Bangistan
Description from IMDB:
Bangistan is a whip smart and uproarious satire on fundamentalism and the story of two unlikely terrorists, the antitheses of each other, with a common destructive goal. Concerned by the unrest in the name of religion, Subcontinental leaders of Muslims and Hindus, the Imam and the Shankaracharya, announce that they’re attending the International Peace Conference in Krakow in a joint effort to help unite the two religions in perpetual harmony. Rival rabble-rousing ragtag organizations, the Islamist Al-Kaam Tamam and right-wing political party Maa Ka Dal separately recruit and brainwash Hafeez and Praveen to suicide bomb the conference so that they may continue to wield their local influence. After a rigorous, and hilarious, ‘training’ period the two men switch their religious identities to stay under the radar. Hafeez, the jihadi, masquerades as a conservative Hindu, Ishwarchand; while Praveen, the Hindu soldier, dons the garb of a practicing Muslim, Allahrakha.
Selected reactions:
– The film could have gone a notch or two higher, if Pulkit Samrat had gone slow on his histrionics and perhaps a tad more steady handed execution by the debut director. The script and screenplay deserved a better film. – Mid-Day.com
– To generate laughter out of the grim reality of the Hindu-Muslim divide is not easy. In his debut film director Karan Anshuman takes on the thankless task and whips up wacky welters of warm humour. – SKJ Bollywood
– With Pakistan, UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain imposing a ban on the release of “Bangistan”, producer Ritesh Sidhwani today said that his film is not anti-religion and rather promotes peace and brotherhood. – The Indian Express
– All smoke and no bangs make this Riteish Deshmukh – Pulkit Samrat comedy a dull film! – Bollywood Life
– “It is a film which does not promote terrorism. It is not anti-religion, it is anti-terrorism. Those, who spread terror, should get offended by the film. It is not anti-government,” Sidhwani told PTI. – India West
– Bangistan’s ultimate undoing lies in its desperate lunge towards delivering a message in the climax. Here, Anshuman is at his most clueless, pausing the story to allow preachy banalities to take centre stage. – First Post
– As far as the humour quotient goes, mostly the film involves jokes that are really not worth laughing at. There are a few scenes in between, however, which do make you chuckle a bit. – Films of India
– Boring, Disastrous And Everything Bad – FilmiBeat
– The film culminates in a long scene at the religious summit (which looks more like comic con), where Samrat has an embarrassing breakdown in the bathroom, followed by an equally emotional outburst by Deshmukh in which he essentially tells a gathering of religious leaders that religious leaders are bad news—and is applauded. – LiveMint
– Does not give you bang for your buck – Scroll.in
– Low on entertainment! – ZeeNews
– Bangistan has been shot by Polish cinematographer Szymon Lenkowski. He does not lose any opportunity to capture the city of Krakow in all its splendour. Unfortunately for Lenkowski and his beautiful country, the hammy actors keeping getting in the way and mucking up the view. – NDTV
– 7 hard hitting scenes that address deep rooted issues of our society. – IBN Live
– offers some gorgeous Polish locales that are a welcome relief on the screen at times. Anshuman’s script and story had good intentions but gets lost in execution somehow. Even so, ‘Bangistan’ really deserves to be seen for its ‘hatke’ and smart script and those gorgeous locales. – MensXP