Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Juana 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.

sumanbarthakursmailbox Sikandar, written and directed by Piyush Jha, is intended as a poignant drama about the lost innocence of children in Kashmir. Despite its best efforts though, the film doesn't quite work because of a rickety screenplay that leaves you with too many questions unanswered.Parzaan Dastur stars as 14-year-old Sikandar, a football-obsessed Muslim kid whose parents were killed by militants in the Valley, and who lives with his uncle and aunt in the Kashmiri countryside now. He's routinely picked on by the bullies at school, and when he stumbles across a discarded pistol one day, he decides to keep it, and begins waving it in the face of anyone who bothers him. A local Islamic militant notices this and befriends the young boy whom he trains to use the gun. Ayesha Kapur stars as Sikandar's school friend Nasreen, who warns him to stay away from the gun and his new mentor, but the kid inadvertently becomes embroiled in a tussle between feared militants, a peace-advocating politician, and the Army. It's the writing, unfortunately, that plays spoilsport here, with poor characterisation coming in the way of your taking this tale seriously. Jha makes cardboard caricatures out of significant characters like the Army officer (played by R Madhavan), the dreaded terrorist (played by newcomer Arunoday Singh), and the peace-trading politician (played by Sanjay Suri), each of whom is saddled with clunky dialogue. While it's admirable that the film doesn't take sides when pointing out where the real problem lies, Sikandar suffers from the sudden shift in tone – it goes from a standard morality tale in its first half to a cheesy thriller in its second. There is also the issue of the unforgivable, over-simplistic climax in which the leads are absolved of responsibility for their crimes. What's more the film's jarring background score and sluggish pace also act as party poopers. On the up-side, Sikandar is memorable for its compelling cinematography of this scenic land in all its lush beauty. But sadly that is not enough to do the trick. Both leads – Parzaan Dastur and particularly Ayesha Kapoor – appear too raw to pull off consistent performances, and the plot holes are too many to ignore. Sikandar may have its heart in the right place, but its other parts needed assembling.It misses its goal by a mile.

devesh pant its very nice movie u can watch this movie more than once This movie is mainly about 'aazad Kashmir ' u can understand the movie through this if u know about that matter. But its contain lot emotion of boy & girl and both r best friend. If u watch movie you also seen that with low budget movie director have done very good job One more thing is very good in this movie is that its very small duration movie, it's end before u get bored , most Hindi movie r too long but this is not that type of movie. u must watch this movie , u must like this movie. its contain of suspense, terrorist, terrorism , etc if u watch this in this we also seen most part of Kashmir how they live etc.. But this movie is much of home type movie rather than hall movie u must watch this movie at home in your TV or PC. don't waste your money in buying ticket

hold-the-sky This is an interesting story i was not expecting the ending. Its set in very beautiful settings of India's lovely region of Kashmir. What I liked was that it was actually less about Kashmir as such, but more of a kind of tale of deception and intrigue - almost like a gangster film - but instead of gangsters - its a young boy who comes across a gun, and terrorists.I actually went as I really had liked the little girl from Black and she was in this movie, and she does a very good job as the boy's friend. I also liked Madhavan, but I think he could have been there more as he is a very good actor. But overall very good performances, especially from the boy who plays the lead. The direction is also very tight - and keeps you on the edge of your seat through the explostions, gunshots, intrigue, and of course the cinematography takes you away in the beautiful region of Kashmir, and into the world of the young hero.I think the story is very interesting and very different from normal bollywood as it tackles a serious scenraio, but in an entertaining way.In terms of problems, I wish more of the day to day life of Kashmir was shown, and other characters also shown, and also some more focus on the football, which is what the hero's dream was - so as to show how hard it is to dream in a place like Kashmir.

Sruti Vaish Normally I would not be attracted to a movie if someone told me it was on Kashmir or whatever, but I went along with a friend to see Sikandar and it was truly a very good experience.From the first scene the story grips you and it kind of becomes a sort of roller-coaster ride filled with the crazy politicians, terrorists, religious leaders and normal people who comprise both the victims and culprits of the problems in Kashmir.What impacted me the most though was the fact that somehow the story is not just about Kashmir. I remember reading about some of the middle eastern countries, and how its so easy to tempt a child into violence, as they have grown up in lives filled with violence, and so becoming an oppressor rather than the oppressed has an attraction. And that was what moved me about the movie. As we've all seen in the traielrs, the movie is about a young boy who finds a gun and who is tempted by the power the gun has to offer - to deal with his bullies, to solve some other problems, etc., and just for that, he is a prime recruit for a Jehadi terrorist group. Something in the news like this we just saw a few weeks ago.. Kasab is another example of a young boy trained into violence.So the story is very interesting about the battles that go on in this world - small inner battles in the boys head, and well as bigger battles where the child is atually the victim of the battles played by the politicians (here very well done by Sanjay Suri, who I loved in Jhankaar beats), military (I think Madhavan did a good job - nice and easy for him as always), and the terrorists. The cinematography is really nice too, though the background music was bit odd at times.I really liked the story of the boy, who could be a boy in any part of Indian I guess - the northeast perhaps where there are other issues of violence, or even a big city with all the tensions we have now. And I liked the thing that the movie was actually very gripping, with us wondering every few minutes where the twists would take us...