The new PVR that opened at Oberoi Mall at Goregaon (E) has opened up an array of movie choices. And to add to that the morning shows are just Rs. 70, which is a steal considering that their morning shows start at around 11:00 am and their regular shows are well at double the amount. So decided to go and watch “Body of Lies” there at 11:00. I reached there a bit early, managed to get the tickets quite easily (I guess there must have been about 6 people for the movie). The mall bore a deserted look, with people streaming in, to open stores and change into their uniforms (Might make a nice topic for a Madhur Bhandarkar film…maybe he can call it “Mall’). Anyway, got an entire row to myself in the theater. The movie was quite good, all round stellar performances by DiCaprio and Crowe. The general plot (from IMDB) is as follows:

Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a covert CIA operative working in Jordan searching for terrorists who have been bombing civilian targets. Ferris uncovers information on the Islamist mastermind Al-Saleem (Alon Aboutboul). He devises a plan to infiltrate Al-Saleem’s terrorist network with the help of his boss back in Langley, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe). Ferris enlists the help of the Chief of Jordanian Intelligence, Hani Salaam (Mark Strong) on this operation, but he doesn’t know how far he can trust him without putting his life in danger. The uneasy alliance leads to a cultural and moral clash between the men.

The narrative is quite intense, with several blink and you will miss the plot moments. The fight sequences were well done, especially the desert chase sequence. As I mentioned, the acting is quite good, but Mark Strong really raised the bar with his portrayal of Hani Salaam. His screen presence, measured cold-blooded menace of his character are amazingly well captured on celluloid.This is a great movie, do watch it if you get the time.