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Writer's pictureWise Movie Reviews

The Tashkent Files: Movie Review

The trailer of this movie had created a lot of buzz among the #Indian audience. The #Nation was absolutely eager to know what was the #mystery behind the #death of India’s second #PrimeMinister #LalBahadurShastri. Unfortunately, in this film, ‘The Truth Is Luxury’. These kinds of films require a lot of factual researching; however the makers of ‘#TheTashkentFiles’ made it seem like a project created for a college festival. The film consists of several half baked truths and it confuses the audience more than convincing them.


The Tashkent Files Movie Poster
The Tashkent Files

Ragini Phule (#ShwetaBasuPrasad), a young aspiring #political #journalist gets a scoop about the #mysteriousdeath of Lal Bahadur Shastri, and she tries to unfold this story further. Ragini gets the story idea approved from her editor, and her published article creates a huge buzz all over India. The opposition party leaders raise their voice on this issue, thereby obliging the #government to form a committee for investigating the truth behind the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri.


When you are witnessing the proceedings of the movie, you ponder, “Can an article written by a young journalist about a 53-year-old case really cause that kind of buzz?” It seems too far fetched to be true.


Nonetheless, the government appoints a committee to investigate the ‘truth’ behind the death of India’s second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Lal Bahadur Shastri went to #Tashkent to sign a #treaty after defeating Pakistan in 1966. After lengthy negotiations, the treaty was signed between both the parties. Strangely, Lal Bahadur Shastri passed away the same night. Was it a natural death or was he assassinated? The movie fails to give a proper answer to this question.


The whole movie is presented akin to a prime-time #debate news show wherein the opposing committee members argue amongst themselves but never reach any substantial conclusion. The director has shrewdly tried to introduce #secularism, the most poignant issue of our times, in the narrative.


The trailer of the movie was excellent, and the movie seemed to be a fast-paced political #thriller. However, the execution of the movie downed it big-time. The movie isolates itself within the conference room where the members of the committee argue over silly things. The arguments between the committee members in the conference room seem heavily inspired from the movie “12 Angry Men”. The Tashkent Files adorns a stellar cast. The audience would have certainly expected a great performance from each of them. Sadly, except for #MithunChakraborty, no actor or actress was able to do justice to their role.


Although there was no room for songs in a serious film like this, the makers still retained two songs that failed to fit in the screenplay. Even the background music was unable to keep the audience hooked to this film. The first half of the film is painstakingly slow paced and boring. Although the story gets its pace in the second half, the climax is disappointing. At the end you soon realise that this is nothing more than an agenda film.


The last scene shows that the authenticity of all the facts displayed in the film cannot be verified. If it was not based on true events, the director should declare it at the very beginning. Everyone in the committee was trying to fulfill their own motives. The backstory of the character of ‘Ragini’ is unclear to the audience. #VivekAgnihotri and Co. could have given some more time to develop her character in the first half.


#NaseeruddinShah, an actor with huge potential, has been completely wasted in the film. He seemed to be the leader of the ruling party; however, his motives have been unclear throughout the whole movie. The characters of other top notch actors like #PankajTripathi, #PallaviJoshi, #MandiraBedi and Co were also not etched well in this film. The film traverses a wrong route, and at the end, it fails to reach any destination.


Our Verdict:

There is no point of making a film without any conclusive evidence. If such a film is made, there must be some reasons behind it. The timing of the release of this film will certainly tell you that part of the story. If you are really interested to watch some debate show in a film, you can go to watch it in #theatres. Otherwise, there is nothing in this movie to attract the audience. This film, we fear, is going to nosedive at the box office after the big release of ‘Kalank’ all over India next Wednesday.


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Our Rating: 1.5/5.0

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Movie: The Tashkent Files

Director: Vivek Agnihotri

Writers: Vivek Agnihotri

Stars: Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborty, Mandira Bedi, Prakash Belawadi, Prashantt Guptha, Yusuf Hussain, Ravi Shankar Jaiswal, Pallavi Joshi, Mohan Kapoor, Achint Kaur, Vinay Pathak, Shweta Prasad, Ankur Rathee, Rajesh Sharma, Takesh Singh, Pankaj Tripathi

Release Date: 12th April 2019

Run-time: 2:14 Hrs


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