How do you identify if it is a Raghvan film? Simple! At any random point an old Bollywood song plays in the background, irrespective of which country one is in!
Again, how do you know if a film is a wannabe slick flick? Simple, go ’Hollywood Hunting’ and you come back pocketful with plenty of stereotyping tools such as unjustified technology, unforeseen gadgets, some agent-ish babes who can get passwords from tycoons, some deadly local lingo speaking mafias from Africa and the middle east and a global war issue bundled together however haphazardly! Sounds much like every other Hollywood movie?
Well then, be ready to bear the same when you watch Agent Vinod.
"Dear viewers!
We have the skill, someone get us the budget, a larger global audience, lesser bans and a higher remuneration and we would stop catering the B and C centers completely as today these seem to defy the very logic behind good cinema. In our country, craze and star power have been the driving force in this business Until then, please excuse the genius that you suppose us to be and don’t mind if we carry on with our supply of masala Hindi entertainers."
Yours truly
A respected enough film maker!
Starting with Krrish, then Ra.One and then Don 2, Indian film makers tried their level best (by that I mean BUDGET best!) to get that oh-so-suave feel into their films. They surely didn’t care for scripts. Perhaps while trying to copy the western action extravaganzas, that is indeed the tested formula being deployed. And of course it works for them. But for an Indian film?
Agent Vinod is one such victim of a film. Diagnosed with wannabe slick action & script deficiency syndrome, this film’s best parts are destined to become as forgetful as the unforgivably similar looking action sequences from the Bourne series and those umpteen Bond films.
Good beginning, pacey screenplay but a low key intermission point. The script does not grow onto the viewer as much as it was expected given the profiling and promotion. However, to help you forget that, the film carries a slick look throughout.Editing is sharp but the waywardness in the script poses serious questions on the film’s overall impact and quality.
The country to country shift is engaging. The cinematography is top notch. Action is properly executed. Background score is ok and doesn’t play its part well at a couple of crucial places. However the music is popular and the songs don’t seem itchy at any place.
Saif is good enough while for those who were looking for chemistry between the lead pair, this is not the ‘a song around the tree’ kind of a film. Please abstain if you wanted the sweetness or saltiness or more of Saifeena. Kareena looks good but has been given a very underdeveloped character. The supporting cast is mostly there to enhance the aura and weight of the film rather than add intellectual value as they are all supposed to die. However the long list of baddies is competent enough in exercising its acting duties.
The film, as a sample to B and C center Indian audiences as to how and why global action flicks work with the masses, can be termed as a successful project if that be the motive. Hence. let us not point out mistakes in this yet another step forward film for Indian cinema but rather appreciate the improvements if we are planning to watch films for less than 200 bucks and not for US $20 in near future.
The bottom line:
50 CRORES? ITNE BUDGET MEIN TOH ITNA HI MILENGA!
3 STARS for the decent try to make a film which is entertaining, pacey and carries a global message all at once.