I liked the movie. It doesn't deserve all the hate it is getting. It remains faithful to the source material while imbuing Indian cultural aspects to the storyline. I was mostly worried about the iconic "Run Forrest Run" scene. And it did in fact fall short. Just goes to show a photocopy isn't as good as the original.
That being said, the movie has its fair share of iconic moments. Instead of the listener being a single person at a time, this version of the protagonist has a consistent number of people all listening intently to the story, a beautiful expression of the Indian culture. All of us siblings, friends and everyone else would gather around the storyteller, since our childhood.
It was hard to accept the character composition Amir had done with the involuntary stammering associated with the way Laal speaks. This is because the child version of the character had none. But in the end, it is acceptable, given he doesn't fall in the normal spectrum. Kareena's acting fell short amidst everything. "That's all I have to say about that".
The choice of replacing the Army Captain with the terrorist seemed to be risky. I was completely against it in the beginning. But by the end, the redemption of the character actually shows how low we have fallen amidst all the conflict in the world. I was showing no compassion, no remorse, towards a man who had been trained and brainwashed to be a killer, asking for forgiveness and redemption. Evil isn't born, but created. Words of our Prime Minister resonated in my mind -- "Not an era for war", PM Narendra Modi.
The Kargil Battle sequence is one of the best war sequences I have seen in Indian cinema in modern times. The cinematography of the movie is epic. The songs could've been limited and just done with some background score. This is one aspect that Bollywood refuses to let go of. Not all movies need lengthy songs. Overall, it was a good one-time watch, and a mediocre remake of Forrest Gump.