The Terrorist Review: A human angle to a highly debated topic

Making a film on terrorism is a mammoth task, but PC Shekar manages to skillfully handle this subject in The Terrorist. In a refreshing twist, the heroine (Ragini Dwivedi) shoulders the entire film. The plot revolves around Reshma (Ragini), a Muslim, who has lost her parents and brother. She joins hands with a terrorist group and helps them place bombs in three city hotspots: A bus station, crowded market and Metro station.

Director: PC Shekar
Cast: Ragini Dwivedi, Samiksha, Manu Hegde, Ravi Bhat

Before you write her off as a negative character, you learn that Reshma gets involved only because her sister Asma remains in the group’s custody. What follows then is a gripping performance bringing forth her conflict as she tries to be a responsible citizen and prevent violence and bloodshed. 

While the episodes take place between 9 am and 5 pm, the film takes us back and forth through flashbacks from some years ago. The film’s story has been penned by Shekar and his research is evident. Reflecting on terrorism can always get tricky, purely because of the number of people it affects. It only gets dicier when politics is thrown into the mix as well. But the director does a commendable job depicting this on the big screen.

Ragini stands out in all the different shades of her character. She deftly handles the various emotions of fear and pain, and breathes life into Reshma’s role. She is joined by theatre artistes, Manu Hegde, Krishna Hebbale, Samiksha, Ravi Bhat and Pushkar Mallikarjunaiah, who also excel in their roles. 

Music director Pradeep Varma’s background score lifts the film beautifully. Despite the heavy topic, the film doesn’t shy away from using colourful hues and leaves you with some food for thought about terrorism. Plus points to newcomer Sachin SG Holagund for the film’s dialogues. The Terrorist adds a human angle to a highly debated topic and makes for a good one-time watch.