Grab a ticket to the Big Apple

New York never had it so easy. It doesn't matter if the film doesn't boast award-winning actors or that Kabir Khan's directorial skills have yet to be proven since the 2006 Kabul Express debacle.

As the dust settles in the aftermath of the Bollywood producers' strike, New York is the first big release in eight weeks, ensuring a bumper opening for this Yash Raj Films production as a cinema-starved audience makes a beeline for the box office.

Khan cashes in on the 9/11 terrorist attacks, looking into the prejudices faced by Indian-Americans when xenophobia takes centre stage.

Based on true accounts (or so says Khan), New York is a story about three friends whose lives are ripped apart when the FBI profiles one of them as a terrorist.

Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is the new kid on the block, a country bumpkin of sorts who has just won a scholarship for the prestigious New York State University. He lands in the Big Apple from Delhi and soon finds friends in the American-born Sam (John Abraham) and Maya (Katrina Kaif).

Life couldn't be rosier for the trio, until an undercover FBI agent, played by Irrfaan Khan, profiles Omar as a terrorist. As the friends come to grips with this, Sam becomes an innocent victim of the FBI's cowboy routine by virtue of association.

The torture sequences will probably have men in the audience crossing their legs in pain, but Abraham surprises everyone with his stellar performance as an MBA?grad whose life is ripped apart in one shattering moment. As the layers of his character are slowly peeled away, anyone who has personally been affected by 9/11 will feel his trauma. Abraham and Mukesh share great on-screen camaraderie, with the latter star moving from strength to strength in just his fourth film. Lending credibility to Omar's character, Mukesh proves he's not another star son with a pretty face.

Kaif, however, still needs to polish up her act. Things are easier for the star this time around considering the role of an Indian-American is tailor-made for the actress who grew up in Hawaii and has tutors to help her master Hindi.

Kabir Khan clearly has matured as a director, handling a difficult story with sensitivity, without sounding too preachy.

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