Hamid is an Indian drama film directed by Aijaz Khan. The film stars Rasika Dugal,[5][6][7][8] Vikas Kumar and Talha Arshad Reshi in major roles, and is an adaptation of the play Phone No. 786 by Mohd. Amin Bhat.[2] The story revolves around a seven-year-old Hamid who learns that 786 is God's number and decides to try and reach out to God by dialing this number. He wants to talk to his father, who his classmate tells him has gone to Allah. One fine day the phone call is answered, and two lives shattered in the strife of Kashmir find a way to be complete again. The film is produced by Yoodlee Films,[9][10] a venture of Saregama. The official trailer was released on 10 October 2018.[11] Global premiere of Hamid was held at the Jio MAMI 20th Mumbai Film Festival.[12] The film went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Urdu at the 66th National Film Awards hosted in December 2019.[13]

Hamid
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAijaz Khan
Written byRavinder Randhawa
Sumit Saxena
Screenplay byRavinder Randhawa
Based onPhone No. 786
by Mohd. Amin Bhat[2]
Produced bySiddharth Anand Kumar
Vikram Mehra
StarringRasika Dugal
Vikas Kumar
Talha Arshad Reshi
CinematographyJohn Wilmor
Edited byAfzal Shaikh
Music byAndrew T. Mackay[3]
Production
company
Yoodlee Films
Distributed bySaregama
Release dates
  • 14 December 2018 (2018-12-14) (Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth)
  • 15 March 2019 (2019-03-15)[1]
Running time
108 minutes[3]
CountryIndia
LanguageUrdu
Box officeest. 0.07 crore[4]

Plot

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Hamid is a young boy of seven, in search of his father who went missing a year ago. He somehow discovers that 786 is Allah's number, makes some combination and finally dials a phone number which is answered. Thus begins a series of conversations with the person on the other line who happens to be a CRPF soldier finding solace in Hamid's innocent talk. Hamid tells him about his father, his teachings and how his absence has changed their lives. Meanwhile, Hamid's mother is not able to make peace with the fact that her husband has disappeared. She is always lost in her grief and is dejected. Hamid tries to learn his father's boat-making craft among various other means to please Allah, in the belief that his father might return someday. Finally, on one of the days, Hamid realizes that his father is dead and would never return. His mother comes to terms with his death on the very same day. In the epilogue it is shown that Hamid finally gets his much-desired red paint for the newly designed boat (probably sent by the CRPF jawan), paints it and sails on it with his mother.

The film denotes how eventually, people learn to deal with tragedies and move on, no matter what, and serves as a powerful depiction of human resilience. What is striking is also the fact that despite being naive, the boy knows the difference between what is right and what is wrong due to his father's teachings, again stressing the fact that we are a result of our upbringing.

Cast

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  • Talha Arshad Reshi as Hamid
  • Vikas Kumar as Abhay
  • Rasika Dugal as Ishrat
  • Sumit Kaul as Rehmat
  • Mir Sarwar as Abbass
  • Bashir Lone as Rasool Chacha
  • Veer Rajwant Singh as Rajinder
  • Ashraf Nagoo as Basheer
  • Qazi Faiz as Beggar
  • Umar Adil as Police Officer
  • Gulam Hussain Barji as Shopkeeper
  • Sajid as Police Constable
  • Shafia as Noor

Marketing and release

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The theatrical release poster of the film was released on 11 February 2019 giving the release date as 1 March 2019.[14] The release date was pushed back to 15 March 2019.[1]

The trailer of the film was released on 10 October 2018. It has 7.3 million views on YouTube since its release.[15]

Home media

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The film was made available for streaming on Netflix in May 2019.[16][17]

Reception

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The Hollywood Reporter finds the film sobering yet hopeful account of compassion emerging in the midst of conflict.[3] Kunal Guha writing for Bangalore Mirror gives three stars out of five and feels that the film successfully managed to subliminally highlight the sentiments of Kashmiris without turning the film into a political statement. He calls it the biggest victory of the film.[2]

Anupam Verma of Firstpost gave the film three stars out of five and stated "Hamid is a beautiful story whose translation to the screen is delivered with wildly different results throughout its run-time."[18] Deccan Chronicle rated 3.5 out of 5 stars and found it to be "A well-told story of human perseverance and frailty."[19]

Writing in The Hindu Namrata Joshi says "Hamid has a simplicity, humaneness and a sense of poise that is profoundly moving."[20]

Accolades

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Award[a] Date of ceremony[b] Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Critics' Choice Film Awards 28 March 2020 Best Writing Aijaz Khan
Ravinder Randhawa
Sumit Saxena
Nominated [21]
Fajr International Film Festival 1–11 February 2019 Trophy and Diploma of Honor for Muhammad Al-Ameen Award Aijaz Khan Won [22]
National Film Awards 23 December 2019 Best Feature Film in Urdu Director: Aijaz Khan
Production House: Saregama India Limited
Won [23]
National Film Award for Best Child Artist Talha Arshad Reshi Won
Rajasthan International Film Festival 23 January 2019 Best Director for Hndi Feature Film Aijaz Khan Won [24]
Best Actor in Hndi Feature Film Rasika Dugal Won
UK Asian Film Festival 7 April 2019 Best Film Aijaz Khan Won [25]
Best Actor Rasika Dugal Won

Notes

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  1. ^ Awards, festivals and organizations are in alphabetical order.
  2. ^ Date is linked to the article about the awards held that year, wherever possible.

References

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  1. ^ a b Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (5 March 2019). "#Hamid gets a new release date: 15 March 2019... Stars a young boy from #Kashmir Talha Arshad Reshi with Rasika Dugal, Vikas Kumar and Sumit Kaul... Directed by Aijaz Khan... A Yoodlee film... New poster: https://t.co/EzLVZeeVW7" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ a b c Guha, Kunal (15 March 2019). "Hamid movie review Aijaz Khan subliminally highlights sentiments of Kashmiris without turning the film into a political statement". Bangalore Mirror.
  3. ^ a b c Lowe, Justin (18 January 2019). "'Hamid': Film Review|Palm Springs 2019". Hollywood Reporter.
  4. ^ "Hamid - Box office collection till now". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  5. ^ "After Manto, Rasika Dugal To Be Next Seen In Aijaz Khan's Hamid". News18.com. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  6. ^ "Rasika Dugal to play Kashmiri widow in Aijaz Khan's Hamid". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Rasika Dugal to play mother in Kashmir-set film Hamid". The Indian Express. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  8. ^ "Rasika Dugal signs Yoodle Films Hamid". India Today. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  9. ^ "Yoodlee Films announces the line-up of upcoming 10 releases". Outlook. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Yoodlee Films announces the line-up of upcoming 10 releases". India.com. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  11. ^ Yoodlee Films (10 October 2018), Hamid | Trailer | MAMI | Aijaz Khan | Talha Arshad Reshi, Rasika Dugal, Vikas Kumar, Sumit Kaul, retrieved 21 November 2018
  12. ^ "Hamid at Jio MAMI 20th Mumbai Film Festival - Jinnions". JINNIONS. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  13. ^ "National Film Awards 2019: Full winners list". The Indian Express. 9 August 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  14. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (11 February 2019). "Yoodlee Films' first theatrical release for 2019 is on its way...  #Hamid releases on 1 March 2019... Directed by Aijaz Khan... Stars the young boy from #Kashmir Talha Arshad Reshi with Rasika Dugal, Vikas Kumar and Sumit Kaul... Poster: https://t.co/EzLVZeeVW7" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. ^ "Hamid - Trailer|MAMI|Aijaz Khan|Talha Arshad Reshi, Rasika Duggal". Yoodlee Films on YouTube.
  16. ^ "Hamid". New On Netflix –USA–. May 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  17. ^ "Hamid". Netflix. May 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  18. ^ Verma, Anupam (15 March 2019). "Hamid movie review: Aijaz Khan's film falters before reaching a cinematic, emotional crest". Firstpost. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  19. ^ Sanap, Mayur (13 March 2019). "Hamid movie review: A well-told story of human perseverance and frailty". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  20. ^ Joshi, Namrata (15 March 2019). "'Hamid' review: Humanity over politics". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  21. ^ "Critics' Choice Film Awards 2020: Hamid In The Running for Best Writing Award With Gully Boy And Article 15". ABP News. 11 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  22. ^ "37th Fajr Intl. Film Festival Concludes with Announcing Winners". Tasnim News Agency. 26 April 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  23. ^ "Hamid bagged best Urdu film and best child actor award at the 66th National Film Awards". Firstpost. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  24. ^ "5th Rajasthan International Film Festival Winners". Rajasthan International Film Festival. 23 January 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  25. ^ "UK Asian Film Festival 2019: Bollywood Gold Sparkles at the Closing Night Gala". Filme Shilmy. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
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