Courageousness is a trait that all of us hope to house within ourselves, something that we all profess to utilize when situations arise that call for it. The reality is however, that none of us can truly know what our reactions will be should the need arise to display fortitude to press on and persevere in the face of danger or other challenges. Hotel Mumbai is a film based on a true story that displays how everyday people faced with unthinkably pressurized situations stepped up to become heroes and put their own lives on the line to save others whom they barely knew, revealing the power that lies within many of us.
A gripping true story of humanity and heroism, Hotel Mumbai is a retelling of the 2008 siege of the famed Taj Mahal Palace Hotel by a group of terrorists in Mumbai, India which follows not only the hostages, but also the terror cell. During the siege, hotel staff led by renowned chef Hemant Oberoi (Anupam Kher) and including young father and waiter Arjun (Dev Patel) choose to stay behind and risk their lives to protect their guests. Among those guests are new parents David and Zahra (Armie Hammer and Nazanin Boniadi) who are scrambling to survive and protect their newborn child.
What’s most emotionally gripping about Hotel Mumbai is its depiction of heroism, courage, and what both of these traits entail. Too often, our world has caused all of us at one point or another to consider what our actions would be if we ever found ourselves in the midst of a terror attack. Would we brave enough to follow the leads of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 and fight back against those who arrive to do us harm? Would we make decisions that would lead to our survival and that of others around us? Hotel Mumbai powerfully and movingly depicts heroism and courage as choices that are made by everyday people to step outside of themselves and display selflessness and care for other people when they don’t have to. The strongest example includes kitchen staff of the Taj lead by Chef Oberoi deciding to stay behind in the hotel in order to guide their trapped guests to a safe hiding place on a higher floor rather than escape through a back entrance. Similarly, two police officers Kanu (Vitthal Kale) and Vam (Nagesh Bhonsle) take it upon themselves to gather a small group of officers to storm the hotel in an attempt to take down the terrorists themselves despite being outarmed and told to stand down until Special Forces arrive from hours away in New Delhi. Both moments where these employees and public servants decide to make this sacrifice are both touching and poignant, and underscore the film’s theme regarding how everyday people can display heroism after finding themselves in trying circumstances.
While Hotel Mumbai does portray terrorism as the brutal, excruciating bane that it is, the film is decidedly modern in that it still declines to paint terrorists as purely evil caricatures, and instead provides commentary on what may lead a person into participating in the unthinkable. The film’s entire first act not only establishes the events that power its entire plot, but it also serves as a way to juxtapose the duality of the lives of Mumbai’s inhabitants. The audience is presented with abrupt switches between the impending chaos on the streets of the city featuring lower and working class, darker skinned Desis and the opulent experiences of tourists and upper crust, often lighter skinned Desis who enjoy the trappings of the Taj Mahal Palace luxury hotel where the lower and working classes serve them. This juxtaposition that begins the film subtly sets the stage where it can be explained why some of the disadvantage may feel forgotten and hopeless enough to where those feelings can be exploited by zealots who wish to convert the frustrated confusion into violence. This juxtaposition alternates back and forth in Hotel Mumbai until this social strata yin and yang tragically merges.
The plight of the downtrodden is presented as an impetus for radicalization from the very beginning of the film when we first see the gunmen arrive in Mumbai, listening to their leader Brother Bull (Pawan Singh) regale them with propaganda about how the upper classes had stolen their wealth from the forefathers of poorer Muslim Desis, a crime which would be made right by their attack. The gunmen are all young men, which is commented on by Vam when he first sees them on the hotel’s CCTV, and their youthful naivete which made them prime targets for manipulate is organically presented in the film through various pieces of dialogue, whether it be Imran’s (Amandeep Singh) marveling at the grandeur of the Taj or not knowing that veggie pizza contained no pork, or the gunmen’s trust that Brother Bull would still pay their families the money they were promised at the end of the mission. Western media and politicians often present the motivations of terrorists as black and white cases of good and evil, but advocates and leaders invested in stemming the tide of radicalization have noted that the pathways toward joining extremists groups are much more complicated and rooted in economic and social conditions. As much as it may comfort some to believe that bombing or killing the threat of terror will suffice, identifying and understanding the root causes of radicalizing before the seed can be planted and made to bear fruit will be more effective than anything. Hotel Mumbai subtly makes this point while not shying away from the brutality of killing innocents to make political points.
Hotel Mumbai features a large ensemble occupying various locales and circumstances and every featured actor embodies their character and their mindset with great aplomb. Anupam Kher and Nazanin Boniadi are among the standouts as hostages, with Kher excelling as a chef forced into a remarkable level of heroism and Boniadi providing a portion of the film’s emotional pull as a wife desperate to keep her family intact amidst the toughest of circumstances. Amandeep Singh takes the tough task of bringing some humanity to a character that is normally viewed purely in black and white terms and reaches the goal of the filmmakers well. Bigger named actors Dev Patel and Armie Hammer also shine in their respective roles.
Hotel Mumbai is a film that will keep you on the edge of your seat while simultaneously provoking thought and great emotional resonance among audiences. The film is powered by a great story that balances multiple plot threads and an ensemble cast that provides performances that make their characters ones that viewers can feel invested in. The film offers thematic depth that not only explores the heroism that lives within us all, but challenges us to take into account the humanity and motivations of individuals that we would normally write off as irredeemable and unworthy of deeper consideration. Hotel Mumbai is a film that is both entertaining and thought-provoking, combining both to become one of the year’s best offerings.
Image: Bleeker Street
