/> Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Dia Mirza, Kirron Kher, Om Puri

Background Score & Music: Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant

Director: Rensil D'Silva

SantaBanta Rating: ***1/2

Wake up Yash Raj & Co. and smell the coffee. Your very own blue-eyed boy Karan Johar and his men are now beating you at your own game. Film after film, K Jo is churning out hits while YRF's list of flops is piling up.

Why?

Because, unlike YRF's new breed of directors, people at Dharma productions are not paying obsequious homage to their patron with their films. They are all making most of the creative freedom, ushered upon them by Johar and in turn set the cash registers ringing for their boss on Friday.

Just like Ayan Mukerji's Wake Up Sid, Rensil D'silva's directorial debut Kurbaan lies far way from the typical Johar territory- often marked by hotties prancing around in chiffon saris with SRK, surrounded by countless junior artists. It is a dark love story of a New York based Delhi girl Avantika (Kareena Kapoor), who becomes a victim of professor Ehsaan Khan's (Saif Ali Khan) 'love jihad'.

After a whirlwind romance, the two tie the knot and move into innocuous Indian neighbourhood in the Big Apple. But everything is not as hunky dory as it seems, Avantika finds it out the hard way from her neighbour in distress, Salma (Nauheed Cysrusi).

What follows next, is a series of incidents that sucks Avantika into a vortex of danger and intrigue. As her life spirals out of control, Avantika realizes that she is just a pawn in Bhai Jaan's (Om Puri) huge game and no one is to be trusted. Not even Ehsaan. Like a true fanatic he does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case.

Now her only hope is Riyaz Masood (Vivek Oberoi) and together they strive to save land of the free from another terror catastrophe.

In his 2 hour 40 minutes long thriller, Rensil clearly demonstrates how wisdom becomes nonsense in the mouth of a fanatic. The antagonists here are not rabid mullahs but the suave intellectuals who are blinded by their hate for the infidels. But one should never judge a religion by its nutcases. So, the 35-minute long chilling climax justifiably puts an end to their nefarious designs and upholds the truth that all extremism in the name of religion is bad, no matter what the provocation is.

Kurbaan is not only high on content but a well-packaged product too. Salim-Suleiman's music and background score adds to the intensity of the film. Anurag Kashyap and Niranjan Iyengar's dialogues are scathing.

The film also sees some of the best performances of the year as well. While Saif as Ehsaan evokes both contempt and empathy, Kareena's Avantika looks clearly torn between her love and hate for him. Vivek Oberoi also makes a grand comeback as an actor in the film.

It goes without saying that Om Puri clearly excels in his part as a mastermind but it is Kirron Kher who takes the cake away from the quinquagenarian actor. It's a big, big relief not to see her playing the loud Punjabi mother for once and that too in a Karan Johar flick. Nauheed Cyrusi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and especially Dia Mirza excel in the cameos.

All in all, Kurbaan is must watch for all those yearning for a sensible cinema. It shows the futility of a fanatic's version of jihad and reaffirms that the most excellent jihad (struggle) is that for the conquest of self.