The Tashkent Files

Great film, probably the most I've enjoyed a Bollywood film so far.

'The Tashkent Files' isn't a typical Hindi film, at least compared to the ones I've watched thus far. It takes its time with the story and properly sifts through it, without any songs shoehorned in. I thoroughly felt entertained by it, despite a potentially damaging 144 minute run time.

There are some very good performances from the cast. Shweta Basu Prasad is no doubt the star, she puts a lot of emotion into the role of Raagini. Mithun Chakraborty is extremely likeable as Shyam, he keeps the film moving when the focus comes away from Prasad. Naseeruddin Shah is the most noteworthy of the rest, who are all pleasant to watch.

I had no knowledge of Lal Bahadur Shastri before this, so it was very interesting to learn bits and pieces about this period of India's history - even if it features disputed elements and the usual creative license that films use. I think they tell it very well, with/without the aforementioned.

I watched this on the UK's Zee Cinema channel, who broadcasted a version with a crap tonne of censorship over names, countries, organisations etc. It actually turned into an amusing little game to try and guess what was behind the blur!

In seriousness though, this is most definitely worth a watch.