The senior inmates, with the participation and permission of the dreadful Juvenile warden [Naseeruddin Shah], subject the two friends to all kinds of torture to suppress their sense of power.
But not the ones to take it lying down, they start developing a more sinister criminal psychosis, instead of reforming and set on a quest for ultimate power. Set free at twenty three, Vijay [Sharman Joshi] and Yakub [Faruk Kabir] form a gang of teenage boys to rule the slums they were born in. The vicious cycle of life continues.
Does ALLAH KE BANDAY take inspiration from a foreign source? Is it inspired by the gangster flick CIDADE DE DEUS aka CITY OF GOD [2003], as being widely alleged? I would say that the source of inspiration seems more like SLEEPERS [1996], which starred some of the best names in the business [Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt]. But despite the similarities, I must add that ALLAH KE BANDAY is not only well shot, but makes an equally powerful impact. Besides choosing an offbeat subject for his debut film, Faruk has gone a step further and shot it at real locations too and that, very frankly, takes the film to a different level altogether. The film wouldn't have worked had the director erected sets of a reformatory or the slums where crime breeds.
On the flipside, the writing isn't convincing at times. Sharman and Faruk run the show from a dilapidated mansion-like structure in the basti, pushing school-going kids to the world of crime. This is done valiantly, without any fear of law enforcement agencies, which is difficult to absorb. Besides, ALLAH KE BANDAY is dark and like I pointed out earlier, it tries to be as close to reality as possible, in terms of the lingo spoken by the characters or the bloodshed depicted in the film and that could act as a deterrent. Also, the film stagnates in the middle of the second hour, partly because there's not much movement in the screenplay.
Faruk Kabir makes a powerful impact as a storyteller. His handling of a difficult subject deserves brownie points. The sequences in the reformatory are very well shot. Ditto for the sequence when Sharman encounters Naseeruddin Shah, who is now reduced to a life worse than a beggar. There's not much scope for music in the film, but I'd like to single out the background score, which complements the goings-on well. The cinematography is eye-catching. The real locations have been deftly captured on celluloid. Dialogue are power-packed at times.
With a talented cast like Naseeruddin Shah, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni and Zakir Hussain, you expect nothing but the best from each performer. Naseer has limited screen space, but he's dynamic every time he appears on screen. Sharman depicts the intensity very well. In fact, this is amongst his better works. Atul Kulkarni is wonderful, while Zakir Hussain is top notch. Faruk Kabir enacts a pivotal part himself and must say, he makes you sit and notice his talent as an actor. Anjana Sukhani doesn't get much scope, while Rukhsaar too gets less screen space. Suhasini Mulay is effective. The two kids, enacting Sharman and Faruk's parts, are excellent.
On the whole, ALLAH KE BANDAY is a gritty, stimulating and provocative cinematic experience with a flipside: Not many would prefer a dark film about kids taking to crime and felony. Its appeal, therefore, will remain restricted to a niche audience.
Source: Bollywood Hunagama