Plot:

Avantika Ahuja (Kareena Kapoor) who lives in the US, comes to Delhi to see her ailing father. While in Delhi she meets Ehsaan Khan (Saif Ali Khan), a Delhi University Professor. While Avantika teaches Psychology, Ehsaan is a Islamic Studies professor. Avantika falls in love with a lady charmer Ehsan Khan (Saif Ali Khan). After a brief courtship and marriage, Avantika and Ehsan Khan come to New York, where Avantika has been selected to pursue career in New York University. But her world falls apart, when one day she discovers that whom she loved is a completely different man, a terrorist and terrorism is closer to her than she thought

Overall synopsis:

Ehsan Khan, a suave, sophisticated professors and a charmer who tutors the world on the misconceptions of Islam manages to win the heart of college professor Avantika (Kareena Kapoor) and follows her to New York for her stint with NYU. But in reality Ehsan Khan is a Pakistani, who lost his wife and kid to American excesses, and wants to avenge his loss. One night Avantika discovers that not just her neighbors (a Afghani family headed by Om Puri) but her love Ehsan Khan too is an integral part of a plot to bomb America for its excesses against Muslims.

She accidentally overhears a plan to bomb a plane and tries to alert journalist Rihanna (Dia Mirza) who is going to board the plane. Almost every member of the terrorist sleeper cell including the Afghan family has a sad story of loss and horror that drove them into becoming a fidayeen (suicide bomber). She tries to protest and question her husband, and is in a dilemma between love and hate for a man who is father of her child. Imprisoned in her own house, her only hope is Riyaaz (Viveik Oberoi), an undercover journalist who has his own reason to be on the other side of this war. He is determined to fight the terrorists and derail their plot of bombing America. What happens next should be learnt by going to theaters.

Performances:

Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor manage to bring their real life romance in to reel life. Both have given some passionate sequences with much ease, maturity, restrain and realism including perhaps the longest kissing scene in Bollywood history. Kareena Kapoor’s emotional outburst at the end of the film shows her acting prowess. Saif Ali Khan is unassuming and intense, and plays his part well. Viveik Oberoi has also given perhaps their best performances in recent times with shining intensity in some portions. Om Puri, Kiron Kher and Dia Mirza have given some good performances. Kulbhushan Kharbanda as a fundamentalist character is good in a small role.

Technical Values:

Music by Salim-Suleiman fits well with the ambience of the film story. The ‘Shukran Allah’ and the title track ‘Kurbaan Hua’ in particular are the best. The dialogues written by Anurag Kashyap, gives the film’s protagonists a realistic edge. However, as a flaw dialogues where film’s protagonists talk about Islamic fundamentalism seems to be a rattling from newspapers headlines. The story by Karan Johar tries to give insight into various aspects of the biggest problem the world is facing, terrorism. Cinematography by Hemant Chaturvedi capturing beautiful scenes of Delhi and New York adds to the grimness of the plot. Costumes are just perfect especially that of Kareena Kapoor, Om Puri and Kiron Kher in keeping with religious traditions. Kareena Kapoor shows how a glamorous professor can don the hijab as well as dresses and tights with equal ease. Dresses worn by Saif Ali Khan show him in his usual dapper self.

Conclusion:

The film is rehashed version of the Yash Raj Films recently released film ‘New York’.
The debutant director Rensil D’Silva has tried to tackle a sensitive subject like terrorism with his version. Unlike other films on terrorism like ‘Fanaa’, ‘Aamir’, ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Khuda Ke Liye’, ‘New York’ a good story has not been weaved properly. Even the usual debates about jihad being Allah’s will-versus- Islam being a peace-propagating religion, could have been handled better. How can a stranger enter a terrorist cell so effortlessly, how can an Islamic Studies professor defend 9/11 to a class full of mixed-origin students have not been answered well. Unlike ‘Khuda Ke Liye’  where the filmmaker’s tried to put forward a point, ‘Kurbaan’ is ultimately a `terrorist flick’, where the filmmaker has tried to use Kareena-Saif chemistry to the maximum.