The possibilities of this serviceable thriller are immense but the makers prefer to play it safe and hold back the daredevil in the diplomat's clothing, observes Sukanya Verma.
The Diplomat begins with a disclaimer so lengthy, someone at the press show quipped 'interval' at the end.
Among many, many, MANY things, it makes a point to mention that the movie, which is based on the true story of Indian citizen Uzma Ahmed, is neither a biopic nor a documentary, neither condones nor endorses the views put forward and so on and so forth.
In 2017, Uzma became national news when she sought the Indian high commission's help to get her out of Pakistan.
The media documented her tears, trauma and thank you on television as she sat between then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and then deputy high commissioner in Islamabad J P Singh recounting her story.
There's significant cinematic value to her harrowing experiences and Writer Ritesh Shah and Director Shivam Nair dig into it to recreate the drama, if not the danger.
Searching for jobs in Malaysia, Uzma (Sadia Khateeb) meets a Pakistani national called Tahir (Jagjeet Sandhu) whose sympathetic ways and concern for her thalassemia-diagnosed daughter from a previous marriage make her believe they could have a future together.
On reaching Buner, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan, where Tahir invites her under the pretext of the child's treatment, Uzma -- traveling without her daughter -- discovers he's an altogether different man quite like Sally Fields discovered in Not Without My Daughter.
He belongs to a Taliban-like ultraconservative community and is already married.
A forced nikaah as well as endless episodes of violence on her sexual, physical and mental being compel Uzma to plan her escape as guided by a relative in Malaysia.
Considering the horror she's experiencing, the said relative's dispassionate tone towards her SOS call telling her to contact the Indian embassy as if it's as simple as taking a U-turn from Nariman Point is one of the few bewildering moments in an otherwise subdued thriller.
The other is a subplot involving random phone calls made by the deputy high commission's alarmingly curious son, perhaps, to underscore how little time he has for daddy duties when preoccupied saving Bharat Ki Beti.
John Abraham plays Jitender Pal Singh aka JP with a prim moustache and pecs poking through his crisply ironed slim fit formal shirt but the only action he delivers is a smile and some snark.
Careful not to ruffle the feathers of ISI or ministry of foreign affairs on foreign soil, creating a rapport with its friendlier magistrates, saying it like it is to a supportive boss (a maternalistic Revathy as Sushma Swaraj), leading a bunch of colleagues reassured by his solid governance or taking a politically correct route to protect a young woman from a hellish fate, John meets The Diplomat's expectations with firmness and charm.
As Uzma, Sadia Khateeb portrays the dread and distrust of a wounded figure as crushingly as her desperation.
There's a glimpse of Vidya Balan's genuineness in her intensity that makes her safe return home a cause worth rooting for.
Every time India and Pakistan are in the same frame, one's patriotism and another's punching becomes the norm. But the makers insist on seeing a humanitarian side to the conflict instead of a Indo-Pak clash.
'Woh ek alag behas hai', The Diplomat insists.
It's not always true.
The mandatory kohl-eyed men across the border are inevitable.
Not to mention a foreboding Ashwath Bhatt as Bollywood's go-to actor for pestering Pakistani parts (Mission Majnu, Raazi) acting like a perennial spoke in the wheel.
But the higher ups in the ministry of foreign affairs and Islamabad's high courts are regular professionals guided by sense not politics. At the heart of it, it's Pakistan fighting Pakistan to help India.
Except The Diplomat has picked a side and slyly declares its one-upmanship at any opportunity.
'Diplomacy aur deshon ke saath chalti hai, yahan pe hamesha ice skating,' explains JP.
It's one of his better argued opinions as opposed to the usual patronising tone and one-sided nonk-jhonk.
There are several sides to the story woven around this Bharat Ki Beti, which as on the nose it may sound is exactly how it was phrased by the government and media. But The Diplomat wants to focus purely on the gritty and glorious bits.
And so retired Indian navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, sentenced to death by the Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism, is mentioned in passing but speculation finding loopholes in Uzma's account are omitted as is Pakistani media coverage.
The possibilities of this serviceable thriller are immense but the makers prefer to play it safe and hold back the daredevil in the diplomat's clothing.
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