A Wednesday!
 | This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. (November 2008) |
| A Wednesday | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for the film | |
| Directed by | Neeraj Pandey |
| Written by | Neeraj Pandey |
| Produced by | Ronnie Screwvala Shital Bhatia Anjum Rizvi |
| Starring | Anupam Kher Naseeruddin Shah |
| Cinematography | Fuwad Khan |
| Edited by | Shree Narayan Singh |
| Music by | Sanjoy Chowdhury |
| Distributed by | UTV Motion Pictures |
Release date | September 5 2008 |
| Country |  India |
| Language | Hindi |
A Wednesday is a Hindi Bollywood film released on 5 September 2008. It was directed by Neeraj Pandey, and produced by Ronnie Screwvala, and UTV Spotboy Productions. The movie stars Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah in leading roles. The music score is by Sanjoy Chowdhury. The movie tells the story of events that unfold between 2 pm and 6 pm on a particular Wednesday—events which do not exist in any record but which deeply affects the lives of those involved. This movie marks the return of Kher and Shah together on screen after a gap of 12 years.
Synopsis
The Mumbai Police Commissioner, Prakash Rathod (played by Anupam Kher) is going to retire the next day and he recalls the toughest case he had to deal in his career. He gets a call from an anonymous caller (played by Naseeruddin Shah) on a Wednesday demanding the release of four militants in lieu of information on bombs that the man had planted in various parts of the city. At first, Prakash suspects it to be a prank call but his doubts are dispelled once he actually finds a bomb planted in the police station right opposite his Police Headquarters. He gets a team of his best men together and taps all his resources to track down the man.
Meanwhile, he comes across Naina Roy (Deepal Shaw), a wannabe TV news reporter who also has been tipped off by the anonymous caller. Time passes without any concrete results on the identity of the caller. Ultimately, Prakash Rathore gives in to caller's demand and puts two of his best men, Arif (Jimmy Shergill) and Jai (Amir Bashir) to hand over the four militants at the Juhu Aviation Base Strip as demanded by the caller.
Arif decides to not hand over one of the militants so as to ensure that all the bomb information can be forced out of the caller. But as soon as they leave the rest of the militants by a bench, they find that the bench is blown up by powerful explosives killing all three militants. The anonymous caller then forces them to kill the fourth (and last) militant and reveals that he (the caller) is a common man who was sick of living in terror and decided to act. They eventually trace him to an abandoned building but everybody in the department is reluctant to catch him as they are pretty moved by the common man's narration about his life and the motive behind all the happenings. But Prakash Rathod goes to the location to find the man coming out of the building. They shake hands and depart. Prakash Rathod spares the common man. Prakash Rathod discusses the issue with the Chief Minister of the state and decide to bury the matter and destroy all records of the episode.
Cast
- Anupam Kher .... Commissioner Prakash Rathod
- Naseeruddin Shah .... The Common Man
- Jimmy Shergill .... Inspector Arif Khan
- Deepal Shaw .... TV reporter Naina Roy
- Amir Bashir .... Inspector Jai Singh
Highlight
 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (November 2008) |
It is very common for any movie based on terrorism to run on the tracks of either mindless violence or start analyzing the cause and the effects of terrorism. This movie is has a controlled approach. Neither has it glorified pain, patience or suffering of common man and police.
The undercurrent of this movie is frustration of a Common Man. This common man had held his peace for long. He had seen blasts after blast and then one day decides to act. Unlike most of the movies, where the protagonist starts a tirade against terrorism after loosing somebody, this Common Man, takes up this responsibility as a Common Man. He has not lost anybody he could name as his kith and kin; still every ‘common life’ lost is his loss. That is the beauty of the story and narration. With minimum and commonly available equipments like one lap top, few mobiles, a portable television and loads of SIM cards, this Common Man manages to keep police with highly equipped police force and media on their toes.
The movie emphasizes that a Common Man may appear as helpless, unfocused and mass. However, the moment this Common Man determines to act, no force on this earth will be able to stop him. It is a beautiful depiction of accurate planning done without any motive of revenge to clean the mess called terrorism.
Reception
A Wednesday opened to highly positive reviews and an excellent critically acclaim. The lead actors,especially Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher were highly praised.. It also collected a high box-office collections and the audience highly appreciated the film. The film groosed in India Rs.9,90,97,532.
Taran Adarsh of [1] gave 4 stars out of 5 saying that-A Wednesday is amongst finest and bravest films in Bollywood and also added It is cinema at its best.
References
Reviews
- Subhash K. Jha, newkerals.com, August 27 2008, "Anupam Kher impresses Narendra Modi with 'A Wednesday'"
- Elvis D'Silva, Rediff India Abroad, September 5 2008, "Watch Wednesday"
- Nikhat Kazmi, The Times of India, September 5 2008, "A Wednesday - Best shot by Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah"
- Gaurav Malani, The Economic Times, September 5 2008, "A Wednesday: Movie Review"
- Rajeev Masand, IBN Live, September 6 2008, "Masand's Verdict: Any day, watch A Wednesday"
- Nikhat Kazmi, The Times of India, September 5 2008, "A Wednesday"
- Nikhil Kumar, ApunkaChoice.com, "'A Wednesday' -Could make your day"
- A Common Man, [2], "'A Wednesday' - A Story of an Aaam Aadmi that gives you the feel of Freedom!. A must watch movie!"