16 December

How do the heal dealers of Dalai Street escape with robbing Indian treasuries? When was the last time a 'corrupt' Swiss bank account was made public? Who are the middlemen who end up making money from all sides? These are the questions that an ordinary citizen will never have answers to?

These are the questions which are answered in this movie. Loosely inspired from Tehelka scandal and the hawala racket in India, the movie to bore a topic for cinema. Extremely well researched, the movie should have been made with an intention of a documentary instead of a film. Mani Shankar surely is inspired from various videshi flicks but that inspiration is not justified to the Indian junta. Too technical at time, the common man will find it difficult to understand various terms like that for hawala.

16 December is a film about two teams with little time on their hands? The good guys hunting out the bad ones, the bad ones stalking the good ones? It is set in an intense, secretive world that exists under the cloak of everyday normalcy? A world of contemporary criminals who indulge in espionage and e-terror, who are powerful, ruthless, well-equipped and flush with funds. A world where nothing can be taken at face value and all you have is an ever-changing face of evil?

True to life 16 December was made after exhaustive and intense research into secret techniques and practices of sleuths, spies, undercover agents and remote controlled terror organizations. In the film, the viewer sees exactly how intelligence operatives work and how they think on their feet in the pursuit of their elusive quarry. Mani Shanker the director of the film drew upon his real life experience of shooting with the dreaded Harkat Ul Mujahideen in Kashmir, a few years ago when he was shooting a video at the behest of the Indian Government.

This contemporary though has a good concept, logo key yeh nahi palay padney wala.

Cyber Crime is something known to the select audience but if they are targeting the masses then they are making a big mistake.

For the first time in India, a full 25 minutes of film has path breaking digital special effects. Some of these were: 'Digital Plastic Surgery', where digitally grafted facial skin of senior artistes Gulshan Grover and Danny Denzongpa made them look 30 years younger, which the narrative demanded.

One other riveting sequence is the 3-D Laser holograms, using holographic projectors, where a chess game comes to life out of a pillar of light, and morphs into faces of the players. As you step into the National Command Centre you are transported to a remote, underground agency. All around are giant sized screens with live pictures being beamed through satellites positioned on every corner of the earth.

On the acting front only Sushant Singh and Danny are good but rest of them fail to impress.

Cinematography is of a top class but the music of Karhik Raja disappoints. Nahi Chalega.