[rating:4]

New York is the story of three friends whose lives are changed by the events of 9/11. Director Kabir Khan makes an honest attempt at telling the story of two Muslims entangled in all the injustice that followed the events on that fateful day. He succeeds in making a movie that is not just engaging right thru but since its based on a genuinely different story, gets the message home.

This movie for me is a good example of how a different story should be handled for the Indian audience. The movie seems similar to Khuda Kay Liye but its not fair to compare the two movies. KKL was written for a global audience but NY was intended mostly for the Indian public.

What is great about the movie is how well the movie is shot. Some scenes just took my breath away, some had me in awe of the ability of the director to make a seemingly long conversation non-monotonous. There is this scene in the movie where Irrfan Khan is interrogating Neil Nitin Mukesh, NNM is not a great actor but the scene is shot in such a way that it takes what is the best part of NNM’s acting technique and combines it with Irrfan’s brilliance. For most of the scene we are given a close up on NNM’s face giving priority to his very expressive eyes. Spectacular work!

The songs of the movie are brilliant and well placed in the movie. I had listened to only one song before going to the movie, now I simply love the whole album! Mere Sang by Sunidhi Chauhan and Tune Jo Na Kaha by Mohit Chauhan are simply beautiful.

The movie also has its set of flaws. There is zero chemistry between John Abraham & Katrina Kaif. The love between the two is not the main interest in the movie but the scenes leave a hole in the movie. Katrina Kaif is well cast in the movie but she lost her charm towards the end of the film. Honestly the climax was almost totally ruined by a ton of melodrama. There are cheesy lines in the movie and loads of ‘assumptions’ made to push the story ahead.

Despite all that I think New York is a brilliant movie. There is so many things that are right in the movie that I feel its my duty to appreciate a filmmaker that will most definitely be inching closer to perfection in future movies. New York is movie that falls in the class of Johnny Gaddar, an attempt at something different. If you like Indian cinema you should check this movie out.