As the world celebrates Anti-Terrorism Day, television celebrities from Anuj Sachdeva to Nyrraa M Banerji to Saanand Verma urge humankind to stay away from all forms of violence. They even suggest movies or shows that everyone should watch to understand the underlying issues.
May 21 is observed as Anti-Terrorism Day all over. It is observed every year on the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He was assassinated on May 21, 1991. The idea is to inspire everyone to stay away from violence in every form, all sorts of anti-national activities and not get involved in something as dark as terrorism.
The word terrorism creates fear and brings back horrors of loss of innocent lives, and families falling apart. Be it the 26/11 Mumbai Attacks, bloodshed in Kashmir or India-Pakistan border tensions, every single such incident has been a blow to humanity.
On this day, TV celebrities talk about the significance of this day. They also mention the films or shows on terrorism that they feel everyone should watch to understand the situation and what needs to be done.
For me, terrorism means instilling fear, be it at the border or within the country. I believe we don’t even understand if a film based on terrorism is creating fear within people or focused to create their own profits and move on to another project. So, I would not like to name any film. I would be happy to see someone making a film based on the facts and having given the entire profit to that community or shelter for the betterment of the society and not just talking about it in the movies altering reality due to some pressure, and filling their own pockets.
Honestly, most films on terrorism are made from the perspectives of terrorists where they try to justify their acts, which I find a little weird. So I would prefer any Rohit Shetty action film where terrorists are bashed left, right and centre like ‘Zameen’ and most recently ‘Sooryavanshi’. I liked ‘Special Ops’ season one as well.
To be honest, no film on terrorists is a favourite. All such films are extremely disturbing and sad to see so much hatred and torture in people’s minds. I, like millions of others, wish terrorism would be eradicated for good. We all in Mumbai went through 26/11. It was the most horrific experience ever to watch the news non-stop and just feel helpless and all we could do was pray for those who were still alive. The terror they must have gone through still gives me shudders. I watched ‘Kashmir Files’ recently and would like to know why we weren't taught all this in our school? Why only about the moguls and all. I always pray for world peace.
‘Neerja’, ‘The Kashmir Files’, ‘A Wednesday’ are some of the films that we all must watch. Revolution is the key. These films are revolutionary and depict the true issues people face and how these affect many lives. We must understand that no act of terror has done anything good ever.
Terrorism is an evil part of society. I pray people never get into being a terrorist. Be human; be sensitive and have some empathy towards all the living creatures around you. Films and series on terrorism that I feel we must watch are ‘Special Ops’, and I strongly believe it’s one of the finest series made by India where the issue of terrorism has been addressed properly. They have tapped the mindset of a terrorist and also attempted a solution. The Israeli series that I liked watching is ‘Fauda’ because of the story and the realistic treatment of the topic. The performances here are also notable. I just pray to God that nobody ever gets brainwashed into doing something wrong.
‘Dil Se’ is the film I would recommend because it encapsulated everything that cinema is about - love, locales, cinematography, music, story, and direction. And, of course, unforgettable performances by actors Manisha Koirala and Shah Rukh Khan in the film made things all the more realistic.
‘A Wednesday’ by Neeraj Pandey, starring Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah, would be the film. It is a mind-blowing production, and the screenplay is wonderful too. Naseeruddin Shah’s performance is amazing and so is Anupam Kher’s. The film is as real as it can get and makes us understand a lot of things.
Terrorism creates fear in the mind, but that fear is only for some time. That fear disappears after some time. I think everyone should watch ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’. Many real facts have been shared in this film. Music, direction, casting everything was perfect in it. Vicky Kaushal was the perfect actor for ‘Uri’. Everything was so balanced. It teaches a lot of things.