Despite having found the 2009 teaming of real life Bollywood power couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the terrorist Thriller Drama Kurbaan to be a paring that killed off any promise that the paternally exciting screenplay had to offer.
I decided,that since having heard the this film was a "dream project" for Saif,and that it was being directed by the man behind the highly praised Film Noir Johnny Gaddaar,I felt the there was a good chance that this Bollywood " Masala" 007 style film would offer some terrific thrills and a gripping,undercover spy storyline.
The plot:
After having escaped from a Taiban camp in Afghanistan,RAW (Indian secret service) Agent Vinod heads back to his headquarters in India,where he is told that his next mission is to find a man who murdered a fellow RAW agent in Russia,and who also has a scorpion tattoo and has some strange connection with the number "242".Rushing round in Russia,Vinold eventually finds out that a man called Freddie Khambatta is meant to be delivering 50 million to a powerful Mafia boss in Morocco.
Relaxing on his flight to Morocco,Vinod is left dumbfounded,when he discovers that Freddie Khambatta is working as a stewardess on this very flight!.Using his charms to win the trust of Khambatta,Vinod sneakily decides to take Freddie's identity,so that he can meet the cities local Mafia boss:David Kazan.Initially being terrified of Kazan sniffing out his cover,Vinod is almost caught out when Kazan's personal doctor, called Ruby Mendes (who actually works for the Pakistan secret service ISL),injects Vinod with some chemicals that force him to give all the real details.
Realiseing that his life is hanging by a thread,Vinod quickly shows all the stolen document proof the he can get his hands on,to prove that he really is Freddie Khambatta.With showing good imitative and also having a huge amount of luck,Kazan falls for his alibi and begins to show Vinod the "explosive" secret behind the number 242.
View on the film:
Looking at the main performances in this film,I was extremely disappointed to discover that despite filling dozens of magazines with their real life romance,Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor leave any signs of a sizzling chemistry completely off the screen,with the dozens of scenes that they both share lacking any sense of a "spark".Whilst the film was pacifically tailor made for him,Khan sadly gives a very wooden performance as Vinod,with the scenes of the agent risking his life to find out the truth behind "242" lacking any feeling from Saif of excitement or intense fear of being Vinod's cover being blown at any given moment.
Although Manish Malhotra's excellent costume design allows Kapoor to wear some eye-catching costumes,her flat performance sadly stops any of Ruby's fun flirtyness or paternally thrilling espionage skills to fully blossom in the film.Despite the two lead performances not having a strong,confident presence which is usually expected in epic Spy films,Prem Chopra shows that he can steel the film from right under everyone's noses.For his performance as Kazan,Chopra cleverly mixes the characters ruthlessness (such as killing his own, beloved camel!) with a strong comedic side that helps to light every scene that he features in,with the scenes of him attempting to develop a "closeness" with Ruby being a particularly hilarious highlight.
Using the "242" mystery as a Hitchcock style mcguffin for the film,writer/director Siram Raghavan at first shows signs that he is impressively going to mix James Bond style action with a Hitchcock Thriller edge.Sadly as the film plods along on its overstretched 2 and a half hour running time Raghavan gradually starts to show a clear lack of focus,as the initially intriguing mystery Thriller side disappointingly becomes a tangled mess,as Raghavan seems to spend more time focused on changing the films location every 5 minutes then he does from stopping the mystery side of the film from ending up as a flat-line.
Despite the action scenes weirdly only being in short bursts ,Siram uses the scenes to put his fantastic,stylish directing on full display,with a mesmerising,uninterrupted 3 and a half minute,one shot shoot out scene displaying the excitement and stylishness which should have been featured in the whole film.
I decided,that since having heard the this film was a "dream project" for Saif,and that it was being directed by the man behind the highly praised Film Noir Johnny Gaddaar,I felt the there was a good chance that this Bollywood " Masala" 007 style film would offer some terrific thrills and a gripping,undercover spy storyline.
The plot:
After having escaped from a Taiban camp in Afghanistan,RAW (Indian secret service) Agent Vinod heads back to his headquarters in India,where he is told that his next mission is to find a man who murdered a fellow RAW agent in Russia,and who also has a scorpion tattoo and has some strange connection with the number "242".Rushing round in Russia,Vinold eventually finds out that a man called Freddie Khambatta is meant to be delivering 50 million to a powerful Mafia boss in Morocco.
Relaxing on his flight to Morocco,Vinod is left dumbfounded,when he discovers that Freddie Khambatta is working as a stewardess on this very flight!.Using his charms to win the trust of Khambatta,Vinod sneakily decides to take Freddie's identity,so that he can meet the cities local Mafia boss:David Kazan.Initially being terrified of Kazan sniffing out his cover,Vinod is almost caught out when Kazan's personal doctor, called Ruby Mendes (who actually works for the Pakistan secret service ISL),injects Vinod with some chemicals that force him to give all the real details.
Realiseing that his life is hanging by a thread,Vinod quickly shows all the stolen document proof the he can get his hands on,to prove that he really is Freddie Khambatta.With showing good imitative and also having a huge amount of luck,Kazan falls for his alibi and begins to show Vinod the "explosive" secret behind the number 242.
View on the film:
Looking at the main performances in this film,I was extremely disappointed to discover that despite filling dozens of magazines with their real life romance,Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor leave any signs of a sizzling chemistry completely off the screen,with the dozens of scenes that they both share lacking any sense of a "spark".Whilst the film was pacifically tailor made for him,Khan sadly gives a very wooden performance as Vinod,with the scenes of the agent risking his life to find out the truth behind "242" lacking any feeling from Saif of excitement or intense fear of being Vinod's cover being blown at any given moment.
Although Manish Malhotra's excellent costume design allows Kapoor to wear some eye-catching costumes,her flat performance sadly stops any of Ruby's fun flirtyness or paternally thrilling espionage skills to fully blossom in the film.Despite the two lead performances not having a strong,confident presence which is usually expected in epic Spy films,Prem Chopra shows that he can steel the film from right under everyone's noses.For his performance as Kazan,Chopra cleverly mixes the characters ruthlessness (such as killing his own, beloved camel!) with a strong comedic side that helps to light every scene that he features in,with the scenes of him attempting to develop a "closeness" with Ruby being a particularly hilarious highlight.
Using the "242" mystery as a Hitchcock style mcguffin for the film,writer/director Siram Raghavan at first shows signs that he is impressively going to mix James Bond style action with a Hitchcock Thriller edge.Sadly as the film plods along on its overstretched 2 and a half hour running time Raghavan gradually starts to show a clear lack of focus,as the initially intriguing mystery Thriller side disappointingly becomes a tangled mess,as Raghavan seems to spend more time focused on changing the films location every 5 minutes then he does from stopping the mystery side of the film from ending up as a flat-line.
Despite the action scenes weirdly only being in short bursts ,Siram uses the scenes to put his fantastic,stylish directing on full display,with a mesmerising,uninterrupted 3 and a half minute,one shot shoot out scene displaying the excitement and stylishness which should have been featured in the whole film.