Fanaa (literally meaning 'destroyed in love') has been one of the most highly anticipated Indian films in recent times, having a star studded cast together with a controversial story line.

The Kashmir conflict provides the backdrop for the film. The plot is based around the relationship that develops between a high profile terrorist named Rehan (Amir Khan) and an innocent blind Kashmiri girl Zooni (Kajol), while the latter is in Delhi to perform for India's Republic Day celebrations. The unlikely couple fall in love, but Zooni thinks that he is simply a tour guide. Torn between love and his desire to 'liberate' Kashmir, Rehan chooses the latter. He fakes his own death just before the couple were about to marry, and leaves poor Zooni, seemingly for good.

Seven years later, wounded to the point of death during an important mission, Rehan stumbles into the first house he sees. And (surprise surprise) this happens to be the home of Zooni. Her sight had now been restored to her by an operation made possible through advances in medical technology. She had never actually seen Rehan before, hence did not recognise him. She takes him in, thinking that he was a wounded Indian soldier. Eventually, he reveals to her that he is in fact her long lost partner. Zooni's first response is anger and confusion, which is hardly surprising, considering Rehan had left her in the lurch for seven hard years. But eventually she accepts him back, and for a while they have a happy family life. But as Rehan's health returns, he has to face a choice whether to continue his life as a terrorist or live with his wife and son. Zooni and her family are loyal towards India, and have no idea of Rehan's 'profession' until the closing scenes.

The film has a slow pace for the first half, and drags considerably. However it picks up considerably in the second half, and the closing scenes are particularly good - packed with struggle, dilemma and emotion, pulled off without being too cheesy.

Fanaa marks the comeback of Kajol, arguably the best actress in India's film industry. She had been on leave for four years due to the birth of her baby girl. It is a good comeback performance for the long absent star. She portrays every range of emotion that is demanded of her challenging role, and even manages to bring some realism into an otherwise unrealistic story line.

The scenery and special effects are well above par compared with most Indian films. It is nice to see that with the amount of money being poured into the industry, something useful is actually being done with it! Incidentally, the film was shot in Poland, because Kajol refused to shoot in the valleys of Jammu and Kashmir fearing terrorist attacks.

On the other hand, there are many stupid and unrealistic bits in the film, which are not necessary to the story line in any way. To mention just one examples, Zooni who was blind and had therefore never actually seen Rehan was asked by police to identify him (when he faked his death) even though there was a doctor who had seen Rehan and who could have easily identified him. And she managed to identify him by a sweater that he used to wear! This is just the tip of the iceberg - there were many stupid incidents like these.

As with any film that has a highly emotive subject as its backdrop, one can always detect some political spin in the screenplay, and Fanaa is no exception. Like me, many viewers will feel that the story line blurs and omits some of the major issues involved in the Kashmir dispute, and provides an apology for terror and terrorists. It gives the separatist argument more space than the unionist argument, the separatist argument even coming from the mouth of an Indian defence expert! It is not that the film is anti-India - it is not. But the one sided pro-separatist undercurrents make me uncomfortable, especially when the 'separatists' in real life carry out atrocities like these.

On the whole, Fanaa is pretty good, though it could easily have been made better with a little more attention to detail.