Written and directed by Rahat Kazmi, the film, 'Side A & Side B', which released on April 30 (Friday) on ShemarooMe & Airtel Xstream is roundabout a 2-hour film, full of comedy, action, romance, and drama.
The movie is picturized in the beautiful city of Poonch & Rajouri (J&K) near the India-Pakistan border. Must say, DOP Laxmi Chand has beautifully captured the magnificent beauty of the town through his photographic eyes.
Set in the year 1993, the film shows the time when all modes of entertainment were being banned including radio, television, etc, and no one was allowed to keep such instruments at home. However, even those restrictions couldn't prevent people from pursuing their dreams & passion. The film shows how a budding writer, a cameraman, a struggling actor, and few enthusiastic fans of Hindi films come together to make their own film when they lose all scope of watching one! The movie portrays their journey, struggle, an encounter with cops & extremists, and how they experiment & come up with various ideas and develop or invent techniques of filmmaking. The dialogues, co-written by Gulfam Khan and the script, penned down by Director Rahat Kazmi, co-written by Javid Bandey along with the protagonist Shoib Nikash Shah will make you laugh at some moments while sad in other instances.
Apart from this, the film is set in the background of cross-firing between the government and militants. You'll be amazed to see people 'celebrating' firing! All thanks to the makers of the film, who have turned even that grave situation into a light moment and very beautifully shown the seriousness of the situation along with the life of people living it day in and out!
Shoib Nikash Shah, Raghubir Yadav, Rahul Singh, Priyanka Choudhary, Tariq Khan, Mir Sarwar and Shahid Kazmi had given full justice to the characters they played. Besides, you'll have to watch the film if its title made you wonder as to why it was named, 'Side A & Side B'. There's an interesting story behind that, which comes out in the second half of the film, and revealing that in advance, would mean giving a spoiler!
The makeup has been done by Vivek Prasad Singh while Zeba Sajid is the costume designer. Co-produced by UFI Productions & Mediamark International Corp in association with Alphaa Productions, the film has been produced by Rahat Kazmi Films, Tariq Khan Productions, Zeba Sajid Films & Jitesh Kumar Productions.
Meanwhile, there are also some interesting facts about the film. Before making it to OTT platforms on April 30, the film had won the Best Film Award at IChill Film Festival Philippines while it was nominated for Best Film, Best Director & Best Film Critics at Kolkata International Film Festival. The list doesn't end here! It had run a houseful show at Marche DU Film Festival of Cannes and premiered as the opening film at Leicester Asian Film Festival & as the closing film at Edinburgh Asian Film Festival. Besides, it has also been officially selected by a number of international film festivals.
So, add it to your list if you haven't watched it till now! Internationally acclaimed, it's a film worth watching with family on a Sunday afternoon!
