"But it takes a loud noise to open deaf ears."

Rating: 8/10 (26 March 2018)

Not knowing anything about the history of India, I wouldn't know if the story within a story, that is, the sequences being filmed by Sue McKinley (Alice Patten), are historically accurate or not, but the device was an interesting one and served to contrast the difference between the youth of today and those of the 1920's. There comes a disturbing political message as well with the corruption of Indian politicians who line their pockets at the expense of military pilots who die in plane crashes as a result of defective parts. There's an awful lot of stuff being juggled around in the story, and that perhaps is the film's downside, as it takes nearly three hours to tell it's tale, and I found any number of scenes to be superfluous. As in so many Hindi films I've seen, Aamir Khan has a central role, but he didn't seem to stand out as much as in other starring vehicles, like the characters he portrayed in "Lagaan" and "3 Idiots". Funny, but the actor playing Sukhi (Sharman Joshi) reminded me an awful lot of the American actor Ron Palillo who had the role of Horshack in the Seventies sit-com 'Welcome Back, Kotter', so much so that it was a little distracting. The other thing that was distracting, and maybe because I've conditioned myself to look for it, was the ubiquitous product placement that accompanies most modern films you'll see today. In other words, do you think Coca-Cola had enough representation in the picture?