CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Rajesh C The films major instance Direct Action Day (16 August 1946-announced by the Muslim League Council to show the strength of Muslim feelings both to British and Congress) event shown in movie is a good effort to depict the killing of around 4000 people on that day(the overall killing happened due to partition riots is estimated to be 2lakh approximately(could be even between 200 Thousands to 2 Million and stands next to holocaust which cost around 10 Million lives app)) is an shocking information to know for political outsiders like me to understand what India has gone through as a nation. The amount of research gone into this movie is evident(definitely that which is not included might even be more valuable).Even though this movie is a historical fiction, doesn't mean its only for old timers and history buffs. In fact not training the mind to take this sort of movie was one of the reason the film might have failed to reach its deserved acclaim(but indeed was profitable reasonably recently been Tweeted by KH for its 16th anniversary). This movie (and indeed Confluence with Ocean) deserved an Oscar which didn't attain(of course Oscars are very American not international indeed). This story and direction (visuals + conversations(a fine punch "The poor child has not even decided about her god and the ones about vegetarian food and Khyber canal-drama at its best.")) was one of the flawless and prolific effort in Indian films. KH's influence of European and Malayalam movies is the curse and blessing of this movie(and of course his acute sens of drama and eccentric casting where SRK gives his best, a humble man indeed). The silence, pause, slowness indeed is part of the realism which acts as part of the realism and cant be written off. Historical fiction is the best genre because we need not take care of the theme and sense as the history intertwined in the story takes care of itself(this theme been before in Mani Ratnams Bombay and Salman Rushdie's midnight children).Many characters were even based on true story like Mortimer Wheeler, Gandhi(Gandhi sleeping with lights ON told in the movie is interesting to know about his eccentricity indeed proves the depth of research done on Gandhi(and his writing volume is 65000+ papers is an surprise info i heard recently)) etc. The only downside is the language which has many essence and consistency lost in translation.

MartinHafer Before I discuss the film in depth, I want to talk about the distributor of this DVD--Eros Video. Despite the name, it is not a pornographic film company. But, I am less than impressed by their practice of forcing ads upon the viewer. When the DVD begins, it forces you to watch previews (you cannot hit the menu button to skip them). Then, AFTER you finally push the DVD button to begin the feature, it forces you to watch another ad! This is the only company I know which does this. They also do something else which is terribly annoying--they don't bother to caption the songs sung throughout the film! Come on Eros, are you deliberately trying to get potential customers to deliberately avoid your releases and look for other Indian films to watch instead?! I know that because there are thousands and thousands of Indian films out there, I sure will look for those from other companies first.The story is told as a giant flashback by Saketh Ram (Kamal Hassan) and is set in 1946--just a year before India became independent of the United Kingdom. While many in the West may not realize it, this was a VERY scary time in India, as partition into East and West Pakistan and India would help to bring a lot of suppressed hatred between Hindus and Muslims to the surface--and countless people (at least in the hundreds of thousands) would die in sectarian violence. Many more would be forced to immigrate because of this violence.Ram adores his new wife--so much so that his friends think he's a bit henpecked and make fun of him. When, in the midst of the violence that is overtaking his city, he sees a woman being attacked by a crowd he rescues her--but, as the expression goes, no good deed goes unpunished! Later, a crowd of Muslims storms his home--raping and murdering his wife! Not surprisingly, he now hates Muslims and joins a group of extremists--determined to kill as many of 'them' as he possibly can. However, he and his new 'friends' come to hate one person more than anyone else...Gandhi. Although a Hindu, Gandhi calls for peace and forgiveness--which enrages these radicals and he is their number one target....and Ram is their chosen instrument of revenge.You probably noticed my summary in which I called this a fine but brutal film. Now the brutality certainly is necessary--this film is about a very, very violent time in India and I think everyone should know more about this period in history. But it is NOT a film for the young. While it doesn't show the rape occurring (thank God), it has quite a few scenes of shocking brutality. You can't help but flinch at several scenes--I know I did. Plus, this DID make the movie more realistic and hard-hitting---so have some Kleenex nearby just in case. And what is to like about the movie? Well, a lot...that's for sure. To me one of the best things about the film was choosing Kamal Hassan for the lead. He not only did a good job but looked so ordinary--not the larger than life sexy leading man. This 'ordinariness' of Ram and his wife as well made the film much easier to connect with and appreciate. I also liked the story....with one minor exception. Although the film is told through flashbacks, sometimes you can't tell when it's in the 1940s or the present--and that is a tad confusing--as are some of the surreal dreams. But, these are minor complaints, as the overall film is entertaining, touching and informative.For another film about the same period, though told from a different viewpoint, try also watching Deepa Metha's "Fire". I don't think the film is superior to "Hey Ram"--just different and quite touching.

karthikeyan D 1. Concept Handled, 2. Acting of almost all characters, 3. Direction, 4. Scene Making, 5. Reality.In all the above aspects(according to me), this is the Best Ever Indian Film. I don't know how many of them who actually saw the movie understood the various concepts and hidden facts in the movie. Many scenes portray different and multiple views to viewer. One among them is the 'altered/reverse' version of Ramayana which flows throughout the movie till the end. Unimaginable screenplay and Scene Making. The way North and South Indian is shown during the independence period is awesome and hundred percent real. The sharukh death scene is too good...A MUST WATCH FOR ALL INDIANS !!!

Ram Anand I'm from Malaysia and studying films is a part of my academic course. If anything, a film like 'Hey Ram' only makes me feel frustrated because I firmly believe that 'Hey Ram' is out-and-out film school stuff. It should be treasured, appreciated, and studied upon time and again. I would love to get my hand on this movie's script copy. But that is the prejudice and stereotype that Indian films so often suffer from that the effort goes un-recognized. This is underlined by the fact that I had to wait for four years before i could get my hand on a DVD of this movie, so that i could add this to my collection. It is as if the film doesn't even exist in records. Would be an exaggeration to call 'Hey Ram' as a masterpiece? Definitely no. It takes a genius to create a fictional character and fit him so perfectly with what had happened for real during the Partition, make him both a victim and a murderer, also an eyewitness, later portray him as the man who wanted to kill Gandhi but retreated at the end. Ironically, his name is also Ram (the real killer was also Ram). It isn't impactful if your movie is suppose to say Gandhi's a great person and you narration from start to end only shows the positive view of Gandhian principles. But what Kamal has brilliantly done is to sketch a character which is well-reasoned and well-placed to hate Gandhi's principles, make the character feel victimized by Gandhi's ideologies, and later bring the character as close as it gets to Gandhi himself and make the character realize, with the help of his selfless Muslim friend (brilliantly played by Shah Rukh), that non-violence is indeed the answer for the communal riots. I too noticed recently that 'Hey Ram''s cover for an European edition has Shah Rukh completely on it, as if he was the star of the film. Now thats a shame because Shah Rukh was just a guest character and it insults everything Kamal has done for this film. My favourite film of all time this is.