Have you ever had a dream which bothered you for a long time? Or have you ever had a dream which you have remembered forever? Or, while you were asleep, have you ever had a dream due to which you did a certain thing in your real life?

This is the very theme of Christopher Nolan’s movie, Inception. The movie is the story of Dom Cobb played by DiCaprio who is a thief, but he doesn’t steal material things – he steals secrets from people’s mind by entering their dreams. He is hired by a business tycoon Saito, played by Ken Watanabe, for the ultimate job. Saito doesn’t want to steal a secret instead he wants to Cobb to plant an idea into the mind of his archrival Robert Fischer’s mind played by Cillian Murphy.

Cobb cannot go back to his own country because the police are looking for him as they think he killed his wife Mal played by Marion Cotilard. Everytime Cobb is in someone’s dream Mal turns up in the dream projected by his own subconscious mind and tries to ruin his plans. So when Saito promises Cobb a safe passage back home to his kids he can’t resist even if it involves the great risk of going into multiple levels of dreams.

Aided by his trusted friend Arthur, played by Gordon-Levitt, Cobb assembles a team of the best “dream architects” – Ariadne (played by Ellen Page), who can create and maintain the balance of the dream world, and a forger who can shift his identity inside a dream (played by Hardy).

Nolan’s narrative is simple. In spite of the theme being so complex it doesn’t confuse the audience. The first half is spent in explaining in detail what Cobb’s job is, and in the second half the job is carried out.  All the actors play their part well. To rate this movie would be blasphemous. If Avatar left you in awe, wait till you watch Inception.

The movie is like a huge puzzle which the audience starts to solve from the moment the screen lights up. The movie challenges your intelligence. As DiCaprio and gang jump from one level of dream to another, the audience participates and enjoys the puzzle. Scenes like the one where Arthur fights security guards in anti gravity in his dream is so well shot that you might just start feeling as if you are a part of that dream.

In the end the movie makes you think what if such a concept can become a reality. It would be a scary world. But then isn’t this already a reality. From the day we are born there are people who are trying to plant ideas into our head. The marketers are trying to plant the idea of purchasing their products into our heads or the politicians trying to plant the idea that they are the leaders; no wonder the world has already become a scary place. And what about me? Even I am trying to plant an idea into your head to go watch the movie.