Saif Ali Khan returns to action after ‘Aarakshan’ and he is backed by his beau & current box-office queen Kareena Kapoor and director Sriram Raghavan (of ‘Johnny Gaddar’ fame). There is a solid technical team comprising music director Pritam and DOP C.K. Muraleedharan. This offering by Eros and Illuminati Films hit the screens today amid decent expectations and hype. Has it lived up to it? Yes. It has, to a good extent.
The basic thread of the movie is an Indian RAW agent Vinod Khanna taking on a wide plethora of villains to prevent a nuclear device from detonating in the capital of our country. The culprits are not the obvious ones and there are some big fishes playing in these murky waters of terrorism.
This basic storyline has been treated on a very grand scale. There is widespread travel in the movie starting from Afghanistan -> Russia ->Germany ->Morocco ->Pakistan ->Somalia and finally back to India and ending in South Africa. I might have missed a few places. Such is the scale of the film.
Saif Ali Khan has really excelled in stunts. He is very agile and his beefed-up, rugged avatar makes him a perfect suit for this action packed role. A feather in his cap for sure. His histrionics in the end credits song are admirable.
Kareena is grim for most of the movie but scorches the screen in the mujra number along with Maryam Zakaria. We really don’t know whom to see in this number. Kareena’s return to her curvy best literally sets the screen on fire. She carries off her glamorous clothes with style and she also has a decent and crucial role in the state of affairs. Her acting credentials aren’t put to much test. But, she is definitely a trump card for the movie.
The villains in the movie are pretty weak except the Colonel who puts up some good obstacles in the Agent’s path. Ram Kapoor and Prem Chopra are the villains in the Russian and Moroccan leg of the movie. They are more funny than fearsome.
The songs have been used to take the movie forward and do not hamper the flow of the movie. The BG score is pretty pulsating and ‘The Good The Bad The Ugly’ seems to have inspired the director as is evident from the title card. The ‘trippy’ opening credits have a heavy Guy Ritchie feel to them. The editing pattern at places is very interesting.
The movie has a pretty laborious pace at places but, on the whole it is a decent watch for sure. The grand production values, the heavy duty action scenes, the almost blemish-less VFX work (except for the helicopter shots in the climax) and the grand scale of the movie make ‘Agent Vinod’ a watch-worthy affair, this weekend at the cinemas. While coming out, you might even feel like checking it out for a second time.
The movie ends with the premise for a sequel and it should be exciting given the decent showing of this outing. ‘Agent Vinod’ is directed primarily at the city slickers and the ‘action’ minded. Single screen audiences don’t have much in this for them except the ‘mujra’ number. This is not to suggest the movie won’t make big numbers. A solid run over the next few weeks can be safely predicted, at least in the major release centers.
The amateurish feel at certain places does creep in thanks to some clichés associated with Indian cinema, particularly in the first half. But, it can be excused for sure.
VERDICT: A visually appealing effort from Saif Ali Khan and team. Worth a watch for the effort.
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