In a socio-political landscape marked by jingoism, it’s an anomaly that a film like The Diplomat exists. In its 137-minute runtime, the most exciting thing that its protagonist, played by a hulking John Abraham, does is drive a woman to safety in a car chased by her abductors.
Throughout the Shivam Nair film, I was waiting for Abraham’s character, JP Singh, India’s Deputy High Commissioner posted in Islamabad, to explode at least once, but the actor-producer resists the temptation with remarkable valor. There’s not one shootout, no fight sequence. In fact, he doesn’t even hold the gun once or give in to hyperbolic, polarizing, clunky monologues. There is no random Nora Fatehi item number either. Who could have thought?
Written by Ritesh Shah, The Diplomat dramatizes the distressing events of Uzma Ahmed’s life as they unfolded in 2017. An Indian citizen, she fell in love with a Pakistani man in Malaysia who lured her to visit him there. Once in Pakistan, he abducted her, forced her into marriage, and sexually assaulted her for days until she duped him to take her to the Indian Embassy, where she pleaded with the government officials to come to her aid.
Sadia Khateeb (seen previously in Shikara and Raksha Bandhan) is earnest and arresting as Uzma, a woman shocked at her own naivety and horrified by the cruel twist of fate. So is Jagjeet Sandhu as her monstrous husband Tahir. Sandhu plays the part with such revolting conviction that he will give you chills. Although gravely underutilized, Kumud Mishra, Sharib Hashmi, and Revathy also make their presence felt in bite-sized roles.
A Hindi film like The Diplomat stands out in a genre so overexploited not because of its merit but its capacity to stay level-headed and unglamorous. In an era of stylized, shouty action-thrillers dominated by Pathaans, Jawans and Tigers, all J.P. Singh does is make a few calls. The chutzpah.
However, this doesn’t mean that the film is faultless. Albeit not an ideal representative, but The Diplomat is a product of the scared times. Like countless others, it too exploits gender violence for audience sympathy, has an unending disclaimer, a mandatory prolonged shot of the fluttering tricolor, a central character that can do no wrong, unnecessary family and flashback arcs, close-ups of severed limbs, and patriotism that often feels manufactured. One might think John Abraham’s turn is restrained, but it takes a lot more than a few smirks and witty jibes for a performance to truly stick. We’ve seen him do better.
The film’s pace or its understanding of international diplomacy isn’t as engaging or watertight as a political thriller based on such a movie-worthy premise that grabbed national attention not too long ago should have been. However, The Diplomat has enough nuance not to paint all Pakistanis or Muslims as evil. In fact, several characters, including Kumud Mishra’s character, play a crucial role in orchestrating Uzma’s safe return home. That’s not high praise but in times as bleak as right now, not blatantly bad is akin to good enough.
