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Language: Hindi
Director : Rensil D’Silva
Writers: Karan Johar ( Story ), Rensil D’Silva ( Screenplay ), Anurag Kashyap, Niranjan Iyengar ( Dialogues )
Release Date: 20 November 2009 ( India )
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi
Producers: Karan Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar
Music: Salim- Sulaiman
Cinematography: Hemant Chaturvedi
Film Editing: Asif Ali Shaikh
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Its New York with better actors and a better finale!!
But still not convincing!!!
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yaar yeh bataa de is Vivek Oberoi any good? jitne hopes mere RGV pe rehte hain, utne hi hopes mere ispe bhi rehte hain …
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YOu will be disappointed as was me with Vivek, because there was no scope for him in the film…
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sad! … what is he doing to his career man!! chalo Raktha Charitra ke liye wait kar lenge…
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agree totally. He was delicious in Saathiya…so promising in Company…shootout at Lokhandvala…
Omkara….KOi kuch Karo iska please….
Ladki ke chakkar me achha bhala ladka gaya gutter me…
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wont say ladki, but more or less a very sudden shoot in fame and success in all forms got to his head…. warna more or less the ladki is the reason he is still remembered by a lot of people… I personally even liked him in DUM… as we have had discussions in past at PFC, he was finally the guy after sunny deol who seemed to be semmlesly displayed that “FIRE raging inside” in his characters….
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Who wants to watch 345th film on the same old thing…no pay off either. 1-2 item songs hi daal dete..
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Just an OK film with very good production values but better then Newyork (as you all know, same plot). Kareena has delivered a good performance and for the rest of other cast, they are just OK…very little scope for Vivek Oberoi and Om Puri…It does’nt made any impact on me and for me just another film I watch….Wanted to give 2.5*
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Hmmm
seems like both Aditya and Karan might have discussion on this script and for reasons known to them only, they both decided to make it on their own way. Perhaps, this explains why YRF is no more associated with Dharma Films in distribution and marketing. – Just speculating
I am watching this tonight – lets see how it turns out for me.
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Kurbaan coming from Stable of Dharma productions, the background score and cinematography is excellent.
The same can not be said about acting.
It has a good climax, and works as a thriller, but this movie could have been a much better.
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Nothing pathbreaking about it. The movie is a thriller and nothing more. Has some similarities with New York and though even New York wasn’t flawless, it still worked for me better. On Puri, Vivek, Kirron have given good performances. Saif is just ok. Kareena has been wasted. Limited by her role in the movie, her performance is nohing to write about.
2.5/5
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Spoilers
Why does anybody in the film dial 911?
Why Vivek does not want to pass the information, but want to deal wih terrorist himself?
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Its only a rehased version of “New York” with minor changes.
Wonder why Karan worked on the same plot?
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Review: Kurbaan is all sound, no fury
Why don’t we see Americans sneaking into war-torn countries under the guise of a professor and blowing up people in crowded squares? Because they get a legal sanction to do it! The world conspires for their supremacy, nations bend their knees, and nukes find a cushy landing place. Its business as usual when the biggest terror maker on the planet starts fingering the small fries – there is a whole churn of after effects we have to deal with when the damage is done. Didn’t Nietzsche say something about destruction before the implementation of creation? That’s what the Americans do, they destroy to create anew. Alas, that creative process never gathers momentum – the wounds of both Iraq and Afghanistan might never heal, as headline after headline we are reminded of their blistering destiny.
Which brings me to Om Puri’s high-minded statement in the film Kurbaan – Yakeen ko hamesha waqt ke peeche chalna chahiye, and which is not out of place in fate of Iraq- Afghanistan (where faith will never be able to leap over the terror of the times), or for that matter Dharma Productions. Karan’s yakeen about this terrorist story idea is so behind the times, it begins to gnaw at your seat with its predictability. Why didn’t he make it back then when he wanted to launch protégé Nikhil Advani with Shah Rukh Khan and Vivek Oberoi in it? Then, he would have been called a visionary. Today, he sits on it like he was hatching an over due egg.
Dapper but dewy-eyed Ehsan (Saif Ali Khan) is shown as professor at a college in Delhi spending recess hour at coffee shops with pouty psychology professor Avantika (Kareena Kapoor). Soon they sing a duet, move to New York, get new jobs and she discovers that her husband is a terrorist plotting to bomb New York subway system. His cohorts are a bunch of hardened jihadis – a crusty Om Puri, some family members, and his steely wife Kirron Kher – all suicide bombers. Avantika decides to save the world, but can’t – her father is cornered, emotional blackmail, she’s preggy – blah blah fundamentalism bravura – all that you’ve seen and heard before. Enter sincere television reporter Riyaz (Vivek Oberoi) who takes it on himself to bust the gang. One of Om Puri’s chota bomb blows a plane his sweetheart (Dia Mirza) was on. Riyaz gets an entry into their secret lair and almost manages to thwart their plans but then we need a whole film no?
Kurbaan is Rensil D’ Silva’s first film, after having co-scripted the earth shattering Rang De Basanti. Expectations were running high fever with this one Karan Johar production starring the ‘it’ pair of Bollywood. In particular, a scene where Saif has a minor argument with Om Puri defending Kareena’s right to live when she discovers their high-voltage plans, one gets a rich taste of Rensil’s artistic framing of his subject as the camera pulls out of the scene on a trolley shot – perfectly timed to the length of the dialogue with Saif’s last lingering shot as a man caught up between duty and love. And the film is riddled with these many beautifully framed shots – so stylized that it seems that was the peg Karan Johar must have been sold on during the script narration.
The film feels like its been made by an American filmmaker for an Indian audience. And here’s how the film might find an audience. Muslims are shown as victims turning to violence for solutions. Muslim audiences will throng the theatres in droves just so that they can repudiate that. ‘We are not like this.’
Saif looks tired, and has nothing to do in the film but flex his muscles once in a while. What is Kareena doing in the film? Baffles me! Vivek hams when he has to sync in, perhaps because he’s had it so bad, that hunger to prove himself once again, shows up in his twitchy performance. Om Puri as the mastermind of the terror plot does not incite fear. Kirron Kher falters with her Kabuliwali accent but it’s a welcome change to see her play a rosary counting evil woman. Music is used out of context although the background score does at times rev up the silent flow of the film. The much talked about steamy bedroom number becomes a clichéd farce because of the way it is built up in the screenplay and the denouement where snot filled Kareena howls with pity for Saif’s limbo is long dragged.
Kurbaan gets my vote for all sound, no fury film of the year. Some love stories have blood on them, I beg to ask, what love, where story, whose blood? Some people just have too much money and too little talent to cash on it.
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Really elite piece of wisdom – Some people just have too much money and too little talent to cash on it.
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your first paragraph sums it for me the most…. Even I’d like to see a movie from an outsider’s perspective of how India is viewed and is known externally with regards of maybe RAW or interference into Bangladesh-Pakistan war, or getting into Sri Lanka the backlash of which resulted in death of the very Prime Minister of our country…. would like to see a movie which sees things from a third person’s POV… ki how is it….
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loved this line – “Karan’s yakeen about this terrorist story idea is so behind the times, it begins to gnaw at your seat with its predictability.”
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A******! a review does not mean spilling out all plot points…at least use the word “SPOILER’ at the beginning!
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retarded film and has the most ridiculous scene of the year….saif and his fellow gangwala are driving a car with dead body inside…the are stopped at a police checkpoint…..just checkout the expressions given by the side actor and the culmination of the scene is so LOL…..and no one nebelieves in calling the cops here….
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Anand- exactly my thought on this.Why the hell did the guy with Saif have to get so edgy & do all that silly stuff?I mean if you had to knock off the character it could have been done a whole lot better with some proper care to the detailing.
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FYI- the movie is already being promoted as superhit…
My weekly update from BIG Cinemas –
“Weekly Movie Update of Big Cinemas, Chicago (SUPERHIT Movie Kurban Releasing on Nov 20th)”
OXYMORONS!!! World famous in India…
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This is nothing as this could be done by cinema hall owner.
watch the following poster
http://www.topnews.in/files/Shah-Rukh-Khan_1.jpg
Film has not been even released but it is a blockbuster.
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absolutely… I just meant to say how things are promoted, even if not by the producer or director of the movie, but by the hype created by others…
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Why couldn’t the movie have been made without the man-woman LOVE angle to it. There are other forms of love bonds which can be betrayed, exploited and broken. Why stick to the conventional story-line if you are aiming to strike-out and be different. It is after all a movie based on terrorist activity. Terrorists love nobody.
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@Alysha
KJo and his likes will take eons to come out of love stories. Its in their blood mushy mushy romance everywhere.
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Nothing wrong with love stories my dear Yaatri, but in this context it is so obvious a story-line and one which was covered in New York.
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Quite a decent fare. Acting is apt (not great not bad…unlike New York). Music and background score is good. Dialogues…without any rhetorics and not going over the top.
But…its not a bad movie by any means…at least in the Indian context.
My biggest qualm – there is absolutely no research at all…they hardly know how it functions in US (police, FBI etc). Even watching CSI, 24 would have solved that problem for them. They are too lazy I guess….For them research means…Kiron Kher talking in Afghani accent, Vivek Oberoi trying hard to mimic US accent.
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1 star for the sleek handling and photography.
Nothing else to talk about.
Same old issues of America and Iraq and oil. Heck, once they mentioned about oil in Afganistan too!!!!
I belong to that rare breed of people who thinks that US has the copyright over oil exploration and extraction. After all they are the ones who taught the world about the usefulness of oil. Iraq and whole of middle east included had oil even thousands of years ago, but it was US who taught them how to take it out and use it. And what did they do to US in return. Nationlize the oil fields and throw out the American corporations!! If today they accuse US of using muscle power, what was it when they threw out US corporations. And that too after having well established and working oil extraction fields in their control!!
But moving the debate in that direction is pointless. No use talking about such logic under the post of the most illogical movie
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“After all they are the ones who taught the world about the usefulness of oil. Iraq and whole of middle east included had oil even thousands of years ago, but it was US who taught them how to take it out and use it. And what did they do to US in return. Nationlize the oil fields and throw out the American corporations!!”
Boy, you are dumb!!
Lets say India teaches US how to cultivate basmati rice and Indian companies buy rice fields in US to cultivate basmati crop. Now after a few decades, US throws out the Indian companies because they have monopolized basmati rice production and are not compensating the country enough. Does that give India right to invade US, change its government, kill millions and install a puppet government? 
To solve trade disputes, we have UN, WTO and other forums. If every country was to start wars on such petty trade disputes, world war 3 would have ended our civilization decades back
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“India teaches US how to cultivate basmati rice and Indian companies buy rice fields in US to cultivate basmati crop”
Hillarious. Even though I would love to see that happening, I am pretty much sure it will never happen in another 1000 years
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forums are for weaker nations, the powerful are unaccoutable to any authority.. thats a jungle law still our civilization follows it…but your views are correct.
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“Designer terrorism” by Karan Johar. Deserves 1.5 stars for photography and music. Storyline is exactly like NewYork. Acting is average at best. The reason for the sex scene was absolutely ridiculous.
Point to ponder: Newyork story credit was taken by Aditya Chopra, and Kurbaan story credit is taken by Karan Johar. Wonder who stole the whos idea??
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Saw Kurbaan First Day First Show, a terrible mistake…It is unimaginative,predictable,prosaic,demeaning to a particular religion & insults your intelligence- all characteristics that a movie shouldn’t have. Karan Johar’s films have a hegemony of stupidity and romanticism and this one is fraught with cliche and burden of trying to be different. Just stop terrorising us with your idiotic views.Start making soaps, that suits you.Or take Ekta’s advice.
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Didn’t go with any expectations. The movie works best as a thriller and there is nothing to go deep but better than New York and Fanaa. Vivek was there only to show the contrast that every terrorists are muslims while all muslims are not terrorrists. Whole idea has become very trite now. A few hanging threads like-
-What was the reason to kill Salma?
-Vivek was giving speech in the class about the no. of people killed in Iraq and Afganistan but then I was expecting that they would include some dialogue to counter it preferably from the mouth of Vivek but it doesn’t happen and the movie comes out as pro-terrorism.
The things that I liked in the movie is the direction and cinematography. The songs were good too. Liked the final shot of the movie ending with the focus on Avantika’s eyes in which the tears were slowly drying up.
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Hopefully KJo’s My Name is Khan isn’t like this, otherwise he’ll be disappointing many and may evoke controversy.
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What was Anurag Kashyap doing with this one???? Of all the movies he chose to write dialogue’s for this one.
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Why did people treat AK as a sacred figure. Is everything about him necessary to be scrutinized?
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i think AK was well paid… in end money matter. and deepa should ask what was he doing in Shakalaka Boom Boom (2007)..
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For those who’ve seen Fanaa,New York & Shoot@ Sight, this one is nothing but an extension of the genre.With New York having come out very recently and with the story line being so similar,this one brings in a sense of severe deja vu & doesn’t work. Nice to see Kirron Kher doing something apart from her cliched mother roles.it has some decent camera work and restrained music.Otherwise a movie full of cliches.Hope we don’t see any more movies of this type for a while.
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My major problem with new York was that all the major actors were bad while here the acting was quite good. Storywise both the movies are at the same level more or less.
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Jahan- yes Saif & Kareena are better actors than John & Katrina.But Neil Nitin’s role had more scope than that of Vivek Oberoi here.and how can you forget the presence of Irrfan Khan,one of the best things about New York?
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By major actor I meant John-Kat-Neil trio.
Pasand Apni Apni but in only 6 months 2 movies on the same theme is overdoing. They should have released the 26/11 telefilm instead.
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pathetic movie!!!
Karan johar should give up producing films.
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For your amusement:
http://movie-place.blogspot.com/2009/11/kurbaan-movie-review.html
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That was very well written
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Only positive thing abt movie is music
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how to give less than one star????????????????
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@Magik
Very valid question. There should be 1/2 an negative stars also if a film sucked someone !!
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totally random, utterly moronic and dangerously misguiding piece of shit film. the enthusiastic reviews tell how corrupt film criticism has become.
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Some love stories have blood on them ..the others have me in them. Does that make sense? No? Well, there you have my review.
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for Kurbaan: Bogus movie….Stupid acting. Blue by far the most Entertaining…. But intellectuals here wont agree…still box office response speaks dear….Blueeeeeeeeee!!!!! Best Film ‘09
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blue???
….worst film of the decade…how exactly did it entertain?
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Blue is a flop on box office , you are true Box office response speaks
and yes you are also right ‘ Intellectuals here wont agree” 
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I only want to say to the makers.
Are you joking ?
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Bakwaas movie :(
movie full of loop holes .. no brain was used making the plot..
on the holes nth movie on the same subject but still not a good watch..
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There are so many flaws in the script that it makes it difficult to over look them all. It’s not a bad movie but most definitely a dull one that doesn’t fill me with suspense let alone thrill me! I preferred New York over this one.
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