Sikandar falls in the genre of Iranian films like Children of Heaven, The Big White Balloon and Colours of Paradise as they all depict the lives and simple needs of children and adults in politically unstable Islamic states. Sikandar does not move you as much as those films did.

Sikandar is the story of Sikandar Raza (Parzaan Dastur), a bullied footballer who chances upon a gun. His conscientious friend Nasreen (Ayesha Kapur) tries to dissuade him from using it but Sikandar doesn’t listen to her as the weapon gives him power over his bullies. Kashmir Azaad Force commander Jehgir Qadir (Arunoday Singh) tracks down Sikandar and trains him to become an assassin. Army commander Rajesh Rao (R Madhavan) smells something fishy in the dealings of politician (Sanjay Suri) but he cannot do anything about it. How Sikandar regains his innocence and sanity and discovers a shocking truth is what the rest of the story is about.

Piyush Jha has made light-hearted indie-flicks like Chalo America (Ashish Chowdhury and others) and King of Bollywood (Om Puri) earlier. The intention of the director which is to show how militants and politicians are hand in glove while exploiting the children and innocence of Kashmir is very noble but the execution could have been better and more moving.

The best thing about Sikandar is its stunning locales and cinematography by Somak Mukherjee. Kashmir is still a breathtaking sight and you want to book a trip to the valley right away. You can feel the wind, the cold water of the river and almost breathe the fresh air. From the mountains to the forests and the lush football fields, it is Nature at its pristine best. Imagine walking through a pine forest to get to school, studying amid mountains and a bazaar with a river. The rosy cheeked local children make such a pretty sight.

The opening sequence featuring school children and a bomb blast makes quite an impact. It depicts how greedy politicians and brainwashed terrorists are destroying all that is beautiful and innocent. Even the confusion and guilt that Sikandar feels is well portrayed.

Sandesh Shandilya’s music and Justin Uday’s background score is impressive. Khotey Sikke by SEL is one of their sweetest compositions in a long time with beautiful lyrics about the how the innocence of children should be preserved.

The editing is choppy in the sense that the movie jumps from one scene to another. Also, in a couple of scenes where people are shot dead, you can see them breathing. These are glaring errors. The reactions of the characters in some scenes, especially the climax, are calm when they are supposed to be shocked and shaken-up.

Ayesha Kapur was marvellous in Black but her performance in Sikandar isn’t as good. She looks pretty and has a winning smile. Her flawless Hindi seems dubbed. Parzaan Dastur fares much better. It is strange that they all speak normal Hindi though it is peppered with references to Allah and Islam.

Sanjay Suri is slimy enough and R Madhavan is perpetually angry as the army commander who knows everything and is not powerful to do anything. Good-looking debutante Arunoday Singh looks the part of a headstrong Kashmiri jehadi but he lacks the thick accent of someone raised in the valley.

The show at the premiere started at 11.15 P.M. and got over by 1.30 A.M. The last movie I saw that late was Jashnn, by the end of which I was bored-to-death and angry at myself for giving the movie preference over the joy of sleeping. That was not the way I felt after watching Sikandar. I was pleased with the gorgeous locales, the simplicity and noble intention of Piyush Jha’s first mainstream film

Janhvi Patel/Hill Road Media