Ruslaan

Ratings: *

Jobless Muslim youth is nabbed by the police as a suspect in train blasts in Mumbai. ‘Ruslaan’ is about how the young man gets to that point,and gets past it.

Bombs ripping through Mumbai local trains and bloodied bodies piled by the tracks is an all-too familiar sight by now in films. ‘Ruslaan’ tries to go beyond by showing the pressures everyone—the perpetrators and the victims– comes under when something as drastic as this happens: Ruslaan ( Rajveer) is tortured in custody ; his policeman friend finds himself unable to help. Only his girl friend (Meghaa) and his parents ( S M Zaheer and Smita Jaikar) stand by him.

There’s a sincerity of purpose about this film,but the execution is obvious and amateurish. The leads,both debutants,match the film; the unprepossessing Rajveer is only a shade better than the shrill Meghaa (Moushumi Chatterji’s daughter),who has none of the vivacity of her mother.