Missing THE LAKSHYA..............

This is thy dream, thou foreseen it,                                                                                               

 This is thy dream thou identified it,                                                                                                     

  Let thou not stop winds, neither sky nor earth,                                                                       

 Thou shall achieve Objective.

These were the inspirational lyrics coined by none other than Javed Akhtar for the title track of Lakshya.  The film written by Javed Aktar and directed by Farhan Akhtar narrates the quest of Karan Shergill living in cozy life of Delhi, to find his aim in life.  The quest passes from trivial fight with parents and breakup with girl friend to not so trivial scaling a cliff of 900ft in mid of Kargil War. Though the film firmly establishes its non-war genre by dedicating first half to the life of Karan in Delhi but it equally fails to establish the protagonist, the reason why Dil Chahta Hain became a cult. At almost 3 hrs the film is too long, linear narrative of the film takes too much time to establish the background. The transition of a careless Delhi boy Karan to matured, responsible and sensitive Lieutenant Karan Shergill is so heroic that he can hardly be related.

So, what’s there in this movie that even after 7 yrs of its release, it still instigates me to watch this movie?  The reasons are many. Firstly, though the protagonist is not well established, the other characters in the movie are well crafted and well presented. Perhaps one reason for watching this movie is missing of realistic and convincing war movies in Indian Cinema. Characters of army personals played by Raj Zutsi, Sharad Kapoor, OmPuri not only convincing but they are in flesh and blood. 

Hrithik Roshan stands out with a performance as Karan Shergill not allowing the character look amateurish.  Amitabh Bachchan, Om Puri, Boman Irani, again confirm their legendary status by pouring life in small but well defined characters. Though in small supportive roles, these legendary actors of Indian Cinema anchor the film effectively, deluding the audience from the loophole to large extent.

Musical scores by Shankar Ehsaan Loy are not only mesmerizing but also inspiring so are the lyrics written by Legend Javed Akhtar. Cinematography by Christopher Popp is one of the excellent works by camera in India. Last but not the least, Director Farhan Akhtar effectively visualizes the story, a story which could have been even better, had Protagonist of the film was as well crafted as the other elements.