As if the title wasn't long enough, this movie keeps on going ad nauseum. Bobby Deol's acting is absolutely pathetic (as is his dancing). I find it absolutely preposterous that this film was advertised as one promoting Indo-Pak friendship. It was completely the opposite. Akshay Kumar spits out very provocative dialogues. Amitabh's reasons for being patriotic are completely absurd and he continuously insists that Bobby join the army. Bobby clearly does not want to join the army and has different desires in life. You can't force someone to do something and enjoy doing it on top of that if they don't like it. Amitabh's character is extremely irritating. What father shoots his son in the foot? Can anyone do something more idiotic? And still Bobby sucks up to him. To top it all of, there are long and crappy songs filled in this film.
12 Reviews
Pure made for entertainment garbage!
jagdevs-18 January 2005
As entertaining as it is ATHWS is just another run of the mile war film with strong pro India messages! What starts out with a fantastic warship scene soon turns out into a hodgepodge of romantic songs love triangles and bits of violent war scenes. the story has some brilliant elements to it. and on the whole the story is not too bad. made well in parts, with some brilliant cinematography. unfortunately Bobby deol does nothing much to impress as his acting is rather flat. the only thing that saves this film is Amitabh Bacchan who plays a brilliant role and is a delight to watch. Danny Dezongpa does a wonderful job too. Not a bad film on the whole but could be a lot better.
A War film ruined by many subplots!
sauravjoshi858 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo is a war film directed by Anil Sharma. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Divya Khosla Kumar, Sandali Sinha, Nagma, Danny Denzongpa, Ashutosh Rana and Govind Namdeo.
Kunal unwillingly joins the army to maintain his family's tradition and soon finds himself fighting ruthless terrorists who want to destroy the peace and harmony between India and Pakistan.
This film can't be classified as an outright war film as the film has many subplots woven around the war and the subplots of the film makes the film a clumsy, mediocre and predictable mess. The film has love triangle which could've been and should've been avoided, a one sided love story running parallelly to it. A character forced to join army unwillingly and has a change of heart at the end, terrorists plotting to infiltrate a devotional Hindu sacred pilgrimage, a senior officer gets caught by Pakistan and had to do a fist fight with a Pakistani army officer to get himself and other POW freed and finally trying to end the film on a happy note of Indo-Pak friendship which was unnecessary and unwarranted. One of the most senseless aspect of the film is that it seems that the soldiers in the film were more interested in dancing and singing instead of making war strategies which is a must have prospect of any war film, while the film is filled with their dancing and singing the scenes making strategies were very limited to negligible.
Acting in the film was decent to average to bad. Amitabh Bachchan had done many such roles and didn't looked effective and looked mediocre, Akshay Kumar was decent in his acting but his dialogue delivery looked forced upon, Bobby Deol was very impressive, Divya Khosla Kumar was terrible and wore the same face throughout the film, Nagma was decent but looked little misfit, Sandli Sinha was impressive. Danny, Ashutosh Rana and Govind Namdeo were average with Ashotosh Rana looked monotonous considering he is one of the most supremely talented actor.
Songs of the film were decent to good and screenplay of the film is cliched, predictable and boring. The climax of the film also looked predictably boring.
I didn't have any strong reason to recommend anyone to watch this film. Watch only if you wanted to.
Kunal unwillingly joins the army to maintain his family's tradition and soon finds himself fighting ruthless terrorists who want to destroy the peace and harmony between India and Pakistan.
This film can't be classified as an outright war film as the film has many subplots woven around the war and the subplots of the film makes the film a clumsy, mediocre and predictable mess. The film has love triangle which could've been and should've been avoided, a one sided love story running parallelly to it. A character forced to join army unwillingly and has a change of heart at the end, terrorists plotting to infiltrate a devotional Hindu sacred pilgrimage, a senior officer gets caught by Pakistan and had to do a fist fight with a Pakistani army officer to get himself and other POW freed and finally trying to end the film on a happy note of Indo-Pak friendship which was unnecessary and unwarranted. One of the most senseless aspect of the film is that it seems that the soldiers in the film were more interested in dancing and singing instead of making war strategies which is a must have prospect of any war film, while the film is filled with their dancing and singing the scenes making strategies were very limited to negligible.
Acting in the film was decent to average to bad. Amitabh Bachchan had done many such roles and didn't looked effective and looked mediocre, Akshay Kumar was decent in his acting but his dialogue delivery looked forced upon, Bobby Deol was very impressive, Divya Khosla Kumar was terrible and wore the same face throughout the film, Nagma was decent but looked little misfit, Sandli Sinha was impressive. Danny, Ashutosh Rana and Govind Namdeo were average with Ashotosh Rana looked monotonous considering he is one of the most supremely talented actor.
Songs of the film were decent to good and screenplay of the film is cliched, predictable and boring. The climax of the film also looked predictably boring.
I didn't have any strong reason to recommend anyone to watch this film. Watch only if you wanted to.
Done to death 10 years ago
silvan-desouza31 March 2009
There was a time when Anil Sharma made a career doing films like GADAR and many more
But today times have changed
But he is still stuck in those days when patriotic lines against PAK were given claps today they get only slaps
The film is so much primitive that it is boring
The entire PAK references.etc are done to death and comes at the wrong time
The love triangle is boring and the culmination is stupid
The scenes in the jail between Danny and Akshay are contrived and Akshay delivers his lines as if talking in a stage play or saying a poetry there
The film fails to hold your attention cos it has nothing attention grabbing
How many times has Bachchan played such roles post 2000?
Direction by Anil Sharma is nothing great Music is okay
Akshay Kumar doesn't have much to do but play the larger then life hero he played many times and say one liners every time He is decent Bobby Deol is good Amitabh looks bored and repetitive Nagma is a miscast Divya Khosla is bad Sandali is efficient Ashutosh Rana has a clichéd role, Danny is good
But today times have changed
But he is still stuck in those days when patriotic lines against PAK were given claps today they get only slaps
The film is so much primitive that it is boring
The entire PAK references.etc are done to death and comes at the wrong time
The love triangle is boring and the culmination is stupid
The scenes in the jail between Danny and Akshay are contrived and Akshay delivers his lines as if talking in a stage play or saying a poetry there
The film fails to hold your attention cos it has nothing attention grabbing
How many times has Bachchan played such roles post 2000?
Direction by Anil Sharma is nothing great Music is okay
Akshay Kumar doesn't have much to do but play the larger then life hero he played many times and say one liners every time He is decent Bobby Deol is good Amitabh looks bored and repetitive Nagma is a miscast Divya Khosla is bad Sandali is efficient Ashutosh Rana has a clichéd role, Danny is good
Weirdness unlimited
ekpalkajeena15 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Never mind the jingoistic tone of this movie. I actually like the way the pakistanis are portrayed because its true to history but why do they need to embarrassingly thrown in good-guy-pakistani scenes which hardly relate to the overall film just to try and pass it off as a friendship film? That idea would have actually been wicked if this film wasn't such a piece of cinematic trash. The battle scenes are horrible and worse than I could imagine. They reminded me of pakistani war films. Its a shame that they cant get stuff like this right even in 2004! There are too many songs that show up for no reason and they suck too. There are a few lines of good dialog and maybe 1 or 2 scenes which are good including the ship sinking scene in the beginning. The Amarnath attack scene would get points for originality if not for poor execution. You utterly wont believe what happens in the end - the pakistani officer initially a bad guy who tortures one of the heroes in a PoW camp, throws himself in front of the same guy when hes getting shot at and saves him. Lame! LAME! LAAAAMMEEE!! And you thought Amitabh shooting his son in the leg was unbelievable? This film is mostly a huge embarrassment to the Indian film industry but does have a few plus points.
"Hindustan zinde baad!" that's what you'd be saying if you fell for this tripe CONTAINS SPOILERS
Giani_G26 February 2005
Warning: Spoilers
****CONTAINS SPOILERS****
It wasn't just a little pro Indian, it was all out pro Indian. I felt disgusted watching the lecture the major (amitabh) give kunal (bobby), it went something on the lines of "you should die for your country because its your country" what kind of lame ass excuse is that, haven't they heard of Thomas Aquinas? What ever happened to dying for a cause like freedom, peace or against evil? Even if you haven't, wouldn't common sense suggest that everyone else also has a country and that they might be reciting the garbage you're saying. Also considering the major was Sikh a turbaned one at that (despite trimmed beard and blue contact lenses), he should have known what Guru Gobind Singh Ji had said about war and conflict (which is just about the same as Thomas Aquinas' rules). Other things to note in the film, the general who shot all those innocents at the beginning and later became a terrorist shouldn't have actually survived to begin with as its an unwritten rule that you don't show mercy to those who have surrendered after fighting to the last bullet. Other things wrong with the film are the crappy special effects with the rubber torpedoes and men being pulled away by strings. If you've seen any good war films like "Saving Private Ryan", "Full Metal Jacket" or "Apocalypse Now", you would think the battle scenes are a joke. Also considering how powerful India is with its massive army, artillery and air force, its ridiculous seeing how overwhelmed they are in some of the scenes, when a simple artillery bombardment or air strike could have done fine. Then there's the love triangle (and this was just pathetic, typical love at first site crap) just thrown in for the sake of adding a few forgettable, unnecessary and inappropriate songs to sell some CDs. To sum it up there's nothing new this film does, Pakistani's are monstrous terrorists (ironic as this film's apparent aim was to support friendship between India and Pakistan), Hindustan can do nothing wrong and apparently has the world's support, your only female friends are supermodels, you can do anything if you set your mind to it despite getting blown 15 ft in the air, shot in the leg, standing next to 10 kgs of detonated TNT and getting thrown off a cliff. P.S being Sikh I found it especially weird when amitabhs character was praising Shiva and taking part in the rituals, and bobby's character bowing to a Hindu shrine and trying to run off with Shweta who he hardly knew anyway.
If you enjoy high quality cinema then don't waste your time on this turd. However if you like biased dogmatic ideas about India, coincidences, special effects from 50s B Movies, random song and dance, then this one is for you.
It wasn't just a little pro Indian, it was all out pro Indian. I felt disgusted watching the lecture the major (amitabh) give kunal (bobby), it went something on the lines of "you should die for your country because its your country" what kind of lame ass excuse is that, haven't they heard of Thomas Aquinas? What ever happened to dying for a cause like freedom, peace or against evil? Even if you haven't, wouldn't common sense suggest that everyone else also has a country and that they might be reciting the garbage you're saying. Also considering the major was Sikh a turbaned one at that (despite trimmed beard and blue contact lenses), he should have known what Guru Gobind Singh Ji had said about war and conflict (which is just about the same as Thomas Aquinas' rules). Other things to note in the film, the general who shot all those innocents at the beginning and later became a terrorist shouldn't have actually survived to begin with as its an unwritten rule that you don't show mercy to those who have surrendered after fighting to the last bullet. Other things wrong with the film are the crappy special effects with the rubber torpedoes and men being pulled away by strings. If you've seen any good war films like "Saving Private Ryan", "Full Metal Jacket" or "Apocalypse Now", you would think the battle scenes are a joke. Also considering how powerful India is with its massive army, artillery and air force, its ridiculous seeing how overwhelmed they are in some of the scenes, when a simple artillery bombardment or air strike could have done fine. Then there's the love triangle (and this was just pathetic, typical love at first site crap) just thrown in for the sake of adding a few forgettable, unnecessary and inappropriate songs to sell some CDs. To sum it up there's nothing new this film does, Pakistani's are monstrous terrorists (ironic as this film's apparent aim was to support friendship between India and Pakistan), Hindustan can do nothing wrong and apparently has the world's support, your only female friends are supermodels, you can do anything if you set your mind to it despite getting blown 15 ft in the air, shot in the leg, standing next to 10 kgs of detonated TNT and getting thrown off a cliff. P.S being Sikh I found it especially weird when amitabhs character was praising Shiva and taking part in the rituals, and bobby's character bowing to a Hindu shrine and trying to run off with Shweta who he hardly knew anyway.
If you enjoy high quality cinema then don't waste your time on this turd. However if you like biased dogmatic ideas about India, coincidences, special effects from 50s B Movies, random song and dance, then this one is for you.
It is a Shame
tone_marc26 October 2005
It is a real shame that this movie was marketed as an Indo-Pak relationship building movie. India has every right to make an anti-Pak movie but to market it has a peace movie and to blatantly show just the opposite is a disgrace. The entire movie was a display of how India can do no wrong while Pakistan is a venomous nation with no good. After living in both countries and having ties with neither I realized that both countries do good and do bad.
This movie portrayed that it is all Pakistan's fault and as soon as Pakistan realizes this the two countries could move forward. Contrary to the theme both countries need to compromise in order to progress. I cannot believe how anyone with a decent education could believe such nonsense.
This movie portrayed that it is all Pakistan's fault and as soon as Pakistan realizes this the two countries could move forward. Contrary to the theme both countries need to compromise in order to progress. I cannot believe how anyone with a decent education could believe such nonsense.
ATHWS is a Venomous, Jingoistic flick disguised as a Friendship movie
kazi_zeeshan3 January 2005
Patriotism is supposed to mean love for one's country. But in director Anil Sharma 's films it acquires a new definition and becomes hatred towards one's neighbor. Like his previous flicks, Sharma's latest film, Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo is jingoistic in flavor. The movie is not without Pak bashing and there are dialogues aplenty that insinuate towards Akshardham Temple episode, the Parliament attack and the terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir with continuous reference to Pakistani support to militants. And the funny thing is that the movie is being promoted as Indo-Pak friendship movie. And what does it show in the name of Indo-Pak friendship? the forces of the two countries joining hands in the end to fight militants who try to sabotage the Amarnath Yatra. In truth, ATHWS is a venomous, jingoistic flick disguised as a friendship movie. And it comes in very bad taste in the times when the relationship between the two countries is at an all-time high and the cultural exchange has begun between the people of two nations. The only non-irritating thing in the movie is the romantic track between the three leading characters.
A never-made great movie !
elshikh47 September 2012
Warning: Spoilers
This had the potential of being a war romantic melodrama, with action and love stories, moreover a movie about the necessity of peace between 2 battling nations. Though, it couldn't considerably achieve this or that, falling down a chasm of naivety, making a good disappointment instead!
The secret of this movie's problem is one word: confusion. The script is just confused while doing many things. For instance, is it a movie about peace? With the way the Pakistani characters looked, it isn't. They're mostly shown as fanatic barbarian animals. Even the good one, the soldier who freed the Indian internees, seemed like a traitor more than peace lover. It's obvious that positive, objective, or sane aren't this movie's talents!
Confused comes with another meaning while experiencing the movie's melodrama. Look at the love triangle. It's a classic theme; since (Casablanca - 1942), these stories are being successfully made. This time, it isn't, being anything but solid. For instance, when Akshay Kumar solves the matter, so easily, by going out his wife's life, the drama stops and dies. Notice well that that happened right before the third act; as if to give way to the big rescue-in-the-neck-of-time action scene! That simply made weak melodrama, finished one important line prematurely, and showed a deficient ending. It pushes you to feel that the movie was originally an action which needed any in-between, meaning hastily made love story, to be sold!
Also, it includes heavy amount of naivety. Review with me: Bobby Deol has a she-colleague that loves him, well, what did she add to the story?! Amitabh Bachchan, as the bigwig General, shoots his grandson in the leg, and dares him to tell the truth (imagine if he did!), sure that moment was laughable! Kumar is with a mustache in one scene, then he's without it in another, then he retrieves it in the next (??). Kumar is talking to his wife in a car, and there is a daylight in the background, then it's a dark night, then it's a daylight again; I told you earlier; it is confused!
Deol is undying freak, who survives everything, while he's supposed to be a wimp (how they forgot that this is a good base in comedy!). I believed that he had to die at the end, to be finally a hero who sacrifices for his country, letting his married sweetheart fall in love with her husband again I guess. In anther version, I thought he must give back the sacrifice to Kumar, by martyring while saving him from death (so Kumar's son may have Deol's name later). Well, any other ending should have been better than that forced happy one where everybody is safe and smiling and provocative!
Talking about "provocative" powerfully recalls how the Pakistani soldier, who bombed Deol's friend then got killed by a dagger in the chest, is seen ALIVE and KICKING later?! Or how Kumar was speaking in poetry FOR ALL THE TIME! And how the movie has WHOLE NINE SONGS; actually anybody with common sense of "pace" must agree that this is provocatively boring!
Away from all of these downsides, the character of a coward soldier drew my attention partly as something rarely seen in an Indian movie. The viewpoint towards USA's double-faced policy, or fallacious speech of freedom, said by Bachchan's character, wasn't less rare, giving fair judgment to America's crime in Iraq that not many movies speak it out this way. Kumar's performance goes directly to the top of his "best ever" (very short list by the way!). The dance numbers were huge and dazzling. Most of the songs had good lyrics. The thrilling climactic sequence was very well-made, being better than many of the movie's elements. And it's a delight to watch Bachchan, Deol, and Kumar sharing one screen together.
(Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo) is watchable but confusedly made, ending up as naive entertainment. It's not a perfect masterpiece, or unbearable dud either. Though being average isn't really the issue; it's betraying depressingly the super potential, and the painful feel of never-made great movie.
The secret of this movie's problem is one word: confusion. The script is just confused while doing many things. For instance, is it a movie about peace? With the way the Pakistani characters looked, it isn't. They're mostly shown as fanatic barbarian animals. Even the good one, the soldier who freed the Indian internees, seemed like a traitor more than peace lover. It's obvious that positive, objective, or sane aren't this movie's talents!
Confused comes with another meaning while experiencing the movie's melodrama. Look at the love triangle. It's a classic theme; since (Casablanca - 1942), these stories are being successfully made. This time, it isn't, being anything but solid. For instance, when Akshay Kumar solves the matter, so easily, by going out his wife's life, the drama stops and dies. Notice well that that happened right before the third act; as if to give way to the big rescue-in-the-neck-of-time action scene! That simply made weak melodrama, finished one important line prematurely, and showed a deficient ending. It pushes you to feel that the movie was originally an action which needed any in-between, meaning hastily made love story, to be sold!
Also, it includes heavy amount of naivety. Review with me: Bobby Deol has a she-colleague that loves him, well, what did she add to the story?! Amitabh Bachchan, as the bigwig General, shoots his grandson in the leg, and dares him to tell the truth (imagine if he did!), sure that moment was laughable! Kumar is with a mustache in one scene, then he's without it in another, then he retrieves it in the next (??). Kumar is talking to his wife in a car, and there is a daylight in the background, then it's a dark night, then it's a daylight again; I told you earlier; it is confused!
Deol is undying freak, who survives everything, while he's supposed to be a wimp (how they forgot that this is a good base in comedy!). I believed that he had to die at the end, to be finally a hero who sacrifices for his country, letting his married sweetheart fall in love with her husband again I guess. In anther version, I thought he must give back the sacrifice to Kumar, by martyring while saving him from death (so Kumar's son may have Deol's name later). Well, any other ending should have been better than that forced happy one where everybody is safe and smiling and provocative!
Talking about "provocative" powerfully recalls how the Pakistani soldier, who bombed Deol's friend then got killed by a dagger in the chest, is seen ALIVE and KICKING later?! Or how Kumar was speaking in poetry FOR ALL THE TIME! And how the movie has WHOLE NINE SONGS; actually anybody with common sense of "pace" must agree that this is provocatively boring!
Away from all of these downsides, the character of a coward soldier drew my attention partly as something rarely seen in an Indian movie. The viewpoint towards USA's double-faced policy, or fallacious speech of freedom, said by Bachchan's character, wasn't less rare, giving fair judgment to America's crime in Iraq that not many movies speak it out this way. Kumar's performance goes directly to the top of his "best ever" (very short list by the way!). The dance numbers were huge and dazzling. Most of the songs had good lyrics. The thrilling climactic sequence was very well-made, being better than many of the movie's elements. And it's a delight to watch Bachchan, Deol, and Kumar sharing one screen together.
(Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo) is watchable but confusedly made, ending up as naive entertainment. It's not a perfect masterpiece, or unbearable dud either. Though being average isn't really the issue; it's betraying depressingly the super potential, and the painful feel of never-made great movie.
Love for thy nation
drtanig3 September 2018
It is a well made movie with good acting by all. The love and commitment of a senior army is portrayed very nicely.The love is much beyond the love the love for family.On the other hand the casual attitude of the younger generation and how it changes to that of responsibility and commitment
Really Its Awesome $ No Words $
jdpgupta24 May 2020
Not bad
tigerstar15415 May 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo
When I read the reviews of this film, I thought this film was to be avoided. After failing to overcome my temptation, I watched it. To my surprise, it was not as "Anti-Pakistan" as I thought it would be. The actors ( mainly Akshay Kumar) did a great job.
The Pluses: The topic of Indo-Pak relations. To clarify, the film was not entirely blaming Pakistan because it did make some good points. For example, Sikander Khan (General of Pak) says that Sikhs are more than welcome to visit Nanaka Sahib in Lahore, as he has no problems with Hindus visiting Amarnarth. The climax is a good one, and I hope one day this will happen. Amitabh is great as well as Akshay and Bobby. The scenery of Rajashthan is good. The songs are a great tune especially Hume Tumse Hua Hai Pyar and Chali Aa.
The Minuses: The songs are great, but they come randomly and hurt the films progression. The action seems to fake, as well as the special effects. (The submarine scene in the beginning). The film tends to be melodramatic at times. The camera is shaky too.
Overall, ATHWS is a good movie. Watch with an open mind. Btw, its not saying "India Good" or "pak bad" basically, it's a film advocating for peace and that there are people from both sides of borders that will disrupt it. Let me just say, this film is not lying about sponsoring Indo-Pak relations, it just has a unique way of saying it. 7/10.
When I read the reviews of this film, I thought this film was to be avoided. After failing to overcome my temptation, I watched it. To my surprise, it was not as "Anti-Pakistan" as I thought it would be. The actors ( mainly Akshay Kumar) did a great job.
The Pluses: The topic of Indo-Pak relations. To clarify, the film was not entirely blaming Pakistan because it did make some good points. For example, Sikander Khan (General of Pak) says that Sikhs are more than welcome to visit Nanaka Sahib in Lahore, as he has no problems with Hindus visiting Amarnarth. The climax is a good one, and I hope one day this will happen. Amitabh is great as well as Akshay and Bobby. The scenery of Rajashthan is good. The songs are a great tune especially Hume Tumse Hua Hai Pyar and Chali Aa.
The Minuses: The songs are great, but they come randomly and hurt the films progression. The action seems to fake, as well as the special effects. (The submarine scene in the beginning). The film tends to be melodramatic at times. The camera is shaky too.
Overall, ATHWS is a good movie. Watch with an open mind. Btw, its not saying "India Good" or "pak bad" basically, it's a film advocating for peace and that there are people from both sides of borders that will disrupt it. Let me just say, this film is not lying about sponsoring Indo-Pak relations, it just has a unique way of saying it. 7/10.
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