Starring – Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor
Banner – Illuminati Films, Rising Sun Entertainment
Genre – Action / Spy thriller
Music – Pritam
Producer – Saif Ali Khan, Dinesh Vijan
Director – Sriram Raghavan
Story:
The film has a been-there seen-that story of an Indian RAW Agent who is on a mission to crack a code that leads to a nuclear attack on the country’s capital New Dehli. A few betrayals, loopholes, and finally, Agent Vinod (Saif Ali Khan) manages to diffuse the bomb with Iram Parveen Bilal’s (Kareena Kapoor) help.
Analysis:
'Agent Vinod’ starts on a promising note in Afghanistan where a Vinod is trapped by at a Lashkar hideout. He along with his team member Rajan Gandhi (Ravi Kissen) find a way out of it with bullet firing and bombings. The movie has traces of the Bond series, Raghavan’s ‘Ek Hasina Thi’, Anubhav Sinha’s ‘Dus’ and Mani Shankars’ ’16 December’. The film has a few moments that are really good and you want them to stay but the graph isn’t stable and has its ups and downs. The film also had a number of loopholes, with unexplained situations, wasted actors and so on.
Performances:
Saif Ali Khan is his usual self in the film not too good, not too bad. His dialogue delivery entertains but then again in parts. Kareena Kapoor could not play her part confidently as we have seen her playing ‘Geet’ from ‘Jab We Met’ or ‘Naina’ from ‘Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu’. She was really out of her comfort zone and we could see that. Though, there were moments when she was good. Also, in her mujra song, she was sweet rather than seductive that she was meant to be. Ram Kapoor played his cameo really well and so did Gulshan Grover and Prem Chopra. Adil Hussain was impressive as the bad guy. Maryam Zakaria and Malika Haydon were decent in their item numbers.
Technicalities:
Director Raghavan puts in the tried and tested Bollywood formula and that is where he totally spoils it. The film drags a lot. A few camera angles were interesting and picturization of a few scenes steals the show. Cinematography is like most bond movies but is good. Pritam’s music is average and Mika’s ‘Pyaar Ki Pungi’ is the best. Bebo’s mujra is strictly okay. Saif and Bebo’s chemistry though makes it a good watch. A few dialogues too are entertaining and the climax is pretty much predictable.
Plus points: Few camera angles, a few dialogues, Saif and Bebo’s chemistry and ofcourse, Ram Kapoor (you can practically watch the movie for him)
Minus Points: stretched, clichéd
Final Word: The film is strictly a once watch!!