Deewar is a humane saga depicting the plight of Indian prisoner of wars held in custody by Pakistan. The film gets its inspiration from the details obtained from the various media sources that there are still fifty-four Indian soldiers held captive in Pak prisons during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

The war that triggered off in December third 1971 took away the lives of millions soldiers on both the sides until the cease-fire. As the peace treaties were signed about ninety-two thousand Paki P.O.W's and some sixty- thousand Indian P.O.W's returned home.

Milan Luthria's Deewar gives a glimpse of the lives of these fifty-four men who are still suffering form the aftermath of the 71 war. Amitabh Bachchan plays one of fifty-four captives and Akshaye Khanna plays his son, who crosses border to rescue his beloved father after thirty-three years. Sanjay Dutt plays the Pakistani who helps in this rescue and help these men break the wall of solitude and return home.

Sanjay Dutt swings to the tune of 'Marhaba Marhaba', which for sure is not another 'Ishq Samandar'. Though the producers have reportedly spent a fortune in getting the cave-set in place and have hired the services of Ukrainian belly dancers for the oomph factor, the effect is definitely not as expected. Sonu Nigam is honest in trying to give that Arabic feel to his vocals, but the song doesn't impress much. Xenia Ali (who released a non-film album 'Meri Ada' a few months back) gets to croon a few words in this male dominated song but doesn't succeed much.

Movie definitely seems very promising due to it's distinct theme, well-cut teasers, excellent cinematography, mega star cast, good production values and the hype generated in all these months since the time of the project's inception. "Deewaar" reinforces Shrivastava's versatile talent. He has a penchant for painting pictures through his words. Whether it's the enchantingly graceful "Piya bawri" or the inspirational "Todenge deewaar hum", the soundtrack supplements the strong macho mood of the film. I can hardly wait to see the film.

Deewar releases on 25th June 2004.