Not to be confused with the odious Chunky Pandey starrer in the late 80s, this is Mahesh Bhatt's swansong and by any standards, a befitting end to a chequered and uneven career.

If Mahesh Bhatt is capable of making a sensitive and superior film, he is also quite capable of making the most awful dirge. in fact, he has quite often churned out film after film, not worthy of his name or talent.

Zakhm is worthy of his name although it is by no means a classic. However, it is sensitively made and beautifully acted.

The film opens with Ajay (Ajay Devgun), a music director trying to get over his "writer's block" and tune a good melody. There is tension in the home. His wife (Sonali Bendre) wants to return to England, and wants him to return with her, where she can give birth to their child, away from the turbulence that has gripped the country. We are in the early 90s, the Bombay riots are at their peak. He refuses to leave India. Soon we hear that Ajay's mother is missing.

He sets out to search for her and is informed that a woman had been set alight by some muslims outside a church. He rushes to the hospital and it is clear that his mother has been burnt. He waits at the hospital. A journalist at the hospital asks him why the woman was calling for "allah" when she was his mother and he is a hindu. The story begins to unfold and we are taken into the past. We see Ajay with his mother (Pooja Bhatt), living in a small flat. They await the arrival of Ajay's father (Nagarjuna) who is not married to Ajay's mother although he promises to do so. It becomes clear along the way that the problem is that Ajay's father is a hindu whereas his mother is a muslim.

Ajay's father's mother is vehemently against the match and threatens to kill herself if he marries a muslim and forces him to marry a hindu girl. He dies soon after in a car crash whilst on his way to the hospital to see his new born son born to Pooja Bhatt. Pooja, although a muslim, brings up the two children in the hindu religion and never reveals to anyone that she is a muslim, except to Ajay after his father's accident. We then come back into the present where there is a tussle about who is responsible for this terrible act. The younger brother Anand (akshay Anand) is ironically a fanatical hindu and is being used by politicians to use this episode in their own favour.

Obviously the biggest irony is that she is a muslim and was burnt by a muslim thinking that she was a hindu. The film raises many issues on the religion front and deals with it in a sympathetic way to both religions without compromising on what it is seeking to say.

Religion is highly politicised and that is very clear from the film...that it is very strongly embedded within people is also clear and although at first, it was difficult to believe the hysteria and reaction that Nagarjuna's mother has about having him marry a muslim, I am very sure that that is how matters were in the earlier days and and very sure that the same reaction would be true even today in most pockets of India. I am also very sure that it would also be the case if the roles were reversed...ie a a hindu marrying into a muslim family.

This is a delicate subject but it is handled very sensitively by Mahesh Bhatt and he has put together a film he can be proud of. It is quietly heartwrenching and sad, and the performances are universally excellent.

Ajay Devgun underplays and simmers quietly; this is by far his finest performance and one to make people and sit up and realise that we are now dealing with an actor of some repute. Pooja Bhatt produces the film along with acting in a role which is not long but in which she leaves an impression. The film is almost stolen by Kunal Khemu as the young Ajay.

Sonali Bendre does not have much of a role. I must also mention that the soundtrack of the film is absolutely superb...well written and composed songs. A heartbreaker of a film. I doubt there will be a dry eye at the end of the film.