Neha Aggarwal

The film Raazi is different and better from many other nationalism/ patriotic/border/spy films. First, Pakistan is not portrayed as a country of hatred, but just another country fighting for itself. Second, it's not a film of Hindu and Muslim but its completely just about two nations. Thus, portrayal of an Indian, that too Kashmiri Muslim as a patriot is the most needed narrative of today's intolerant times. Third, participation of women during times of war has been eliminated from history, this film covers that up. So, the film no doubt has been successfully able to present a subtle yet powerful discourse of patriotism of a muslim girl. One of the potential strongest moment to take this film into next level was the ambiguity in the conscience of Sehmat creating the disilliusionment. Yet, the film played safe when it came to showing the disillusionment of national boundaries. If the climax of the film was coupled with Rabindranath Tagore's philosophy of Nationalism making the audience deeply question the concept of boundaries, it would have created a more powerful enlightening of consciousness. However, congratulations to the team for the bold theme and powerful narrative.