“Fuck your prayers. That’s what
started this shit.” One of the characters retorts to the head chef praying for
his guests as they are escorted to a safer place. A hostage recites the Salat at
gunpoint, hearing which the terrorist is not able to shoot her. Tourists and
guests are being shot with a machine gun and their blood splatters like they
were ripe tomatoes being thrown. The gruesome and tragic scenes are the closest
you will get to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The film follows the close
encounter, step by step, that happened on that dreadful night. And watching it
in itself was terrifying and sorrowful; I can’t imagine what the 200 plus
hostages must have gone through as they were rescued. The staff of the five
stars hotel known for its service continued to treat their guests as Gods even under
these dire circumstances. Almost half of the 35 staff lost their lives saving
them.
The cinematography is so good
that it brought back the images I watched on the television 10 years back. I
remember the news channels covering the whole attack showing live visuals of
the Hotel Taj Mahal from the Gateway of India. The progression of the film as
the terrorists scan every inch of the hotel killing anyone in sight is tense
and scary. This is a very different experience compared to, say, a horror film.
There is something fatal, instinctive and depressing about it when human life
seems so fragile at the gunpoint of extremists. The sets of the interiors of
the Taj with the background score make the film so real, it’s as if you are in
the hotel.
Dev Patel gives a great
performance as he adds another jewel to his repertoire of work. But the rest of
the cast including Nazanin Boniadi, Tilda Cobham Hervey, Anupam Kher and the
boys who played terrorist,s match the high standards to make a consistent film of
high intensity.
Rating – 4 / 5
