Hotel Mumbai : Movie Review

(Starring Dev Patel, AnupamKher, Armie Hammer, Jason Issacs, NazaninBoniadi Directed by : Anthony Maras)

Based on the horrendous 26th of November 2008 terrorists attacks on the Taj Mahal Hotel, when the Maximum city was under seize for 72 hours as terrorists, allegedly of the banned outfit LeT, rained bullets indiscriminately around prime locations in the city. The film is a jolting cinematic experience that fairly succeeds in transporting the viewer to Mumbai’s worst encounter with brutality.  The film is based on the Emmy-nominated documentary “Surviving Mumbai”.

The film opens with 10 men arriving in small boats and and how they subsequently divide into small groups to attack different locations like CST, Café Leopld and Hotel Taj. The film showcases the turn of events in the perspective of the iconic Taj and its brave staff led by head chef Hemant Oberoi (AnupamKher) and his assistant Arjun (Dev Patel).

Hotel Mumbai is authentic in its cast as well its intention. The cinematography is as real as it gets. The attacks on the guests of the hotel are shot with realism and expectedly succeed in creating palpable fear among the viewers. There is a docu-drama feel in its entirety. The background score, consisting mainly of gunshots and grenade blasts, is haunting, and the editing prepares you for the tragedy waiting to happen in advance.

Hotel Mumbai is not an easy movie to watch in the damp, dark corners of a theatre. It’s eerie, jolting, nerve wracking and discomforting. And then, that is its strength. The film will haunt long after you have left the theatres, and will continue to remind the viewer what Mumbai went through that fateful night, and how it came back to its feet within three days.

Hotel Mumbai is a grim reminder of what so many innocent men endured that fateful night, but it is also a tribute to not only those who could not survive but also to those who took infinite risks so that others could survive to see the light of the day. I’m going with three and a half for Hotel Mumbai. See it for the sheer gripping nature of its story telling.

Movie Reviewed by Dr. Sambit Begray