Azaan Preview

I’ ve been quite intrigued with Azaan since I first came across the trailer but been so busy lately that didn’t have the chance to post it, we havent been able to review the latest Bollywood releases either but will be releasing a podcast where we catch up and talk about Bodyguard, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Force and all the forthcoming releases with Bollywood diva and great buddy of ours FilmiGirl. Keep your eyes out for that episode or subscribe to iTunes so you dont miss any episodes of Upodcast which are frankly pretty amazing.

So tomorrow sees the release of Azaan, the Indian International espionage thriller by new comer Sachin Joshi and ad filmmaker Prashant Chadha ;who previously directed Aap Ka Suroor with Himesh Reshamiya avec casquette , but we shouldnt hold that against him (or should we?). I was quite reluctant as commercial directors making a movie just make everything kinda look the same, very slick and clean where as a spy thriller needs a bit of dirt and grime in my mind.

Although surrounded by controvery in India at the moment, but then again isnt every other movie release surrounded by some sort of controvery? It’s seems to be part of the marketing mix now. Maybe mixing religious iconography, lyrics and playboy bikini models might not have been the best way to do things? But when you are a business tycoon financing your own debut, who is anyone to say what you should or shouldn’t do?

I do appreciate the fact that Sachin Joshi is going for a non conventional movie debut and the spy thriller hasnt been seen too much in Bollywood except those few horrible movies Mani Shankar made a few years ago and I imagine Saif Ali Khan‘s next release Agent Vinod is going to be in the same mould.

Azaan’s also been shot in a gajillion countries which might be a double edges sword as almost no indian director has ever been able to succesfully direct a non indian cast, you can quote me on that.

The soundtrack of the movie is pretty amazing too with Rahat Ali Khan and quite a few other big names, I’ve added some tracks I liked and some stills from the movie after the trailer.

The subject does make me nervous and I hope they handle it with some sensitivity but can it really be any worse than Ajay Devgan’s- The Rock remake- Zameen City Under Threat. And I do hope that although inspired by the Bourne Series, that the director is able to hold the camera still so we can see the action.

Here is the synopsis from the press release:

Synopsis: ‘Aazaan Khan’ (Sachiin J Joshi) – a young, upright army officer working for RAW (India’s Research and Analysis Wing) with a mixed lineage of Afghan and Indian parents, as part of his duties, gets drawn in to the murky world of espionage only to find his younger brother a suspected terrorist. Torn between his love for his country and his brother, Aazaan embarks on his mission of unravelling a conspiracy of science and technology, which turns uglier when he realises that it stands to threaten the 1.2 billion population of one of the largest developing nations in the world – India. What unfolds is a fast paced story of one man’s determination to save his country against all odds of human defiance. Strengthening him in achieving his mission is his relationship with Afreen – a beautiful Moroccan girl who grounds him with human love and emotion to help him reach his goal.

A harsh and hard-hitting portrayal of an issue that continues to plague the modern world, ‘Aazaan’ is a captivating story that delves into the global issue of terror, presented on screen by one of the key influencers among the new generation of pioneering Indian filmmakers, Prashant Chadha. Touted to be Bollywood’s biggest espionage thriller ever, ‘Aazaan’ is set in one of the world’s now top five economies, India, but travels to international territories as far afield as Germany, Morocco, France, Poland, Thailand, China and South Africa, highlighting how a single seed of hatred can spread so rapidly across the world.

Here is the trailer: