Mohit Raina and Dia Mirza came up with a web series based on militancy in Kashmir, titled Kaafir. For the uninitiated, Kafir is a term in Urdu which means a person who is against the basic principles of Islam. By what we’ve understood so far by watching the show, the term Kaafir has been annotated to Vedant Rathod (Mohit Raina) who chooses a difficult path of defending a Pakistani woman Kainaaz (Dia Mirza).
He develops a humane bond with the mother of one daughter, which turns him against his own folks. The direction has been handled carefully by Sonam Naira and the screenplay was done by Bhavani Iyer, who is better known for Raazi. The story is a real one dating back to 2005. ZEE5’s Kaafir has highlighted how the Indo-Pakistan disputes which are majorly fuelled by the politics of both the nations, have affected adversely the lives of the commons.
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Guns and grenades cannot deter Vedant’s integrity
Vedant, a lawyer-turned-journalist never faze away from standing for truth. When he was sent on a covert mission to record a militant’s demand to the Indian government, he cannot help but counter question the latter. This did compromise their mission to some extent putting lives of around 50 civilians at stake, but Vedant asked what was needed to be asked. Vedant aka Mohit Raina’s sudden shift from a duty-bound journalist to a fierce Hindustani was a hair-raising moment in the show Kaafir. This reflects how polished an actor Mohit Raina is and how accurate were the makers of Kaafir to cast him as Vedant.
Kainaaz’s struggle with the archaic mentality of men
Is infertility only a woman’s fault? Is it anyone’s fault? Unfortunately, even in modern India and Pakistan, infertility is always blamed upon a woman. Kainaaz Akhtar (Dia Mirza)’s happy marriage is also burnt down by such archaic mentality. The very episode changes the course of her life forever. Not wanting to pile upon her parents, Kainaaz escapes her home only to be found in India as a ‘militant’. Thousands of such women are either abandoned by their families or are butchered in inhuman ways. Kainaaz’s story resonates with countless such women around the world. Dia Mirza lives perfectly to her character.
Vedant puts everything on stake for humanity
The connection between Vedant and Kainaaz is divine. Despite being from the opposite sides of the LOC, both of them develop a soul-to-soul connection with each other. Vedant risks everything including his career just to stand for humanity. Overlooking the fact that his own brother was killed by a militant he advocated, he agrees to fight for justice for the woman who might be a militant herself. But the trust he shows in her story is commendable.
The cinematography carefully done by Pratik Shah ethereally captures the beauty of Kashmir as well as the chaos that inhabits the valley. The daunting background score does service to the show but the only drawback of the show is the first few episodes done away to tell the story of Vedant. However, the show catches pace from the second episode itself.
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