Agent Vinod movie review

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. 

Ek main aur ekk tu movie review

Another glossy rom-com from Bollywood, inspired by similar such Holly love flicks. Has a contrasting couple in the form of a boyish but uptight Rahul & a jovial and bubbly Riana. Rahul has just been fired from his job while Riana has been dumped. They cross paths a few times before getting married overnight in Vegas after a drinking binge on Christmas night. They decide to get the marriage annulled but their journey together is destined for more.

Rahul falls in love with Riana slowly and he turns around his life in a more cheerful manner thanks to Riana's influence. Riana on the other hand, treats Rahul as her best friend and even takes him to India for him to lighten up his mood. Rahul finally gets the courage to speak his mind out to his parents who are obsessed with his looks, habits and career.  

Just as we expect Riana to slowly start reciprocating Rahul's love, the ending is something unexpected. She stays firm in her stand and maintains that she is just a great friend to him. Rahul turns around his life and the two stay friends forever. 

Review

• Imran Khan sets the benchmark for boyish charm and turns in an engaging performance. Towards the end, he is top class. His dressing, his style sense are all very "boy next door" types. 
• Kareena Kapoor delivers as expected. The parents have all done well, be it Riana's cheerful parents or Rahul's socially conscious parents. 
• The songs by Amit Trivedi are a major plus. The BG score by Clinton fits the mood as well. The locations in the movie are fresh and glossy. Rich production values. 
• Some classy scenes like the scene when Riana calls Rahul the perfect average guy, when Rahul is about to kiss Riana but she refuses, when Rahul burst out to his parents and the climax
• The editing is nice and the chapter style is new to Indian films. The chapters could have been named better though. 
• The dialogs are cheeky, humorous and quite progressive for a typical Indian film. 

VERDICT

A familiar romantic premise lifted by Imran Khan and the different ending. Worth a watch. 

Ra.One movie review

The Plot
The movie is based on a far fetched idea that virtual characters in a video game can become real and roam around in the actual world.

Shekhar Subramanium is a gamer who designs a game for his kid Prateek, where the villain is deadly and is more powerful than the hero. The villain is Ra One and the hero is G One.

Prateek is super excited and feels great about his dad. He starts playing the game with the name Lucifer but, he doesn't complete the game. Ra One is not happy about this pause in the game and soon comes out of the game into the real world to look for Lucifer and settle the game with him.

Ra One wreaks havoc on the game's developers Aakashi and Shekhar himself, and starts chasing Lucifer aka Prateek. Just then, G One also comes into the real world and now he is the savior for Prateek and Shekhar's widow Sonia.

The game between G One and Ra One starts in London and continues in Mumbai. Ra One has the ability to take different human forms just like the villain in "Terminator". G One is the endearing robot on the lines of Chitti and he is like Arnold in "Terminator" as he protects Prateek and his mother Sonia.

After some terrific stunts in the local train, G One faces Ra One, with Prateek controlling his moves through the gaming console. Another far fetched piece of imagination.

The movie ends with the promise of a sequel. But, no one was excited one bit.

Hits

• The first face-off between Ra One and G One gives goose bumps and is a big high in an otherwise lackluster fare.
• SRK as the nerdy Shekhar Subramanium irritates with his idiotic Tamizh but, this was the only character in the movie that had at least some audience connect. As G One, his hairstyle is super cool. 
• Kareena looks smoking hot and contributes in making the songs a visual treat. Criminal, Chammak Challo, Dildara were all the few highlights. 
• Ambitious 3D and VFX. Best technical film seen in Indian Cinema by a mile. But, it was not flawless. Some instances like the train coming onto the road, were quite artificial. 

Misses

• The grand finale in the climax between Ra One and G One is a big disaster as it is just an avalanche of VFX thrown at the viewers with 0 emotional connect. 
• Just one theme is repeated in the BG score. A superhero film requires something else. 
• The comedy scenes involving G One in the second half have a Chitti feel to them. 
• In the special scene involving Rajinikanth as Chitti, he was so jaded, tired and had no charisma. Pitiable. It was a mere caricature of the larger than life superstar that Rajini was, not too long ago.  
• A plot devoid of logic, completely. Even considering the fact that it is a superhero film, the execution is equally botched. 
• Arjun Rampal just flaunts his body but his performance as Ra One leaves a lot to be desired. The Aakashi version of Ra One is also funny. 

Comment

• For all the supreme hype given, this movie is just plain silly. The exhibitors and distributors will have a tough time recovering their money parted to that super smart businessman SRK

VERDICT

Money has literally been burnt. The screenplay has no grip, minimum involvement factor and it tires the viewer very often.

Bodyguard (2011)

The Plot
A bodyguard named Lovely Singh is given the task of protecting the college going Divya, the daughter of a man who is regarded very highly by Lovely. Lovely is sort of a one man army and he protects even high profile people like Katrina Kaif and smashes wrong doers to pulp singlehandedly.

Lovely accompanies her to college in his official uniform and coolers. His stiff and stern approach irks Divya and in order to soften him and to get him out of his uniform, she starts calling him regularly in a different voice and with a different name Chaya. Slowly she falls in love with Lovely. Lovely doesn't know that it is Divya. Divya also has a close friend who stays with her.

In the end, she plans to elope with Lovely at the station but things go haywire and Lovely meets Chaya, but not the real one.

There is a also a fat comedy side-kick, a midget comedian, some villains who are after Lovely and Divya. All is well in the end after a twist in the plot.

A sub-standard remake of the Malayalam movie "Bodyguard". Even the Tamil version "Kavalan" was much better than this.

                                                                               

Hits

• The beautiful 'I Love You' song.


• Salman impresses at places with his stiff walks, serious bodyguard body language and his nervousness before girls.  

Misses

• The stunts are horrible and too over the top


• The VFX is very amateurish and very funny 


• The comedy track is mostly very ordinary


• Poor BG score. 

Comments

• Kareena looks jaded and heavily made-up. Too old for an MBA student. She looks much suited for the serious climax

VERDICT

A poor remake. The Malayalam and Tamil versions are much better. Sort of "BAKWAS". But the Hindi belt might provide patronage.