Refugee (Abhishek Bachchan) is a orphaned young man who lives in a border village and is the adopted son of the village head man Jaan Muhammad (Anupam Kher). He routinely ferries people across the Rann of Kutch into Pakistan and from there brings people into India. In one trip he takes Manzur Ahmad, his wife and daughter Nazneen (Kareena Kapoor) into Pakistan. The young folks bond and eventually fall in love. But the path of love is thorny with a Pakistan Army ranger (Sunil Shetty) and his soldiers, an Indian Army man (Jackie Shroff) and his soldiers, several terrorists and other sundry bad folks getting in the way of their union. There is the usual patriotism, separatism, idealism, villainy etc. that runs through the film. But it is not an out and out Pakistan bash and tries to preach a message of friendship with a clichéd ending when a child is born in the no-man's land area.
The story is somewhat unusual and the movie is visually stunning. The Rann and the desert surrounds frame the most beautiful scenery, and spots of color in clothing from that region. The sets are very authentic. The direction is okay, and dialogs uneven. But the film still manages to engage for two reasons - the lead pair that are introduced in this film actually do show some sparks of good acting. Abhishek is somewhat wooden and pouty, but he still manages to be convincing as the Refugee. Why is he called that? Kareena looks beautiful - young, earthy, and has moments of really good acting. It is inexplicable where she gets money to be in such beautiful clothes, but maybe not fair to question such stuff in a Hindi film! The rest of the cast is mediocre - Anupam, Sunil, Jackie, Kulbhushan etc. The music is very nice, the last song at the Dargah is amazing until it turns into a filmy fest with Jackie and Sunil dancing - cringe worthy! All in all it is certainly good for a one time watch - and one wonders where Abhishek squandered the potential he showed in this film.
