Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Writer/director: Anthony Maras, Icon Film Distribution.
Cast: Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Nazanin Boniadi, Jason Isaacs, Anupam Kher, Amandeep Singh.
A spellbinding true story of compassion and great courage, Hotel Mumbai vividly recounts the 26 November 2008 siege of the famed Taj Mahal Palace Hotel by a group of terrorists in Mumbai, India.
Promising Australian film director, writer and producer Anthony Maras (The Palace, Azadi) boldly revitalises an act of real-life terrorism. He displays a steady command of camera and action that’s palpable in its intensity. The main part of this film is set at the majestic Taj and it’s almost as if we’re walking side-by-side with the survivors and the victims.
Maras and co-writer John Collee indefatigably accentuate the multi-faceted characters of mankind. As the movie starts, we see the Lashkar-e-Taiba jihadists as they make their way by boat to the city’s waterfront, near the Gateway of India monument.
The lens then turns to happily married father Arjun (Patel, Slumdog Millionaire), a surprisingly brave Taj employee, who misplaces his shoes and is sure to lose out on a profitable shift with large tips.
There’s his boss and head chef Hemant Oberoi (Kher, Silver Linings Playbook, The Big Sick), who is proud of the fact that all the guests at the Taj are ‘treated as God’.
Then we’re introduced to a number of VIP guests. There’s a well-to-do family comprising architect David (Hammer, Call Me By Your Name), his wife Zahra (Boniadi, Homeland, who shines in the film), their new-born baby and a heroic babysitter Sally (Cobham-Hervey); and a conceited, womanising Russian businessman Vasili (Isaacs, The Patriot, Good).
Ten men were associated with the Islamist terror group. Over four days, they unleashed gunfire, grenade assaults and fatal attacks, which were aimed at 12 sites across the bustling metropolis, including Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, The Oberoi Trident, The Taj Palace and Tower and Leopold Café. Attacks of such enormity leave you reeling.
More than 170 people lost their lives across the city, including 31 at the opulent Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Hotel Mumbai is an expressively stirring, on-the-edge-of-the-seat thriller that also focuses on the selfless actions of staff in saving the lives of in-house guests.
PS News has two DVDs of Hotel Mumbai to give away to our lucky readers. All you have to do to be a winner is to tell us the year in which the terror attacks occurred in Mumbai. Entries should be sent to [email protected] by next Monday, 24 June 2019. Names of the winners will be published in Frank Cassidy’s PS-sssst…! column next week.
