The Bollywood film "The Diplomat" features John Abraham as J.P; Sadia Khateeb as Uzma; Kumud Mishra and Sharib Hashmi as important actors in the cast, with Shivam Nair as the director.
The Diplomat showcases a fictional document that revolves around the bilateral relations of two Nations that were actually part of the same civilizational ethos. The only element that sets apart the nonchalant narrative is its layered motif. The initial scenes of juxtaposed artillery training on one hand with that of a tightly secured Embassy office on the other, give us a cliched start to the dual forces in action. The duality of the plot mutates faster than expected when a third force takes precedence. The sudden outburst of the victim along with an instinctively risky co-operation on part of the duty bound officer roll out the humanitarian tracks of the narrative which finds further prominence as the script progresses. The minimalist approach of the mise-en-scene gives it an emotionally restrained appeal, the subtle background scores favour the characters by adding a touch of realism espousing the dangerous monotony of everyday challenges that shadow operators go through. Unlike other spy classics the film deliberately chooses not to incorporate a “rat and mouse chase framework”, perhaps beginning from a point of damage and desolation, where the only options are to get a safe passage back or be hunted down.
The film takes us on a creative journey into the finer nuances of diplomacy and other aspects that complete it. The charm of the film is rooted in its approach of engaging with the audience on the level of questions rather than a level of suspense. The questions are exemplified by the various challenges the protagonist JP(played by John Abraham) faces that predominantly takes him off from his regular espionage craftsmanship and forces him to act towards a situational development he has previously failed in. This time he is more intense, that gets gravely represented by his restrained body language coupled with a stoic demeanour. The drive that the protagonist ushers is the singular force that handles a sensitive situation in organizing a successful plan overcoming all odds brilliantly. JPs tactful dialogues fit in well with his on screen makeup that evidently emphasizes the excessive usage of dye on his hair and moustache, presenting us with a subtle existential mask that operatives get habituated to.
The ostracized Uzma ( played by Shadia Khateeb) is the archetypal force that convincingly catalyses the intentions of JP thereby compelling him to keep aside his benefit of doubt and take up the humanitarian side at once. The third force takes over the narrative completely at a point when Uzma clarifies her stand point to the press, engaging in the media war thereby merging the humanitarian agenda with that of a National interest. On one hand we have the Indian government seeking to provide justice to its citizen who was kidnapped and tortured on the soils of Pakistan, on the other hand we have a nexus of patriarchs grilled on the low flames of radical Islam forging an alliance to take down their common enemy. The shades of barbarism are sketched on the levels of their access to law and order of the state. The kidnappers are portrayed as carnal creatures who live a life of deceit and female subjugation at the behest of obliging with their religious duties as a man. The security officials are layered with a sense of defeat and disgust propelling them with a deadly desperation to harm Indians at any cost, at times twisting the law in ways that go unpunished. The security state apparatus of Pakistan is carefully exposed in this fictional documentation of a real incident.
The ideological fulcrum of the film is fixed a step ahead in the clout of Love Jihad ecosystem, the concept that revolves around toxic radicalized islamic belligerents manipulating Sanatani women in order to trap them into an abusive form of marriage that would yield them a place in heaven after death. It takes us deeper as to how innocent Indian women fall prey to lecherous males of other Nations belonging to the same faith. The film deconstructs the psyche of an Indian muslim woman who seeks refuge in the cold embrace of a Pakistani taxi driver, in exchange for her daughter's treatment. The cords of the civilizational tendency is orchestrated with much clarity when the entire Indian administration jumps in to save her daughter who had fallen prey to a fringe element of the state sponsored terrorist network.
Overall the film addresses several important aspects on matters related to women's rights, gender equality, theocracy, benevolence, righteousness, swadharma and the geopolitical divide. The Diplomat doesn't look to answer them all, rather it triggers the audience to take a deeper look at such matters and how interdependently they occur.