With the state-sponsored Operation Green Hunt taking lives on both sides of the divide, this insensitive film seems like a terrible nightmare one hoped one had not seen.
It’s an insult to each – civilians, soldiers and tribal killed in the conflict zone.

Aalaap could have been better if it provided some critical evaluation of the situation by first time director Manish Manikpuri, instead of passing judgment on Naxal politics.

On the upside, Aalaap makes an effort to depict people caught in troubled times. Sometimes – in a shot showing Yadav weeping without words, the blue walls of his humble home bathed in golden gloomy light, in an exchange between Bharti and Anna, in depicting a callous, clueless regime – it does that well. A lot of the time, it falters. But its sincerity helps as does its music. Debutante rock group Agnee’s composed more than a passable score, particularly the number ‘Paaparapa’ which hums away in your mind well after you’ve left the hall. Good job, Agnee – welcome to Bollywood. For the others, there’s still some way out of the woods.

There have been pro-Maoist movies and anti-Maoist movies before this, and while Aalaap doesn’t come anywhere close to those efforts, the least it could have been is — and this is irrespective of what line it took — decently made.