BERLIN (Hindi 2023)

The Invisible Wall…

Only Mad Create History, the Wise only Read about them.
-For Ashok Kumar

In Thought Faith, In Word Wisdom. In deed Courage, In Life Service.
So May India Be Great.
-For Pushkin Verma

Cast: Ishwak Singh (Ashok Kumar), Aparshakti Khurana (Pushkin Verma), Rahul Bose (Jagdish Sondhi), Anupriya Goenka (Woman Spy/Agent?), Kabir Bedi (Bureau Chief), Deepak Qazir (JV Raman), Ujjwal Chopra (Kapil Mahajan), Nitesh Pandey (Mehta), Jigar Mehta (Satpal Dhingra)
Director: Atul Sabharwal
Producer: Manav Shrivastav, Umesh Kr Bansal
Production: Zee Studios and Yippee Ki Yay Motion Pictures
Cinematography: Shreedutta Namjoshi
Background Score: Krishna Kumar
Platform: Zee 5

Rating: 4.2/5

Berlin is a movie to be congratulated on it’s clean and simplistic espionage plot without your larger than life action hero executing high end action scenes, high strung car chases or complicated plots of world dominion or lethal agendas regarding the destruction of mankind. The story manages to be relevant even without massive reveals, rather, the events build to an implicit conclusion that lurks around since the very beginning. Berlin has interesting characters, played by a Stellar cast rather than a star studded cast. Berlin covers the self-serving agendas amongst agents who appear larger than life but are just as prone to human errors and the emergence of an unlikely agent without any backing and voice to be heard.

Prior to its release on Zee5 on 13th September 2024, Berlin initially premiered at The Indian Film Festival at Los Angeles in 2023, at The Mumbai Film Festival 2023, The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2024 among others.

The Movie is set in 1993; The old world charm that Delhi was in the 90’s, the erstwhile telephone system of placing trunk calls, the times of writing letters to each other, letterboxes, the cafes, buses and cars of those times serve like props in the movie, enhancing the cinematography and serving a delight to the eyes. But, what is also intriguing to watch is the intelligence workings of those times: the concept of the Berlin Cafe, erected at the center to serve the purposes of business for the different intelligence wings. Business Craft which involved the trade of information.

It all begins with Pushkin Verma being summoned to communicate between an alleged Deaf and Dum Intelligence Agent, Ashok Kumar and The Intelligence Bureau. Pushkin is a simple teacher of sign language, employed in a government school, motivated to pick up the vocation due to his Deaf younger brother. He is considered a safe bet by Jagdish Sondhi to handle sensitive government information due to his non-illustrious background and mediocre credentials. What Sondhi fails to take into account is Pushkin’s stubborn idealism, his innate curiosity and foolhardy attempts at playing detective. Sondhi tries to accommodate Pushkin’s bewilderedness with brief and vague explanations, but it’s an irritant in his plan where he is pressed for time to cover a previous lapse in judgment, for Sondhi seeks a scapegoat either in Ashok or the agents from the Wing: Mehta and Mahajan. 

Pushkin does attempt to push back against both the Bureau and Wings pressure tactics. Tries to warn and safeguard Ashok in his own way while navigating between both the agencies . Though, of course it’s without much success against the more seasoned and expert personnel. Sondhi throws words in the guise of offering advice to elicit reactions from Pushkin. JV Raman is an ace in the wings, who plays some powerful maneuvers to bail out the Wing’s reputation.What Pushkin’s honest and compassionate heart unearths is supposed patriotic government agencies playing to one up each other, covering their missteps and finding ways to furthering their self-serving agendas.

Pushkin and Ashok connect as commoners in a Deaf and Mute box. At one point, even sporting similar bruises.

Underestimated for his supposed lack of abilities, Ashok proves that he is more than capable of carrying out an operation suited to trained intelligence officers. People like Ashok who were forged in the classroom that was the Berlin cafe, who never heard or spoke but observed by picking up scraps in a make-believe world. An unattached and free agent born out of exposure. An orphan, abandoned and raised in a special institute, benched during football games for playing by his own rules; Ashok craves to be seen and heard in his lonely existence.

The narrative is not over arching and does well in avoiding ambiguity with over-convoluted plots, themes or messages while still retaining depth. It is also thoughtful with the mentions of trends of liberalisation, increasing standards of living by mentioning prolific usage of cars, lucrative jobs in MNC’s and moving abroad. Ishwak Singh as Ashok is silently brilliant, while Aparshakti Khurana proves that it’s not just comedy in movies like Stree (Read our review for Stree 2) that he can ace but he can also speak well for the quintessential common man of the 90’s. Rahul Bose is exceptional and effective as the shrewd bureaucrat, diminutive but polished with his pebbled chin and beady eyes. Special mention has to be made to the background score by Krishna Kumar. Played during key moments with different tempos and additional sound effects, it stands out in building and adding to the atmosphere and intrigue.

In the end, all Pushkin serves to be is a temporary shoe-in and the Berlin Cafe is a failure. The place which bred Ashok cannot afford any more casualties or any similar causalties. He proves that, though Deaf and Dum… he is certainly not Dumb. Ashok is heard loud and clear as he sets out to play; his only and perhaps final game ….