Several countrymen were injected with Covaxin in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Writer-director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri in his latest film, The Vaccine War, attempts to document how the vaccine was manufactured under challenging circumstances. Despite such an unusual topic, the film leaves an impact and has a mainstream appeal.
The story of the movie: On January 1, 2020, Dr Balram Bhargava(Nana Patekar), director general at the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR), learns of an unusual disease spreading in China and informs about it to his employee, Dr Nivedita(Girija Oak). As time passes, the virus, named Covid-19/Novel Coronavirus/SARS-CoV-2 spreads havoc throughout the world. The ICMR, with the help of the National Institute of Virology(NIV), attempts to further study the virus. Rohini Singh Dhulia(Raima Sen) of The Daily Wire writes scathing articles about how India will be unable to fight the virus. She bats that foreign vaccines should be made available in India and rejects the idea that India will develop its indigenous vaccine. Dr Balram, however, decides to take up the challenge and prove to the world that they can come up with the world’s safest vaccine in the shortest time possible.
The Vaccine War begins with an intriguing scene about the effects of the nationwide lockdown. The film then doesn’t waste time and straight away focuses on when and how the war began. Most people are unaware of the hurdles faced by our scientists in developing the vaccine. As a result, one can’t help but get involved in the narrative. The equation shared by Dr Balram and Dr Priya Abraham(Pallavi Joshi) is superb and their scenes are the best parts of the enterprise. The other scenes that work are Dr Nivedita confronting a World Health Organization official, Dr Balram thanking Dr Abraham, the hunt for the monkeys for the trial, the intermission point and the climax. The scene where students present rose to a ‘soldier’ for developing the vaccine is moving.
On the flipside, after a gripping first half, the film drops in the second half until the pre-climax. The track of Rohini Singh Dhulia is an eye-opener. However, it is also a bit childish, especially the manner in which the words like ‘toolkit’ are highlighted. Moreover, to paint the whole media with one brush is unconvincing. After all, the truth is that there’s a vast section of media that went gaga over everything that the government did during the pandemic. And to depict this is all the more important in this film since a character remarks that showing half-truth and selective facts is worse than spreading a lie.
Speaking of performances, Nana Patekar makes a terrific comeback. His role reminds one of his act in Ab Tak Chhappan. But the seasoned actor ensures that his no-nonsense character stands out from the rest of his performances. The way he matter-of-factly tells employees to come back to the office when they have just reached home is seen to be believed. Pallavi Joshi, as expected, gets a role to die for her and she does complete justice. She gets to be in some of the most memorable scenes of the film. In fact, both Nana Patekar and Pallavi Joshi deserve National Awards for their respective performances. Girija Oak is the surprise of the film and delivers a commendable performance. Raima Sen performs ably. Sapthami Gowda(Dr Sreelekshmy Mohandas) is lovely and one wishes she had more screen time. Nivedita Bhattacharya(Dr Pragya Yadav), too, gets her share of screen space and does a great job. The scene where she consoles Dr Sreelekshmy is lovely. Mohan Kapur(Dr Raman Gangakhedkar) looks unrecognizable and does a very good job in a small role. Anupam Kher(Cabinet Secretary) is decent. Anchal Dwivedi(Enna Dogra) is fine but doesn’t get much scope. The actor playing Nivedita’s husband Sanjay, the gardener kid and the traumatized child also deliver great performances.
There’s one song’Nasadiya Sukta’ and it is well woven into the narrative. Rohit Sharma’s background score enhances the impact. Uday Singh Mohite’s cinematography is neat. Udai Prakash Singh’s production design is very rich. The labs especially seem very authentic. Mansi Patel’s costumes are straight out of life. VFX is good but in one scene depicting the exterior of a government building, it is very poor. Shankh Rajyadhaksha’s editing is sharp in the first half but should have been slicker in the post-interval portions.
The Vaccine War is based on the book’Going Viral: Making of Covaxin’ by Balram Bhargava. Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s story is promising. Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s screenplay is effective and also well-researched. He has a knack for fleshing out characters and peppering his novel and unconventional scripts with some defining scenes. This was seen in Buddha In A Traffic Jam, The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files. The Vaccine War is no exception. Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s dialogues are sharp yet simple.
Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s direction is captivating. Despite the unusual topic, he treats the film in a simplified manner. As a result, there’s no scope for confusion and one can easily understand what’s going on, despite the use of technical and scientific jargon. The ode given to the women scientists and how they fought all odds will be loved. The minus points are that the film loses steam in the second half and the track of the journalist seems away from reality. Of course, the episodes shown did actually occur but the way the journalist speaks with her maid and partner doesn’t go well with the film’s otherwise realistic tone.
On the whole, The Vaccine War presents the untold story of how India successfully delivered a safe and effective vaccine against the Covid-19 virus, that too, in record time. The film has its share of blemishes but overall, it works due to the subject, simplified direction, some riveting moments and award-winning performances by Nana Patekar and Pallavi Joshi.
My rating - 3.5 out of 5!