Movie Review: War Chhod Na Yaar

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Movie Review

War Chhod Na Yaar

Cast: Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan, Jaaved Jaffry, Dalip Tahil, Mukul Dev, Sanjay Mishra, Manoj Pahwa

Directed by: Faraz Haider

Review by: Faisal Saif

Ratings:  *  *  *  *

When we talk about War Comedy, You are reminded of Bosnian director Danis Tanovic’s war comedy No Man’s Land which had won the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film, the same year when Aamir Khan’s Lagaan was also competing for the honour. Debut director Faraz Haider’s effort being touted as India’s first war comedy.

A War is about to be declared in merely two days and we have a T.V Channel reporter Roop Dutta (Soha Ali Khan) covering it “Live” from the Border. On the Indian Side, We have the Captain Rana (Sharman Joshi) and on the Pakistani side we are equipped with Captain Qureshi (Jaaved Jaffry) and Captain Khan (Sanjay Mishra). There’s an Afghani Taliban (Mukul Dev) who wants to enter either India or Pakistan to explode his wannabe Missile. There are Four Important people who could ignite or stop the War. American President, Chinese President, Indian Minister, Pakistani Minister (All played by Dalip Tahil).

Performance wise, Sharman Joshi is very convincing as an Indian soldier trying to keep his and his army’s spirits high in the face of violence. Jaaved Jaffery is another actor with another bravura act as Sharman’s colleague from the other side of the firing line. Soha Ali Khan as a television journalist modelled on Barkha Dutta (Any child can guess this) gets into the satirical spirit with ease. Special mention to the versatile actors such as Mukul Dev as an Afghani infiltrator, who gets it wrong each time. Mukul’s accent and comic timing are fodder for the funny bones, Sanjay Mishra and Dalip Tahil in a role never seen before.

Faraz Haider debuts as a Writer and Director with War Chhod Na Yaar. Faraz may not be a technically brilliant director, But after watching his debut, I am confirmed that he is a master story teller. Special mention to a scene where a Pakistani soldier in the film rues the fact that his maternal family is on the other side of the border in India while his paternal side of the family resides in Pakistan and he himself is stuck in no man’s land.

The film’s Music is nothing much to sing about, But the Background Score of the film was good. The Camera Work, Production Values were outstanding constraining to a given budget. Editing of the film was not that cheerful and crispy.

When India-Pak border tensions never seem to cease, War Chhod Na Yaar is the movie everyone should watch. The film is powerful, satirical, spoofy indictment of the disputing equation that the two the two nations share.

War Chhod Na Yaar is an amazing comedy with a strong content and message and definitely deserves a watch.