Saare Jahan Se Accha — A Review

A story inspired by true events?

After a long time, I have binged a good Indian Series. It was so engaging that I finished it in a matter of hours on the eve of our Independence Day.

It is a really fast paced series which keeps the viewer on their toes, cuts through the fluff and focuses on the job at hand. This strategy on one hand doesn’t give you enough to establish an Emotional core of the series but clinically gets the job done with precision.

The Beginning

The story begins with the premise of Indian Nuclear Efforts and conspiracy around the death of Homi Bhabha. After rocket boys I have a new found respect for him. It also talks about how our history books don’t do justice to visionary people who lived and represented our nation. The event of his death was another proof of India’s lack of timely intelligence against the hostile forces and hence led to the formation of RA&W. The beginning of the show sets just the right tone and you are glued right in.

The Story

The show is essentially about how spies of this then new Indian Agency RA&W, tried to stop Pakistan from becoming a nuclear nation in its earlier attempt under the Bhutto government. Though there is evidence that Pakistan was trying to get France to build a nuclear processing unit which was retracted later by France due to pressure from the US. There is no evidence of any involvement of Indian Spy in the process but then this kind of information which never comes out in public.

The Outstanding

What stood out for me was how Pakistani intelligence was given enough agency and respect by roping in great actors and respecting the conflicts they have to go through. In most movies Pakistan is portrayed as pure evil, which thankfully creators refrained from in this case. Moreover, what makes Vishnu Shankar ( Pratik Gandhi’s ) character’s solid protagonist is the fact that he is very human, rather than being a cold and ruthless spy. He cares about his people, not only those who are from his country but also those who are from the opposite side.

The Ordinary

Where the character of Vishnu Shankar breaks though is when it comes to his wife. That I believe is the weakest part of the show. Moreover, during his connection with the journalists he convinced her that she should go against her nation so that it doesn’t become a nuclear nation. At the same time, known or unknown to him, India is planned for a nuclear test in parallel. It felt like a betrayal. Moreover, the logic stands, ours is a democratic country where the government keeps changing, how would ensure a nuclear power is in the right hands at all times. At the end of the day, the person at the top keeps changing.

The Performances

Of course both Sunny Hinduja and Pratik Gandhi were flawless. The actor who stood out for me was Suhai Nayyar — it is a character which is written very well and played even better. At one point he is asked why he ran away before meeting a person where in response his character Raqib tells almost everything true in response to get out of the situation. In my experience if you want to come out of a difficult situation, keep things as close to truth as possible, this strategy always works. A hat tip to the writers. In the ending though he suddenly became patriotic, that was odd and his flashback couldn’t really salvage it.

The Silent Guardians

The story of spies always fascinates me. In the end when things go haywire, three men still plan to stay course and leave their post just to make sure the job is proper — this act always gets me. How can people be so selfless. Kudos to the unsung heroes who could give their everything, including their lives to a cause bigger than themselves.

This is not a great show, but that’s okay. Everyone is doing trial and error in their work. Not every work could be, a work of art — which we are actually expecting from every series and movie today. This was a good try, a lot was left unfinished but quite a lot was managed well too.