Shoot On Singh Review

Shoot on Sight, the title refers to a contentious, post-9/11 British law-enforcement policy, doesn't make pulses pound in the tradition of a big Hollywood police thriller but instead focuses on the human story and that's what is more commendable.

Tariq Ali (Naseer) is a Muslim police officer at Scotland Yard Commander. Ali, born in Pakistan, is married to an English woman, Susan (Greta Scacchi) and with two kids, is tasked to investigate the police shooting of a suspected Muslim terrorist on the London Underground. Distrusted by both his British superiors in the London police, and his fellow Muslims, he finds his inquiry hampered from all sides. When evidence surfaces pointing to the slain man's innocence, as well as the existence of a terrorist cell operating in his own backyard, Tariq must faces the realization that sometimes the right decision is the hardest one to make.

Shoot On Sight is based on the aftermath of the infamous 7/7 bombings in London and the killing of Jean Charles De Menezes on the London Underground. Carl Austin's screenplay does proper justice to the subject by showing view points of both the sides aptly. The family interplay surrounding Tariq and his clash of values with Westerners, and his patient but increasingly torn wife, played by Greta Scacchi, who is an outsider to their culture trying to blend in has come out superbly.

The film appears a sincerely decent effort by Jagmohan Mundhra whose last film was the Aishwarya Bachchan starrer Provoked. What actually make the film interesting are the performances by Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri who plays the fanatic preacher and dangerous Jihadist Junaid. Greta Scacchi and Brian Cox also lend able support. Gulshan Grover and the beautiful Laila Rouass impress in their cameos.

Handsomely shot, the film strives to be multifaceted without quite reaching the moral and ethical complexities it tries to grasp. At a running time of 1 hour 50 minute it makes for a good one time watch.