The Diplomat Movie Star Cast/ Actors: John Abraham as Indian diplomat J.P. Singh, Sadia Khateeb as Uzma Ahmed, Kumud Mishra as a senior diplomat advocate, Sharib Hashmi as a journalist, Revathy as a senior advisor in the Indian government.
The Diplomat Movie Director: Shivam Nair
The Diplomat Movie Release Date: March 14, 2025
The Diplomat Movie Available On: Theatrical Release and (It will be available on the OTT platform Netflix)
The Diplomat Movie Released/ Available In Languages: Hindi
The Diplomat Movie Runtime: 137 Minutes
The Diplomat Movie Critic Review:
Clad in a full black burqa and looking like Kashmiri jihadi Ashiya Andrabi, a young woman desperately seeks asylum and help from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
Is Uzma Ahmed (Sadia Khateeb) a plant, a suicide bomber or a genuine case for humanitarian aid from the Indian Embassy?
Does her story ring true? She’s an educated Indian, job hunting in Malaysia, who fell in love with Pakistani taxi driver Tahir (Jagjeet Sandhu) and took off alone to his country to marry him. Her first impressions despite finding Tahir togged up differently from how he seemed in Malaysia and his insistence that she cover her head right from the airport: “Kudrat ki mehr samajh baithi.” Where did she go in Pakistan? To Buner, deep into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “A place even the average Pakistani would fear to go,” she’s dryly told by Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh (John Abraham) who’s vetting her case and gauging her authenticity.
JP Sir is troubled by flashes of a past experience where the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan was blown up.
But this is the true story of Uzma Ahmed who was escorted back to India.
The might of the Indian state led personally by no less than Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj in Delhi and by JP Singh in Islamabad, to rescue Uzma and bring her safely back to this side of the Wagah Border, may have had its political compulsions in 2017. Perhaps it was an attempt to establish the secular credentials of the government when they pulled out the stops to free Uzma from the clutches of her husband who’d lured her into a captive’s life of abusive rape and enforced nikkah.
As JP uncovers her story, Uzma, the naive mother of a young thalassemic daughter she left behind in India, had walked into a trap. Instead of the understanding, helpful Tahir she’d befriended in Malaysia, she’d landed amidst a sea of captive, burqa-clad women with no rights in a cult-like group of abusive, gun-toting males. Once JP is convinced that hers is a genuine case, he and Sushma Swaraj (Revathi) spare no effort to get her justice in a Pakistani court and bring her back to India as a free woman.
Director Shivam Nair and writer Ritesh Shah use a lot of the local Pashtun dialect which requires a flurry of sub-titles to tell the real-life story of Uzma Ahmed. Shivam-Ritesh attempt relief from the heavy proceedings by putting in a few phone calls from JP’s little son and a bit of banter between Uzma’s Pak lawyer (Kumud Mishra) and his wife. The director-writer team also strew a few lines designed for taalis on this side of the border like, “This is Pakistan, not India where court orders are observed,” and some curious ones like, “Peshe se diplomat, character se nahi.”
After Uzma gets bashed up by Tahir, Shivam films a rape showing it only through Uzma’s eyes as they register the horror of what’s happening to her.
However, small details like how a blade got through the strict security check(s) at the High Commission, are bothersome. And the discomforting feeling that prevails is the inability to consistently feel empathetic towards Uzma. A 28-year-old Indian (not exactly a spring chicken with a failed marriage behind her and a daughter mostly referenced only in dialogue), willingly going alone to Pakistan to find herself in a situation she hadn’t signed up for, her quaking fear of Tahir even when she has the entire High Commission surrounding her, her wide-eyed and continued gasps when Tahir and his gun-toting gang ambush the convoy en route Wagah Border, her utter reluctance to help herself requiring endless buck-up and speak up goading from JP Sir and co, somehow begin to annoy more than engage.
Why are Tahir and gang so keen to get back Uzma when he already has wife (wives) and children at home? The battle to prevent Uzma from going back to India has become an izzat ka sawaal for the Pak men.
With Kulbhushan Yadav’s espionage case lurking in the background, this is a terrific story of diplomatic grit that needed to be cinematically documented. Shivam maintains the authenticity of the story by using real names like Sushma Swaraj, JP Singh and Uzma, and it is a relief to watch a different story. But it would have helped if it had been told with the skill to thrill. Instead, that feeling of having run against odds and achieving an impossible feat doesn’t come with an exhilarating punch.
However, John Abraham has the screen presence to give JP Sir a rock-solid personality with Revathi giving dignity to the late Sushma Swaraj.
The Diplomat Movie – Watch Or Not?: This will fare better as an OTT watch.
The Diplomat Movie Review Score Rating: 3 out of 5 (i.e. 3/5)
The Diplomat Movie Official Trailer:
The Diplomat Official Trailer (Credits: T-Series)
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