Red Alert: The War Within (2010)

Simply A Masterpiece

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Anant Mahadevan hardly gave us great films as a director, but in this film he shows he has worth, this film also shows Suniel Shetty and Sameera in a different light, in fact people who criticise both as non actors should watch this film. The film after LAL SALAAM(2002) is a story of naxalities, but the treatment is superb, very authentic, except a little filmy climax The storytelling is hardly filmy, heroic, our characters are as real as possible. The film only falters a bit towards the end which as I mentioned is a bit filmy but that can be overlookedDirection is superb Background music is aptSuneil Shetty shows that he can act if given a proper role, rather then playing stupid comic roles, he is superb in his role and makes you forget him as a star Sameera Reddy too is superb in her role, The film has several character actors most leave an impact, Ashish Vidyarthi is superb as the leader of the naxalities, Makrand Deshpande is superb, Bhagyashree makes a superb comeback and is superb, Vinod Khanna has a brief role and does well,Naseeruddin Shah is superb in one scene he gets, Seema Biswas is as always,perfect, Ayesha Dharker as Radhaka is a surprise, she is superb, Gulshan Grover is good in his role rest are okay

Made an attempt to see this film, as the sticker on the DVD case states that, it is based on a true story and also India being my birth place have a duty to keep myself updated of a crucial issue like Naxalism or Maoism called by various names depending on the region. Hats off to the producers of this film for having invested money in a project which is unlike mainstream Bollywood movies, where return on investment becomes risky. One can easily see the noble motive of its producers. Although there have been many films made in Hindi on this subject, but this one is definitely worth it, as it based on actual events and portrays the issue as close to reality as possible. If one sees this picture with above mentioned intentions, then one feels that the Producers of this film, have done Indian citizens a favour and the time spent to see this film was worth it.

Ananth Narayan Mahadevan's 'Red Alert: The War Within' is an honest effort, that has some engaging moments, and a stellar performance by Sunil Shetty. However, the writing in the second hour lacks the bite.'Red Alert: The War Within' tells the story of a common man caught in a movement. The Common Man struggles to fight with the Naxalites and the Police. It's a journey that is filled with bloodshed and cruelty, but the commoner still survives it.Ananth Narayan Mahadevan has made an honest film in all respects. 'Red Alert: The War Within' is arguably his finest film as a storyteller. His work truly deserves brownie points. Screenplay by Aruna Raje, is super in the first hour, but lacks the bite post-interval. Also, the culmination doesn't leave any impact. How one wishes if these minuses could've been worked on! Performance Wise: Sunil Shetty is the life of the show. The once-known bad actor, delivers an amazing performance from start to end. He gets into the skin of the character. This truly ranks amongst the finest performances of recent times. Vinod Khanna is excellent in a brief role, while Seema Biswas shines in a strong supporting role. Sameera Reddy is alright. Ashish Vidyarthi, Makrand Deshpande, Bhagyashree, Gulshan Grover & Ayesha Dharker are satisfactory. Nasseruddin Shah hams in a tiny role.On the whole, 'Red Alert: The War Within' surely deserves a watch for the sheer honesty it's been made with, and also for the performances it packs in, especially by it's leading man.

I decided to go for Red Alert :The War Within instead of I hate Love stories for obvious reasons. I still say I made the right choice. If Red Alert virtually choked me to death I Hate would have gagged the optimist in me.And the death of optimism is surely a greater loss than the on screen demise of an ordinary moviegoer like me.To begin with , Red Alert fails to clearly bring forth any sound and credible hypothesis regarding the origin and continuance of the Naxal menace. In fact the only true and digestible piece comes right in the beginning of the film when the captioned para describes the origin of this problem.Everything has been downplayed and under -treated to such an extent that one can't help questioning as to why was the movie made if so many aspects were to be to be left veiled . The justification of the Naxalite movement, The role of the Government, the Police and it's role.All these facets were blatantly ill-treated by the Director. Needless to say the Director favored the anti-Government Naxalites during the first half, taking the plea of underdevelopment and poverty as the trigger for the upsurge. And predictably the Director tried to sabotage the picture perfect image of the revolutionaries by injecting small doses of realism. Sadly though, he failed in both cases.The story had many loose ends and tragically there were even more knotted ones. The cast wasn't great either. Sunil Shetty does remarkably well given his acting credentials, but the plot deserved more method. Sameera Reddy seems to have imbibed a few traits from Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham regarding acting. I mean monotone expression for all occasions.The only decent and quite enjoyable performance was rendered by the guy who plays the Home Minister and also to some extent by Markand Deshpande as the wily reporter.In totality however the movie was pathetic. I mean consider this. A police man working undercover in a Naxalite group is foolish enough to have a photo ID card in his belongings kept right above his private things for everybody to discover. Or may be Bhagyashree as the hapless wife of a helpless victim. Or perhaps the foreign delegation which featured a fellow ho up till quite recently was trying to prove how good a particular English speaking software was (English Guru).No punches in the screenplay. A stale emotional environment. Nothing new to show and no new way of showing it. The movie was a big let down.