'Pathaan' movie review: SRK is back? Not really

Pathaan

Hindi (Theatres)

Director: Siddharth Anand

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham

Rating: 2.5/5

Substandard commercial films have a habit. They make mountains out of molehills. Pathaan, by Siddharth Anand, is a loud nationalist film that targets Pakistan and a deadly virus, two stale conflicts of an average aggressively patriotic Indian film. We all love our country. But, while watching a film, don't we deserve an experience filled with joy and escapism?

An ex-RAW agent going rogue is the central idea of Yash Raj Films' 'Spy Verse' (Ek Tha Tiger, War). In this film, it's John Abraham's character Jim, who is against 'Bharat Mata' (as he puts it, while relentlessly cursing his country for letting him down). He is called to action by Pakistan, who are upset about the abrogation of Kashmir's special status.

They plan an attack on India, an idea squeezed out by Bollywood like a well-served toothpaste. In comes Pathaan, India's own son (as the character proudly claims). He is the RAW agent who can do no wrong. In his mission to save the nation, he finds an ally in a mysterious ISI agent (Deepika Padukone).

The biggest problem with Pathaan is that it fails to celebrate its star. In a 'masala' film, where the idea is to play to the gallery, it's important to have a razor-sharp focus on your hero. In this film, everyone around Pathaan calls him an invincible person. Aren't all our larger-than-life characters unbeatable? What makes Pathaan special? Unfortunately, nothing.

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Siddharth Anand fails to add character quirks to his protagonist. There is no individualistic trait in Pathaan that makes him different from any other action hero. The director doesn't give him many lines to garner whistles or applause. Even the high points of the character lack exciting build-ups.

The screenplay rushes breakneck and it hardly gives us time to question the plot's logic. But when the story is so predictable, you are frustrated at how the film takes itself too seriously.

Pathaan should have been a film littered with iconic action moments given how the director attempts a VFX route to glory. Yet, Pathaan seems like a desperate shot at being a spectacle-heavy film. Despite fight scenes choreographed in the air, on a clifftop, and on a moving train, the showboating goes on in vain thanks to a lack of imagination and the less-than-impressive special effects.

There are some slick hand-to-hand combat between Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham but the sloppy camera work and an underwhelming score don't allow us to fully embrace them. The duo's verbal face-offs are dull. John Abraham appears too sophisticated to be a threatening villain. His limited acting skills don't transform him into a cold-blooded traitor either.

Pathaan needed a towering antagonist, a force of nature who can unsettle us with his mere presence, as Sanjay Dutt did in KGF: Chapter 2. John Abraham, on the other hand, is less a villain and more a model, selling his terrorist ideas like products for sale.

The film is an attempt to build a spy universe and that's precisely why Salman Khan's entry should have brought the roof down. The moment needed go-for-broke filmmaking to make the scene memorable. Instead, we see a dull-eyed Salman as Tiger, cracking a lame joke on painkillers while saving Pathaan from a life-threatening situation.

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Shah Rukh and Deepika, with their terrific chemistry, turn up the heat in Russia which is the film's only engaging portion. Deepika is the film's lone bright spot. She not just adds oomph to her character but brings the much-needed agility and style needed for an intelligence officer always involved in chases and gun fights.

Shah Rukh, with his trademark wit and undying energy, tries his best to entertain. He does more to the script than the script does to him.

The writing, marked with no freshness, panders to the patriotic card. The characters, now and then, scream at us to be proud of our country. Ideally, the dialogues should have fleshed out the inner turmoils of these officers. They should have made us feel for their pasts. Also, with so many subplots and backstories, people might take Shah Rukh's 'kursi ki peti' warning too seriously and slip into a slumber.

The final scene is a tad heart-warming as we see Shah Rukh and Salman, two of the biggest stars of Indian cinema, in a friendly chat. They talk about how irreplaceable their aura is. One hopes the actors are more self-aware and the scene was a nice little example of self-deprecating humour.

The chants of 'Bollywood is back' on social media feel desperate from fans. The industry has forgotten to make enjoyable 'masala' films. As for Shah Rukh, the 'party' had to be bigger and better.