Transposed to the American context, those problems continue to resonate.
NEW YORK
Opened on Friday nationwide.
Directed by Kabir Khan; written by Sandeep Shrivastava; director of photography, Aseem Mishra; edited by Rameshwar S. Bhagat; music by Pritam; production designer, Norman Dodge; produced by Aditya Chopra; released by Yash Raj Films. In Hindi, with English subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes. This film is not rated.
WITH: John Abraham (Sam), Irrfan Khan (Roshan), Katrina Kaif (Maya) and Neil Nitin Mukesh (Omar).
‘New York’ begins where ‘Khuda Kay Liye’ ends: John Abraham
New Delhi, John Abraham, who plays an NRI Muslim in Kabir Khan’s second directorial venture “New York”, says the film begins where the critically acclaimed Pakistani movie “Khuda Kay Liye” ends.
“In its own strange way, ‘New York’ begins where ‘Khuda Ke Liye’ ended. That’s the interesting part of the film,” John told IANS here. Both films deal with the issue of how legal detainees were treated after the gruesome 9/11 attacks in the US.
Some sequences in the promos of “New York”, which will be released Friday, are reminiscent of scenes in “Khuda Kay Liye”.
“Each director has his own way of interpreting and researching the plight of legal detainees…that’s why Kabir and the ‘Khuda Kay Liye’ director have different interpretations of it in their films,” John said.
“But if the legal detainees were put up in a particular way and interrogated in a certain way in reality - then that can’t change. So there are certain things that are bound to look similar in both the films. But obviously stories, people and characters are completely different in ‘New York’,” he added.
John was here Monday along with co-stars Neil Nitin Mukesh, Katrina Kaif and the director for the promotion of “New York”, which is about post-9/11 prejudices in the US.
Set in New York, the film’s narrative is spread over nine years and revolves around three young friends whose lives take an unexpected turn after the terrorist attacks.
John, who has teamed up with Khan for the second time after “Kabul Express”, predicts that “New York” will pick up “every popular award in the book”.
“When we were shooting in Afghanistan for ‘Kabul Express’ and bullets were flying off our heads, I had told Kabir that you would get a National Award for this film. And he did get one (for best debut director). After watching ‘New York’, which is a very commercial film, I told Kabir that he will walk away with every popular award that exists,” said John.
After having spent over half a decade in the film industry, the 36-year-old supermodel-turned-actor, who was seen in a completely different avatar in Oscar nominated “Water”, says he is yet to achieve what he had set out for through his work.
John’s source of inspiration is late Hollywood actor Heath Ledger who got a posthumous Oscar for playing the Joker in “The Dark Knight”.
“When Heath Ledger’s parents came up to collect the Oscar award on his behalf after his death, they said that Heath would be really happy because there was always this silent determination to be accepted by all of you as a fraternity.
“For me, there is a silent determination to be accepted by everyone in the audience as a complete person and also a complete actor. I believe with the kind of roles and films that I have done, I have probably reached 70-80 percent of what I had to. But the rest of crucial 30 percent is very important.”
Now John hopes to do something “radically different that it affects and alters people’s mind positively”.
After “New York”, which is produced by Yash Raj Films, John will be seen in David Dhawan’s comic affair “Hook Ya Crook”, Nagesh Kukunoor’s “Aashayein” and Abbas Tyrewala’s “1-800-Love”.
John Abraham fractures his foot
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 Mumbai, Bollywood hunk John Abraham fractured his foot while shooting a day-long cricket match for David Dhawan's "Hook Ya Crook" and he will sport a cast for a month. The actor says it won't affect any of his films' shooting. "I really wouldn't like to talk about it. But yes I'm in a lot of pain. Fortunately, no film is going to get affected," John, who met with the accident Saturday, told IANS on phone. After pack up, John walked to his car, drove off to the doctor who finally told him what he suspected the whole day. Now his foot is in a cast for a month.
A close friend of the actor says that he continued shooting despite the fracture.
"The hard ball shot straight through the air and bang into John's right foot and he heard a distinct crack. John knew something had gone awfully wrong in his foot. But he continued shooting throughout the day because he didn't want to disrupt David's schedule which required special permission for outdoor shooting," the friend said.
It was only after the day's shooting that John, by then cringing in pain, sat down to examine the damage.
"The foot had swollen to twice its normal size. It wasn't just a pulled muscle or a torn ligament as John had hoped. It was a fracture. And by playing cricket on the injured foot John made it worse," said the friend.
Fortunately, for the actor there's no shooting to be completed. The next one month is devoted to acting workshops for Abbas Tyrewala which he can somehow limp through.
John's girlfriend Bipasha feels he shouldn't have continued shooting with injured foot.
"It's sad. But John was foolish to keep on playing when his foot was hurt instead of getting it checked," she said.
Last week has been tough on the actor.
"He was down with a severe viral fever followed by the whole unsavoury link up with Katrina Kaif. Then John lost his uncle. And now his foot is fractured. Hopefully, this is the climax of his crises," said his friend.