This is my first movie review, so be careful! 
I saw it on Saturday and I quite liked it. Maybe, that is the patriot in me speaking as not many people are saying that.
Anyways, I will give you my version of KHJJS.
Ashutosh Govarikar again tried his hand on what he is best at – making films with a patriotic flavor (Read : Lagaan and Swades). Many films have been made on freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh but the battle of a school teacher Surjya Singh is unheard of even in the history books!
KHJJS is based on a novel : Do and Die – The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34 by Manini Chaterjee.
The 1930 Chittagong (now in Bangladesh) armory raid was pivotal in India’s struggle for freedom and this is the main plot of the movie.
Story : Here, you will get the real feel of the story because of its realistic approach and narration style. It takes us to an era where Surjya Sen (Abhishek Bachhan), fondly called as Masterda, plans five consecutive attacked on one night in all the important places for the British like the Telegraph office, Railway Lines, European Club, Armory and Cantonment. He includes 64 determined teenagers in the attack because of lack of manpower, alongwith 5 brave revolutionaries and two resolute young women in the attack. It represents a forgotten night with a series of attacks that terrorized the British. It depicts every step of action right from the training, planning, the thrill of attack, the daring escapes to the tragic captures and the aftermath.
Performances : I found it one of the best performance of Abhishek Bachhan. Deepika Padukone in her deglam look has nothing much to do and I am not complaining.
The one who really caught my eye was Vishakha Dutta as Pritilata. She is a natural. A special mention of the young artists. The scene when they were discussing the meaning of ‘Vande Mataram’ is awesome. Brownie points to them.
Errors : Well, I may not be the right person to point out the errors, but couldn’t find a suitable word. Anyways, the major drawback is the length. Although, at approximately 3 hours, it is shorter as per Govarikar’s standards, I feel that, had it been 45 minutes tighter, it would have been a classic!
When one of the kid steals money from his home, he is scolded, while when the other one steals watches from his father’s shop, use kaha “bahut achhe” This was not easy to digest for me.
The music and the background score are average.
The best part was the ending (not literally) wherein they showed the pictures of the screen characters versus the actual characters. I got to know that one of the revolutionary is 100 years old and still living in Chittagong, It ended with the line : “We salute you, after 80 years”!
Hats off to Govarikar, since in an industry obsessed with records and box office success, he made a film not targeting the box office solely. This is one film which doesn’t compromise on the story and objectives for the sake of becoming box office friendly. I would strongly recommend it to the youth of today to get a taste of history.
I don’t know that it would be a hit or a flop, but if it is latter, fewer people would dare to make films on patriotism which would be really unfortunate!
My Rating : 4/5
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