Nomad Movies Pvt. Ltd.’s Sameer (UA) is the story of a young engineering student from Hyderabad, who is picked up by the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and used as a guinea pig to track down a terrorist.
A bomb blast in Hyderabad kills several people in the city. The ATS swings into action and spreads out in the city to arrest terrorist Yaseen Darji who is presumed to be behind the bomb explosion. Not able to nab Yaseen, the ATS arrests Sameer (Zeeshan Mohammad Ayyub), his room-mate in the hostel. Sameer pleads not guilty but ATS chief Vikram Desai (Subrat Dutta) and his men torture him a lot. Finally, the ATS officers are convinced about Sameer’s innocence.
But rather than letting Sameer go scot-free, Vikram Desai decides to use Sameer to track down Yaseen. As per the plan drawn out by the ATS, Sameer enters Yaseen’s house in Ahmedabad where his mother, Mumtaz Khala (Seema Biswas), lives alone as both, Yaseen and her other son, Shahid Darji (Chinmay Mandlekar), who is also a terrorist, have left home. Sameer wins Mumtaz’s confidence after initial problems and begins to stay in her house under some pretext, having introduced himself as Yaseen’s friend.
Soon, Sameer meets Yaseen’s brother, Shahid, and joins him as a rookie terrorist after winning his confidence too. Shahid informs Sameer about the impending serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and includes him as one of the persons in the plan to carry them out. There is a journalist, Alia Irade (Anjali Patil), who is a crusader of sorts. Yaseen has been in touch with Alia over emails. He had also sounded her off about the ensuing Ahmedabad bomb blasts.
With the information at hand and with Sameer as his informer, Vikram Desai is now all set to nab Shahid Darji and then Yaseen Darji.
But then, something goes terribly wrong on D-day, pouring water on the ATS’s plan of action to nab the terrorists. Who is manipulating whom? Who is above board and who is a crook?
Karan Vyas has written an interesting story which keeps the audience thoroughly engrossed and also entertained. Besides, it gives an insight into how the ATS and power brokers use opportunities and people for their own gains. Karan Vyas’ screenplay is brilliantly written and keeps the viewers asking for more. The drama unfolds very effectively and often takes the audience by surprise. The climax comes as an enjoyable surprise and leaves the viewers gaping in disbelief. Karan Vyas’ dialogues are real and impactful.
Zeeshan Mohammad Ayyub lives the role of Sameer and delivers a stunning and totally realistic performance. Full marks to him for his splendid performance and for never once going overboard. It is a delight to watch his facial expressions and body language, both of which he uses to advantage. Subrat Dutta is terrific as ATS chief Vikram Desai. He is so believable that it would appear as if he is actually from the ATS. Anjali Patil is supremely natural as journalist Alia Irade. She makes her character fully believable. Seema Biswas underplays wonderfully in the role of Mumtaz Khala. Chinmay Mandlekar leaves a mark as Shahid Darji. Manoj Shah is lovely as the power broker, Bahubali Mehta. Alok Gagdekar (as Manto) has his moments. Abhishek Shah makes his presence beautifully felt in the role of ATS officer Parmar. Jay Bhatt (as ATS officer Dave) and Mitra Gadhavi (as Alia’s associate, Kedar) are adequate. Master Shubham Bajrange makes a confident debut as Rocket; he is quite endearing.
Dakxin Chhara’s direction is excellent. The film is also a fine satire in a way – and the director handles the sensitive subject with a lot of care. Pankaj Awasthi’s music is appropriate. Lyrics (Piyush Mishra, Vipin Hero and Neeraj Rajawat) are appealing. Sharaaz Khan’s background music is effective. Gargey Trivedi does an impressive job of the cinematography. Ravin Karde’s production designing is very fine. Ashish Mayur Shah’s editing is crisp.
On the whole, Sameer is a very well-made and well-enacted film which offers good entertainment. Unfortunately, it has been promoted and released very poorly, as a result of which people aren’t even aware of the film! As such, it will go largely unnoticed and flop at the cinemas despite having merits.