This film begins with the famous Gandhi quote "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind".
In 1993, a series of 12 bombs went off during Ramadan all over Mumbai (Bombay) which killed 257 people (thought the film often says it's 300 plus). This film is about this event as well as the subsequent police investigation of it. It's all based on true events but is rather critical of the police, and as a result the film was banned in India for two years before the government eventually allowed its release.
The film begins with a man under arrest pleading for the police to believe him that a group was planning on burning the Mumbai Stock Exchange. Foolishly, the police just dismiss this and soon you see bombs detonating all over the city. All this occurs in the first few minutes of the film and what follows is a step by step documentary style investigation. How the police captured and interrogated suspects (and tortured them in some), how the mastermind of the bombings abandoned his minions and how the events are all in context, as this springs from previous attacks in which hundreds of Muslims were murdered--and this makes the quote from Gandhi at the beginning of the film quite appropriate.
Overall, this is a very hard film to watch in places (such as the scene where the police use a hammer on one suspect's hand) but is also very well made and unflinching. And, unlike a typical Bollywood film, it lacks the song and dance numbers and just concentrates on telling the story.
By the way, I did some checking and as of today, one ringleader was arrested and sentenced to death (he was executed two years ago). Two main ringleaders are still being sought by the Indian government.
In 1993, a series of 12 bombs went off during Ramadan all over Mumbai (Bombay) which killed 257 people (thought the film often says it's 300 plus). This film is about this event as well as the subsequent police investigation of it. It's all based on true events but is rather critical of the police, and as a result the film was banned in India for two years before the government eventually allowed its release.
The film begins with a man under arrest pleading for the police to believe him that a group was planning on burning the Mumbai Stock Exchange. Foolishly, the police just dismiss this and soon you see bombs detonating all over the city. All this occurs in the first few minutes of the film and what follows is a step by step documentary style investigation. How the police captured and interrogated suspects (and tortured them in some), how the mastermind of the bombings abandoned his minions and how the events are all in context, as this springs from previous attacks in which hundreds of Muslims were murdered--and this makes the quote from Gandhi at the beginning of the film quite appropriate.
Overall, this is a very hard film to watch in places (such as the scene where the police use a hammer on one suspect's hand) but is also very well made and unflinching. And, unlike a typical Bollywood film, it lacks the song and dance numbers and just concentrates on telling the story.
By the way, I did some checking and as of today, one ringleader was arrested and sentenced to death (he was executed two years ago). Two main ringleaders are still being sought by the Indian government.