After delivering two back to back hits in the form of light-hearted comedies Dostana and Wake Up Sid, producer Karan Johar is set to showcase global terrorism in his forthcoming film Kurbaan, which is releasing Friday.
Distributed by UTV Motion Pictures, the thriller is the directorial debut of Rensil D'Silva and stars Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi in lead roles. Om Puri, Kirron Kher and Dia Mirza also feature in it.
"Kurbaan has a deep-rooted love story to it, but it is not a frothy romantic film that we are time and again exposed to. The love story is much deeper here. There is a definite meaning, purpose and reason to it. Also, the film is quite powerful in its own way since it's the voice of moderate Islam," Kareena had told IANS.
Shot in Philadelphia and Brooklyn, it is about Avantika Ahuja (Kareena) who lives in the US and returns to Delhi after her father has a cardiac arrest. While in Delhi, she meets Ehsaan Khan (Saif), a professor whom she marries and returns to the US with.
But soon Avantika realises that she is a pawn in Ehsaan's game as he turns out to be a terrorist who marries her in order to cover his identity. Avantika is kept under house arrest where she also finds out that Ehsaan plans to hijack a flight. One of the passengers on that flight is Riyaaz (Vivek), a journalist.
{{/usCountry}}But soon Avantika realises that she is a pawn in Ehsaan's game as he turns out to be a terrorist who marries her in order to cover his identity. Avantika is kept under house arrest where she also finds out that Ehsaan plans to hijack a flight. One of the passengers on that flight is Riyaaz (Vivek), a journalist.
{{/usCountry}}Shooting for the movie didn't come easy for the actors courtesy sub-zero temperatures in the US.
"Kurbaan was hard work. In fact, the Philadelphia schedule was plain hell. It gets dark there at 4 p.m. Moreover, it's so cold and at minus 10 degrees it can actually get really depressing. Since we were shooting in sync sound, it was extremely difficult to get the pitch and tone right while delivering our dialogues," said Saif.
The actors had to wear layers of clothing to protect themselves from the Philadelphia cold but for continuity's sake, they also had to wear the same clothes in the summer of Mumbai, after the US shoot was over.
Kurbaan has generated considerable buzz but it had its share of controversies too thanks to the secrecy about its title while it was being filmed and then Kareena's backless shot being used for the publicity posters of the movie.