Mission Kashmir

Plot synopsis:
Inayat Khan (Sanjay Dutt) is the Senior Superintendent of Police responsible for the security of Srinagar, Kashmir. One day, his young son Irfaan (Yogin Soni) meets with an accident and is taken to a hospital. Unfortunately, due to a fatwa instigated by the leader of a terrorist group forbidding doctors to treat policemen, the doctors refuse to treat Irfaan. Khan angrily threatens to kill the doctors if they don't treat his son, but they still refuse, saying they are willing to die rather than letting their families be killed by the terrorist group. As a result, Irfaan dies, and Khan personally swears to put an end to the threat of the terrorist group. After finding out that the group of terrorists is taking refuge in the village of Dalgate, Khan and his men manage to attack and kill the criminals. Unfortunately, a family is caught in the crossfire, and they are killed as well. A young boy named Altaaf (Mohsin Memon) is the only family member who survives the shooting. He is severely traumatized by seeing his parents and sister dying in front of his eyes and is haunted by the memory of the masked policeman who shot at his family: that police officer is Khan. Altaaf falls unconscious and is jailed by Khan's men, much to Khan's anger, who then berates his officers for placing young Altaaf in jail. Khan's wife Neelima (Sonali Kulkarni), having just lost Irfaan and feeling sorry for Altaaf, attempts to persuade Khan to let them adopt the boy. Khan, despite his fear that Altaaf may one day discover the truth and get revenge for it, reluctantly agrees, feeling extremely remorseful for killing Altaaf's family.
Just when Altaaf seemed to have settled down in his new home and accepted Khan and Neelima as his new parents, he finds Khan's mask and realizes that Khan was one of the policemen who killed his family. After an unsuccessful attempt on Khan's life, the angry young Altaaf runs away and is found and brought up by a terrorist group led by their Pathan leader Hilal Kohistani (Jackie Shroff), who brainwashes him into thinking that he and his men act according to made up Islamic principles and trains him to become a terrorist. Ten years later, Hilal and an adult Altaaf (Hrithik Roshan) are assigned the task of completing "Mission Kashmir," a plan of an unnamed terrorist sponsor that involves — or so Altaaf is told — killing the Indian prime minister. Hilal uses Altaaf's hatred as a means to achieve his own goals, all the while encouraging Altaaf to target Khan (who is now an Inspector General) for his family's death. Altaaf visits his childhood friend and TV personality Sufiya Parvez (Preity Zinta) and, though he falls in love with her and helps her, he still uses her to try and make Hilal's plans (of blowing up the local TV tower of Srinagar on Khan's birthday) successful. He makes another unsuccessful attempt on Khan's life and, in the process, Khan recognizes him and begins trying to track him down, much to Neelima's discomfort, resulting in a fallout between Khan and Neelima. At the same time, Sufiya learns of Altaaf's occupation as a militant, and breaks off her relationship with him, despite knowing that his family tragedy has caused him to go that way. On the same date Atlaaf's family was murdered, Altaaf makes another attempt on Khan by having three of Hilal's men plant a bomb in Khan's briefcase. Unfortunately, this time, Neelima falls victim to it by accident, much to the distraught of both Khan and Altaaf, with the former being unable to apologize for his argument with her and the latter screaming in remorseful agony for killing her.
Eventually, Khan manages to invade one of Hilal's men's hideouts and discovers evidence and information about Mission Kashmir. After going through some cassette tapes with the help of Sufiya, he realizes that Mission Kashmir has nothing to do with taking down the Prime Minister at all: instead, the true goal of Mission Kashmir is to launch missiles on the local Muslim mosque and the local Hindu temple to escalate Hindu-Muslim conflict across the subcontinent, thereby dividing Kashmir and turning it into a war zone. It also turns out that the attack on the TV tower was planned to spread the rumor of murdering the Prime Minister to cover up the terrorists' true goal. Hilal deliberately does not tell Altaaf what Mission Kashmir really is, knowing that Altaaf would not support it and would try to stop it; this is evident when Atlaaf leaves to the swampy hideouts to prepare for the launches, Hilal secretly tells one of his men to keep an eye on Atlaaf, ordering his death if he doesn't consent over the true targets. By staging a fire in the jail that allows one of the bomb-briefcase men to escape, Khan and his men manage to track down and capture Hilal, but they are distraught to hear that Altaaf and the other terrorists have left to launch the missiles, something which neither the police nor the army can take action against, as they still don't have any idea or time to find out where the missiles will be launched. Deciding to play wise on this, Khan offers to make a deal with Hilal: going under the false pretense of allowing Hilal and his men to continue forward with Mission Kashmir in exchange for Altaaf, whom Khan swore to kill. He secretly lies to Hilal that he is more occupied with revenge for Neelima's death rather than doing his job of serving his country. Seeing that Khan's 'hatred' of Altaaf is worthy of a Pathan's duty, Hilal accepts the deal, and to ensure no other mistake will be made, Khan goes alone with Hilal to the missile hideouts.
As Hilal and Khan reach the swamps, Hilal tells Altaaf of Khan's whereabouts. At that point, an enraged Altaaf starts attacking a weary Khan to exact revenge for his family's murder. While doing so, Khan reveals to him the true goals of Mission Kashmir, stating that Kashmir will be turned into a hell. Having had enough of listening to him, Altaaf attempts to shoot Khan in the head. Khan, expressing his dear love for Altaaf and remorse for killing his family, is willing to accept his fate, but begs Altaaf to stop Hilal and his plans. As Altaaf struggles to do it, he then remembers that he once knew about the shrines Neelima took him to and the comment Neelima said about choosing sides during her visit earlier. Unwilling to betray his mother, Atlaaf decides to put his plan of revenge aside and aids Khan into stopping Hilal and his men from targeting the holy shrines. Just as things are about to end, Hilal throws a bomb to distract them before getting shot to death by Altaaf, giving Hilal's men a chance to prepare to blow up the shrines, much to Altaaf's shock. While Khan fights back by shooting several terrorists to death, Altaaf redeems himself by taking possession of a missile launcher and using it to destroy the other launchers and kill the remaining terrorists, thus saving the shrines. Eventually, Altaaf gets shot in the torso, and he falls into the swamps. Khan then jumps in and safely brings the unconscious Altaaf to the shore, evading the explosion of the hideouts caused by Altaaf's act of redemption.
The plans of Mission Kashmir are revealed to the public by the media, and the terrorist sponsor's hideout is found by Kashmiri police, who shoot the sponsor offscreen as he tries to get away after killing two of his associates. Altaaf wakes up from a pleasant dream based on one of the pictures he drew as a child in Khan's house, where he reconciles with Sufiya and forgives Khan, accepting him as his father again after 10 years.

Tags: revenge, murder, violence

Review:
Undoubtedly, this is a very good film from one of our top directors, but Chopra's choice of story to complement the magnificence of every other aspect of his movie, brings the film down a few rungs from Classic status.So first the down-side.
The tale commences with Inspector Inayat Khan (Sanjay Dutt) and his wife, Neelima (Sonali Kulkarni) living in eternal bliss amongst the beauty of the disputed territory.
Altaf (a young Hrithik Roshan), is orphaned and traumatized in the police act, and Neelima insists Inayat and she adopt the young child to fill the void in their own lives.
He joins forces with Hilal Kohistani (Jackie Shroff), a materialistically minded terrorist, who will help the bachcha in exchange for Altaf spear-heading Hilal's treaturous Mission Kashmir, a plan to enable Kashmir become an Independent State.
(Yes, terrorism is undoubtedly a problem in the region, but other recent directors have already tackled this topic numerous times in Roja, Maachis, Dil Se, Hu Tu Tu and most recently, Fiza.)  So if you can forgive the familiar story-line, you're in for a major treat elsewhere.
Of course, Binod Pradhan's cinematography of each and every breath-taking crevice of Kashmir helps demonstrate how we South East Asians are destroying one of God's greatest gifts to mankind.The editing is sharp and quick in The Matrix-inspired action sequences, yet soft and transitory in the more dramatic and emotional moments of the movie.
(The dances are unique, though I will admit I found some of them a bit too unusual to my naive tastes.)   Shankar-Ehsaan and Loy know how important it is to use musical background themes to enhance a scene's mood and punctuate the dialogues.Performances too, are first rate.
(Here's an actor who has learned that it is never too late to defy convention and type-casting in his acting career.)  Hrithik is raw and effective, excelling most in the action sequences (but most will notice how this role is almost an extension of his angry young man act from the recent Fiza.)  Preity Zinta is gorgeous and disarming as always with her natural effervesence in the supporting role of Altaf's childhood love, Sufiya Parvez.
...This movie is not a stereotype bollywood movie,its a mixture of an art movie & a commercial movie,a battle between love & hatred...MK is a DIFFERENT BRICK IN THE WALL..Technically, the film is on par with any Hollywood film with a bombastic climax....It truly gives a picture of the beauty of kashmir & its culture.I know some people feel it has not done that well despite huge commercial expectations at the box office..
but it turned out to be an international blockbuster, ranking among the top 50 rentals in the US and dubbed into most major languages around the world.Mission Kashmir is not an ordinary movie,even Hollywood can feel ashamed in front of such an extraordinary masterpiece with cutting-edge cinematic techniques and state-of-the-art sound direction.
,it is easily one of the finest Hindi films ever with flawless direction, mesmerizing locations, pleasant music,hi-fi special effects and some stunning performances by almost everyone in the cast, this really makes for a great movie experience.Vidhu Vinod Chopra captures the essence of Kashmir so beautifully that by the end of the movie you actually start feeling proud to have such a heavenly place in your country.The movies raises a hope that after all the mishaps that's going in kashmir, there will be peace.
This end sequence would have been less than seen without that great artwork (Old and almost ruined wooden house with lifelike cobwebs and not to forget the swamps),.....excellent cinematography,innovative camera work,beautiful sets and awesome action sequences(one of the best in world cinema)makes this movie an unforgettable classic.The location in the climax shot at the dal lake was mind-blowing,the scene in which the lotus sub-merged was a true portrayal of kashmir under terrorism.Its a realistic movie dealing with terrorism,the weak point is confusing story line if you don't follow it properly & secondly some songs were not required to be there during some parts of the movie.Hrithik was awesome in the movie so as Sanjay and every other actor,Jackie Shroff who was once tortured by the Soviets in Afghanistan now runs a jihad against India funded by two shadowy agents and, behind them an equally shadowy Osama bin Laden look-alike.
Indians should learn to praise such a gem movie instead of copying Hollywood flicks.Mission Kashmir is a masterpiece which can not be made again and again,if it would have been an American movie,it would have surely won the Oscar.Vidhu Vinod Chopra has made a cracker of a film, weaving together an intelligent and responsible film, blending and balancing big action with emotion and feeling, almost perfectly.
MK is not just about bombs ,missiles & guns,it also has flowers,beautiful shikaras,excellent music,religion,innocence,love & romance.If you are a typical masala movie lover,this one is not for you but if you have the creativity and an artistic eye this one is a must watch for you....!
When I saw KHAMOSH, also directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, I thought it was the worst movie ever.
Inayat Khan (Sanjay Dutt) is a Kashmiri cop whose son falls from a second-story window by accident.
He attempts to murder his foster father and runs away.Years later, an ex-Mujahiddin Pathan radical terrorist named Hilal (brilliantly portrayed by Jackie Shroff) is in search of a brave soldier to help him in his jihad and in a top secret mission code-named Mission Kashmir.
Who else does he pick, but his "baccha" (child) Altaaf (Hrithik Roshan)?Along the way, we meet the beautiful and playful TV reporter Sufiya Pervez (Preity Zinta).MISSION KASHMIR is no ordinary action movie.
The special effects of MISSION KASHMIR are extraordinary and the music and songs are the best I've seen in years.
One can take a look at his eyes and realize that this man is a fanatic.If MISSION KASHMIR were an American film, it would receive the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actor (Hrithik Roshan), Best Actress (Preity Zinta), Best Director (Vidhu Vinod Chopra), Best Supporting Actor (Jackie Shroff), Best Supporting Actress (Sonali Kulkarni), Best Music, and Best Special Effects.Simply an outstanding film.9.5 out of 10.
It is simply a masterpiece on Kashmir's terrorism problem....the indians should feel proud of such movies which give a completely different and awesome cinematic experience.The cinematography is simply superb,action sequences are amazing,emotional touch is realistic n acting is natural.......the music is soothing,...the only prob with the movie is that some songs were not needed but since its a bollywood movie,songs needed to be there for commercial values.....if this movie was made for US viewers it definitely should have got Oscar........
Mission KASHMIR is simply a masterpiece in Indian film history..!.
The story of MK is about a Altaf, a small boy orphaned by masked police men headed by a dedicated officer, Inayat Khan (Sanjay Dutt) when they kill Altaf's defenceless family during a firefight with militants.
Altaf is brought up by famed guerilla fighter Hilal Kohistani (Jackie Shroff) and returns to the beautiful valleys of Kashmir 10 years later to perform the top secret 'Mission Kashmir'.What makes this is a great film to watch is its technical brilliance and good performances by its actors.
Sanjay Dutt has given an outstanding performance in the film, supported well by Hrithik Roshan, Jackie Shroff and Sonali Kulkarni.
Sanjay Dutt proves his versatility with this film and so does Hrithik Roshan.
Sonali Kulkarni, in her cameo role, has done a pretty good job, stressing the fact that if there are good roles in Hindi films, you can expect good performances.
The action scenes are the one of the best I have seen in Hindi films and the film is technically sound.
Parinda, Khamosh and 1942: A Love Story) Vidhu Vinod Chopra does a great job once again.Overall, this film is a welcome break from other Hindi action films.
Although it did not do as well as expected at the box-office, I believe "Mission Kashmir" is worth watching!.
It's an impressive and enjoyable movie set in the valley of Kashmir and once again dealing with the ceaseless conflicts between India and Pakistan.
The story follows a young boy named Altaaf who is adopted by Inayat Khan, a police officer who unintentionally killed his entire family while trying to eliminate terrorists right after the death of his son.
Finding refuge in a terrorist group led by Hilal Kohistani, Altaaf grows up to be a deeply tormented and angry young man who decisively wants to kill the man who killed his family and whom he himself considered to be his own father.Mission Kashmir shows how crucially tragic events happening at times of a war affect the lives of children and their perception of life, all through the character of Altaaf.
Well, the movie still could rise above these flaws with its technical brilliance and interesting story, and above all, many great scenes.
Hrithik Roshan is wonderful in some scenes and over-expressive in others, but overall is well cast in the role of a tormented young man, which he plays with sincerity and style.
To sum it up, Mission Kashmir is one entertaining and well made film which, in spite of its flaws here and there, manages to move and impress.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra's direction is very good, and so is the film's message.
It has great performances of Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan and Jackie Shroff...
Great visuals as u have in all VVC (Vidhu Vinod Chopra) films...
The end sequence, the fight between Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt...
Surely one of the best movies made on Kashmir after "Roja".
He looks good, he dances well, and yes he can act as well (surprised, well....trust me its true!!!!)......apart from him, I think Sanjay Dutt has given the performance of his life.
(Then again, Jackie always steals the scenery in Vinod's films.) But, the real surprise package of the movie is Sonali Kulkarni.
I don't know if this was her first movie or not, but it surely was the first time I saw this amazing talent act on the big screen.
(9.5 out of 10) "...a great film dealing with terrorism in Kashmir; a complete family entertainer...".
"Mission Kashmir" is a film that is sure to entertain and make it to the top of the charts!
Hrithik Roshan early in his career proved that KNPH was not a fluke..Awesome performance...Movie tells a story of how messy is Kashmir issue and best part of the movie is the cinematography ..
Music is superb too.Performance-Sanjay Dutts best role till date after Vaastav..Preity Zinta was good too .But the man himself Hrithik Roshan is simply brilliant.The movie released at a time were Dulhan hum Le Jayenge ,Kuch Kuch Hota Hai ,Mohabbatein were the genre that people preferred ,but this movie remains superb in comparison to even to days 200 Cr films..Highly recommended...
I decided to continue my phase of watching Bollywood movies which I have not seen in a while and I stumbled upon Mission Kashmir , although I try to avoid very sensitive subjects regarding this the issue of Kashmir and the way Bollywood has a reputation for portraying Muslims these days I had decided to put these views to one side and view this movie and to my surprise it was nothing what I had expected it to.
The movie also wasted no time in getting under way with plenty of twist and turns and some good dialogue and truly some moving scenes and not to mention the fact that it was beautifully shot giving us the flora and fauna of Kashmir and the grim , ugly depiction of war.
The acting from nearly everyone was up to scratch including Hitrik Roshan who I felt was a little cheesy and mousy at times but he carried him-self well, my only complaints were that the songs in this one were a little too long and that caused the film to drift a bit and I felt the Islamic terrorists were well again a little tooo clichéd as if Bollywood has been watching Hollywood a too much.
And I think the movie is a true neutral view of the Kashmir Situation.Good job!.
Its use of cutting-edge cinematic techniques and state-of-the-art sound direction marked the arrival of Vinod as a fully international-caliber feature film director.
This is the best Indian movie on terrorism in decades...the IMDb employee don't understand the power of this cinematic masterpiece,that is why so less points for this movie,it should be easily more than 8.0......I am amazed that a total cheesy movie like Khakee has 7.4 in IMDb but not Mission Kashmir..
with flawless direction, mesmerizing locations, pleasant music and some stunning performances by almost everyone in the cast, this really makes for a great movie experience.
Sunjay Dutt's role as IG Inayat Khan is one of the best performances of his career.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra captures the essence of Kashmir so beautifully that by the end of the movie you actually start feeling proud to have such a heavenly place in your country.
the story revolves around a boy(hrithik roshan), whose family was killed in a terrorist encounter by the IG of the state(sunjay dutt).
It turns out it is about a man's personal journey through life, and how he dealt with the murder of his mom and dad.Hrithik Roshan was outstanding from the start, and this film was different than any ones that he has done.
The climax was shot on Dal lake and it is simply stunning, one of the best cinematography I have seen in world cinema, it often happen that we don't give much credit to movies made outside Hollywood in this regard but by watching movies like this one realizes how wrong is that.
Mission Kashmir is a brilliant movie on terrorism & its influence on lives..
I think Vidhu's other work is pretty overrated and Mission Kashmir is actually very underrated!
But over the years I have come to appreciate the real essence of the movie, and that is the one and only Sanjay Dutt!
No one could have pulled off the character of Inayat Khan as well as he did!This movie is amazing and deserves a lot more credit then it gets.
Sanjay Dutt's acting in it is terrific, his performance in this movie always moves me to tears.
The character is portrayed brilliantly, and even though Sanjay Dutt did win some awards for it, I do not think this movie and his acting in it got it's credit.
Beautifully shot, technically brilliant, way ahead of any bollywood commercial release of the time when cheesy, done to death, over-dramatic, content less movies like Mohabbatein used to rule the box office.
Mission Kashmir was the third highest grossing movie of the year 2000 but the best in terms of content.
Music was great and Vidhu Vinod Chopra's direction was superb..
"Mission Kashmir" is Hrithik Roshan's third film, and, as far as I'm concerned, his worst so far.
His performance is good, but one can not avoid to compare it to his Amaan in "Fiza", and the comparison is not favourable for "Mission Kashmir".
0? Massively unrealistic ending - plot and character development - non-existent and it's the first Bollywood/Hindi movie I've ever seen when I fast-forwarded through all but one of the songs.
Rent Yaadein if you want to see a great film w/ Jackie Shroff and Hrithik Roshan.
India has had 60 years to ponder about Kashmir and director Chopra has not handled the in-depth part but has gone for the modern Hollywood ethic of getting a hit that makes money.
Mission Kashmiri proved weakest on that important message, and so remains a superb action film to be seen for the other reasons so well noted by your reviewers..
Minor SpoilersIn Kashmir, Inayat Khan (Sanjay Dutt) is the supervisor of the police, married with the Hindu Neelima (Sonali Kulkarni) and having the beloved son Irfaan (Master Yogin Soni).
Ten years later, Altaaf (Hrithik Roshan) becomes a terrorist, raised by the Afghan killer Hilal Kohistani (Jackie Shroff), and comes back with an assignment against Kashmir and a personal vendetta against his former father and presently Inspector Khan.
Although having a production of films greater than in Hollywood, movies from Indian 'Bollywood' are not common in Brazil.
I agree with the comment of another user, who wrote that if 'Mission Kashmir' were an American movie, would be indicated (and even awarded) in many categories of Oscar.
Mission Kashmir is one of my favorite movies!When Altaaf, 11 years old, stays orphan after a violent attack to his house,he is adopted by Inayat Khan, a generous official and for his dear wife Neelima, whose only son died in a tragic accident.Everything is going well,until Altaaf discovers that the man he calls ''dad'' is also the boss of the special group that tragically killed his family.Angry,Altaaf runs away from home ,and grows under Hilal Kohistani cares.
:-( Anyways, the film revolves around man, SSP Inayat Khan (played by Sanjay Dutt), whose son falls out of a window while under the watch of his wife (played by Sonali Kurkani) and is seriously injured, frantically they both try to save the boy's life by looking for a doctor all through the city but none can be found and those they did actually find were unwilling to operate on the child due to a gag that has been imposed on them by a terrorist leader (played by Jackie Schroff).
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is one of the best filmmakers we have, Mission Kashmir was a Diwali Release alongwith Mohabbatein and Hrithik who was a heartthrob after KNPH was released though FIZA didn't get much attraction.
Mission kashmir is again like Fiza A terrorism film but treated differently The film starts well with Sanju loosing his son and running pilar post, Jn Hrithik shooting Sanjay Dutt and then after 10 years the older Hrithik shooting him in the office are brilliantly handled, Jackie's introduction is well handled, though the terrorism angle could be more elaborate.