An Apt Reply on a Wednesday. Review on Wednesday

Bollywood looks incomplete without its usual tadka or taste of love stories, item numbers, fashionable outfits, exotic locales as well as doses of humour and action wrapped together in a single movie.However, there are certain movies which are completely out of the main realm of Bollywood movies.'***A Wednesday'*** is a movie which fits into the offbeat category.It may lack the ingredients which normally make a Bollywood film attractive or interesting but as you follow from the first scene till the very end, it is a sure thriller.

**Plot:-*** The movie begins with ***ACP Prakash Rathore(Anupam Kher)*** self narrating certain events which took place sometime ago.The next scene focuses on a man played by ***Naseeruddin Shah*** who walks into a police station to lodge a complaint.He somehow manages to slip the handbag which he carries with him into the washroom, which make the audience suspect that something seems fishy. Sometime later, he walks into a building under construction and after unveiling the complex network of Laptops & mobile/telephone system as part of a master plan to rock the entire Mumbai police force, he calls up ACP Prakash Rathore informing him that he has set up bombs across 5 locations in Mumbai and if his demand of releasing 4 terrorists from local prisons are not met, the bombs would explode, killing countless innocents.Rathore and the entire force get frantic after repeated calls from this man and he sets up 2 of his best officers, ***Jaisingh(Aamir Bashir)*** and ***Arif Khan(Jimmy Shergill)*** in order to trace and hunt down the man. Meanwhile, a young budding journalist named ***Naina Roy(Deepal Shaw)*** is busy covering local news of a man, named'Electric baba' recently after he survived despite being electrocuted for almost 15 mins to an electric pole.Naseer calls her up and asks her to head to Mumbai police headquarters to cover an important event in her career.She rushes to cover the news while news channels across Mumbai are telecasting news of the supposed bombscare and release of 4 terrorists from Indian prisons. Later, after a lot of drama involving other criminal/terror suspects, orders are given to take the 4 terrorists to the given locations as per the caller's plan. The remaining part of the movie is a sure twist of tales unveiling what is the real motive behind the man and the  intention behind putting the law and order of Mumbai under grips.

**Overview:-*** A Wednesday is a total surprise package as compared to the other action/thriller/mystery flicks.It has an element of surprise/suspense/mystery which would keep the viewer glued to the movie from start to end, quite bringing about the same kind of emotions one goes through during a crucial cricket match, involving your favorite team. Althought fictionalized, but it is inspired by the July 2006 train bombings that rocked Mumbai city and it even has a reference to the event.One would wonder as to what is the real motive or intention of the man who is threatening to kill countless innocents if his goal of releasing 4 dreaded terrorists is not met. What would be the end result of all this fiasco.I would not reveal the entire truth since that would destroy the fun element in watching the movie.

**Direction/Performances:-*** Director ***Neeraj Pandey***, the brains behind the script and direction has done an excellent job of bringing about a unique story as well as actors who have justified their respective roles in the movie. It captures people's attention despite the lack of glitz, glamour, item songs, music, exotic locations, etc. It has been produced by ***Ronnie Screwwala, Shita Bhatia*** and ***Anjum Rizvi.**

Coming to performances, the star attraction of the show would definitely be ***Naseeruddin Shah***, playing a middle aged but unknown character who manages to shock the Mumbai police force and hold it in firm grip until his agenda(which is a surprising twist) is fulfilled in the end.His role portrays a contrasting image of what was shown from the beginning to a change of character in the end.Following him is ***Anupam Kher, ***who although did not stereotypically portray the image of an ACP, but somehow did justify his role, especially in dealing with the unknown caller. ***Jimmy Shergill*** as the tough cop ***Arif Khan*** was striking enough, mainly in scenes where he had to beat certain criminals and a cop black and blue.***Aamir Bashir*** as Inspector ***Jaisingh*** was ok in his role, although not as good as expected. **Deepal Shaw** tried to appeal in the role of a budding journalist and did it quite well.

Other short performances such as ***Gaurav Kapoor*** playing a film actor, ***Snehal Dabbi*** playing the ***Electric Baba*** or the guys playing the four terrorists were quite good.

**Awards and Nominations:-**

A Wednesday has been nominated as well as awarded for several categories such as ***Best story, Best Director, Most promising debut director, best Editing, Best actor.******Neeraj Pandey*** followed by ***Naseeruddin Shah*** gained most of the awards.