Aamir

What’s in a name? Everything. Aamir ( Rajeev ) gets off a plane in Mumbai, is razzed by airport officials for his obviously-Muslim name, and gets sucked into a terrifying vortex of events, which take him from one seedy pocket of Mumbai’s underbelly to another, leading him to his destiny.

Yes, it does look as if the film, helmed by first-timers both on the directorial and the lead actor front, has been `inspired’ by `Phone Booth’, but it has enough to stand on its own. The young doctor returning home after studying in the UK is asked at the airport: `kyon, visa extend nahin kiya’? And that hits home, both with the hero, and with us, the viewers. Racial profiling has become a huge scourge, both at home and abroad.

A cell phone, flung at Aamir, becomes the weapon through which a shadowy character controls him. Taxis driven by a `satka-hua’ driver, encounters with a blowsy whore, filthy bylanes, overflowing toilets, become the points through which he has to pass, with an increasing sense of helplessness.

The tech specs are great. The characters know what they have to do; and so does Aamir, as he heads towards a searing, truly shocking climax. The film would have benefited, though, from a shorter length. In an on-the-go film like this, you need crispness at all times : there are not enough heart-in-the-mouth moments. But what there is, is a story which has something to say, and an everyman hero ( TV heartthrob Rajeev doing a good job of being hounded) believable every inch of the way. He asks that immigration guy right in the beginning : `agar mera naam Amar hota tab bhi aap aisa karte’? That question stays with you.