It’s about an innocent man caught in an unusual circumstance and the unfortunate turn his life takes. It delves into the issue of religious fundamentalism and terrorist activities perpetrated in the name of religion. The remake of the Hindi film Aamir, Aal has Vidaarth plays Aamir, a role which Rajeev Khandelwal essayed with conviction in the Hindi version. But Aal not just falls short in the performance department, but in its overall execution too. The urgency and trauma of the characters and the expediency of the situation fails to match the original.
The screenplay has been tweaked to make room for romance and a different closing scene. Aamir, a professor in a college in Sikkim, finds himself caught in a web and is blackmailed to carry out bizarre instructions. The narration is jumpy. Vidaarth, normally a confident expressive actor, seems out of his elements here, sleepwalking through his role. The moments towards the end are inspiring with a dose of patriotic flavour. Aal captures the physicality of the earlier version, but fails to capture it’s essence.