'Children of War'- shocking reminder of brutalities of 1971 Bangladesh liberation war

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New Delhi: Mritunjay Devvrat`s debut film `Children of War` is indeed a great tribute to the victims of the
1971 liberation war between Bangladesh and Pakistan.
As the 150 minute feature film beautifully depicts the atrocities of the war on the large canvas, reminding us of the price that Bangladeshi`s paid to achieve freedom. The film specifically looks at mass genocide and the rape and torture of women, which resulted in many orphans who never knew their real parents. History has it that nearly 3 million people were reportedly killed and about 4 lakh women raped, in a totally barbaric act. Though India`s support to the Bangladeshi liberation movement, led to a direct war with Pakistan, but also enabled the creation of Bangladesh by the end of 1971.

Its cast includes brilliant actors like the late Farooque Shaikh, Pavan Malhotra, Victor Banerjee, Raima Sen, Indraneil Sengupta and Tilotima Shome . `Children of War` depicts how and why absolute power corrupts absolutely. By recreating nerve wracking vividness the horrors of those times when suddenly a whole civilization was threatened with extinction. The film beautifully weaves together few human stories all connected to the 1971 movement. On one side it tells a story of a respected journalist Aamir (Indraneil Sengupt) fighting the war in search of his wife Fida (Raima Sen) who has been packed off to a rape camp by the brutal Pakistan army. While on the other hand we get to see Rafiq (Riddhi Sen) and his sister Kausar (Rucha Inamdar) who on realizing that they have lost all their near and dear ones decide to cross the border and enter India as suggested by their father earlier.

Woven around these two tales we get to see other threads primarily revolving around the liberation movement and also what`s happening in present day Bangladesh. How do all these stories interconnect and what happens to the people in the film is what the rest of the film leads to.

The movie begins with an interview of Indira Gandhi where she is blunt and honest about her thoughts on the developments in Bangladesh of 1971 and this sets the tone for the rest of the film to follow.

Sidhant Mathur`s music and Ishaan Chhabra`s background score also goes perfectly with the film giving it the right punch.

While Pawan Malhotra`s extraordinary acting forces us to hate the character, Raima Sen`s simplicity make us experience her pain. And last but not the least the film also reminds us of Late Farooque Shaikh and again gives us a reason to miss him in the future.

Though Mritunjai Devrat`s ` Children of War` is a hard hitting film, but it manages to create the necessary impact required for such a relevant subject. So for all those cinema lovers who are thirsty for some hard hitting true story, this is the one to go for