Bangistan (2015)

As an idea it really feels exciting to assume a film about two amateurish suicide bombers from a fictitious (Indian) land, planning to sabotage a World Peace Conference held in Poland. And the excitement increases further when in this comic plot, the Hindu bomber poses as a Muslim and the Muslim one portrays himself as a Hindu, trying to fool the authorities and participants together. However as experienced many times before, the plot that looks like a killer one on the paper doesn't turn out to be anything even close to average or fairly enjoyable when transformed into a film unfortunately.Beginning on a positive note, revealing the hidden secret behind every communal riot happening in the city, BANGISTAN commences as a political satire with all Indian characters in the script, but then slowly gets into the mold of a western comedy, unable to make any kind of substantial impact on the viewer due to more than one reason. Apart from all (unexpectedly) over the top performances, it has many weird sequences like a hotel room (in Poland) with a big hole in the roof connecting it with the upper floor, a goat brought in the same hotel for Eid without the owner's permission, an over- clever Hindi speaking taxi driver being the informer, the two Russian/Chinese eccentric bomb suppliers with their hidden laboratories and the two foreign police officers behaving like fools. The dialogues that ought to be the backbone of such message oriented satires, have been written pretty casually with only few enjoyable lines coming after long gaps.Having a decent opening 15 minutes, the pointless script keeps progressing with all forced, supposed to be funny moments post interval too. And then it eventually comes to an end with a long, preachy unimpressive climax that is unable to convey any kind of social message of 'One Religion' to the viewers. In short, though director Karan Anshuman might have had all good intentions to make an entertaining comedy with a message of World peace, the film fails to deliver the same and disappoints badly. In other words, following a western pattern of satirical comedy featuring all Indian characters, BANGISTAN keeps hanging in between and remains far away from impactful attempts such as the recent FILMISTAAN and more.In the performances, Ritesh Deshmukh tries his best but also looks like uninterested and unconvinced with the content throughout its two hours of duration. On the other hand, Pulkit Samrat puts in much more energy than required going over the top and so do the actors in the supporting cast, particularly the hamming Arya Babbar. Moreover its really confusing to see Jacqueline in such a poor role of a local waitress doing simply nothing in the film other than providing the glamour.Summing up, BANGISTAN has a poor direction, below average soundtrack but a better cinematography that unsuccessfully tries to give a significant message of 'One Religion of the World' to its audience. However mentioning its only merit, there is a thoughtful song coming towards the end with the lyrics,"Mujhko Kuchh Bhi Pata Nahin Tha, Waqt Bada Hi Achha Tha, Mera Koi Dharam Nahin Tha, Jab Main Chhota Bacha Tha"

The movie has excellent story and excellent theme. Actors performed very well for this movie. Songs are simply superb. I don't watch Indian movies without skipping unnecessary parts. But this movie was fully entertaining and you do not need to skip anything. I don't know why other reviewers didn't like it. But whatever they said is not true. They might be saying because of religion/race. You could not ask for better entertaining movie. There should be more movies like this that explain the concept of humanity with a sense of humor and without insulting or disrespecting any one race. I agree with the user http://www.imdb.com/user/ur18203698/ . This movie is one of the finest movies I have seen in a long time.

Reading the other reviews all I can think is that I went to see a different movie as I thought Bangistan was excellent from start to finish.I thought it was thoroughly entertaining and carried with it many wonderful messages – and many of those messages are ones that the world desperately needs to heed at this moment in time. Yes they may have been made in a fun, roundabout way, but hey – they're still important messages.I felt the premise of the story was an interesting one, that raised all sorts of crucial points, and that the build up to what was a great ending was woven superbly with all sorts of minor issues to deal with along the way such as lambs for Eid, alcohol, a love interest (or sorts), the funeral/immolation scene, and the way that each of the major characters had interpreted each others holy book.I watched it in a cinema full of Pakistanis and heard many of them laugh out loud in a nice way – which was great to hear, as with this kind of film it is only too easy to offend or to shy away from offending – it is a fine line.Maybe that was because a lot of them were probably expecting it to be an out- and-out Muslim-bashing film (with a title like Bangistan, who didn't?), and the fact that it was a very fair movie with a positive message to all religions made them let their hair down a bit and enjoy it.I really don't know what people were expecting from this movie as some of the reviews are so off the mark that I'd question their motives, and in some cases I'd question whether whoever wrote them has actually seen the movie.Seriously, I worry that so many people have been negative about a film that has such a positive message for one and all. If there were more movies like this - movies that highlight the futility and silliness of hatred - the world would be a far nicer place.And the video as the titles rolled was terrific, as was lots of the music throughout.I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of those slow burners. Once all the negative people have got their personal moans out of the way other people will start to see the movie for what it is - a well made satire on the current woes of the world.Peace :-)

Some movies are made with the right intentions,Bangistan is one such film, the film had its heart in the right place. On paper the films story must have sounded amazing, extremely novel and different. But the execution is below average, and films pace is extremely slow. A comedic film on religion, a satire of such, ends up boring at times. A film which was supposed to be about how humanity, peace is above any religion ends up giving a muddled message due to amateurish direction by a former critic Karan Anushman, at least critics now know its not easy to make film, as easy as it is to write.The films story is about a fake state named Bangistan, its called that because of war between two halves of the state which are called North and South Bangistan. In the North live all the Muslims and in the South side all the Hindus. When the head Hindu and Muslim Priests of both sides come together to make a peace accord they want to present in the peace conference in Poland, ruckus is created on both sides. Therefore then both sides unknowingly make a similar plan of sending a hindu and Muslim suicide bomber to Poland to stop the accord. Does this plan go through or not, is what makes up the rest of this comedic satire. If you want to know more rush to the theatres.Acting wise Ritesh Desmukh and Pulkit Samrat do well in there roles, but the roles could have been written a little better,Others don't have much scope in the film.Bangistan is not a completely faulty film, there are a lot of of funny moments in the film. The whole spoof on mcdonalds, starbucks, call centres, making bombs etc are all innovative and funny .Many scenes raise laughs but there not enough for a comedy. One thing that stands out is the films locations, and production values, the screen always looks pleasing to look at, Poland seems beautiful.Overall when I watched the films trailer a couple of months ago i had huge expectations, the film left me disappointed. But if you can take one thing away from the film it is humanity is above all. And the climax is actually well done, it might even make a tear or two flow down.2.5/5* (.5 more for the climax) or 5/10