A slick flick that stops short of stunning

D-Day
Hindi (U/A) ¬¬¬½
Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Irrfan,
Arjun Rampal, Huma Qureshi, Shruti Haasan
Director: Nikhil Advani

His debut directorial was the tear-jerking Kal Ho Na Ho, but since then, Nikhil Advani has traversed quite a distance as the man behind the camera. His storytelling skills have become more polished, and with D-Day, he has made the effort to break away from run-of-the-mill spy-flicks like Ek Tha Tiger, whose protagonists, unlike those in D-Day, would have been caught instantly for the hijinks they have been trying to pull.

Thankfully, instead of a wham-bam action flick, we have a slick thriller that gives Rishi Kapoor ample room to continue with the mean streak that he had shown a flare for in Agneepath. We also have Irrfan doing what he does best, with a special mention here of those eyes that can display a thousand expressions. We have Arjun Rampal, whose action sequences and hazy back-story makes him a little more mysterious. We have Huma Qureshi who was somewhat underused, and Aakash Dahiya, whose character didn't flesh out too well.

We have Nasser, the thespian who has made a killing as a character actor at every outing possible, and Chandan Roy Sanyal, who needs to mature a bit more to achieve the level of menace that Kapoor did. Then we have the two ladies — Shruti Haasan and Sriswara Dubey — who somehow manage to rise above their bit parts and leave a lasting impression. And almost everyone is aided in some way or the other by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s musical push.

You sit down to watch a film about four Indian agents trying to capture a don who has fled India, but still supplies the manpower and infrastructure to perpetrate acts of terrorism here. The promos give ample hints of the operation going south, but you get to that point by interval, travelling at a speed that can be breakneck for some other Hindi films.

It is only in the second half that the entire film loses pace — don’t know if that’s deliberate — and that’s when the holes in the plot begin to surface. Why in the world are the agents still relying on tactics that can get them caught or killed so easily? Why didn’t they fall back to Cold War-era tactics, or use more technology? True that these options are on opposite ends of the spectrum, but both would have ensured non-detection. Also, the end could have been so much sweeter had the story brought in some level of schadenfreude for the protagonists.

Nevertheless, this is one film that is worth at least one watch — if not for the histrionics then for the story and execution itself. Let’s hope that Indian spy flicks don’t fall back into the 1980s’ James Bond mould after this.