SRK hai na … kaafi hai !!! 

Pathaan ( Cinema Release/ Spy Action Thriller)

Director – Siddhartha Anand

Cast- Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Deepika, Dimple Kapadia, Ashutosh Rana

Slight Spoiler Alert !

When you have people’s hearts clamouring for their much starved dose of SRK, what do you expect ?

Of course we’ll lap it up lock stock and barrel.

And yes, I agree… SRK’s dimpled charm, his not so common “action avatar”, his once-upon-a-time-so-rare “bare torso” was like dew to parched hearts. And we had our fill.

To throw in as a bonus, we have a BLAZING Tiger cameo in YRF’s spy universe.

And to top it all, you have a fiery John who drew as many wolf whistles and claps despite being the baddy.

So yes, Pathan has umpteen moments of ear piercing whistling and clapping. They are the soul of the cinema experience, especially when watching such masala action thrillers. They not only amp up adrenaline rush but also help you in taking in your stride those logic defying, gravity defying and sometimes even shoddily done action scenes.

When people around you are enjoying so much, you are like…  jaane de yaar, let’s enjoy the moment instead of nit picking.

As expected, Pathaan rides high on its star power, action and stunts. Story, logic, narrative was definitely not on their agenda. After all they had SRK telling them “ Main Hoon Na ! “

Pathaan takes you on a roller coaster ride. You have those highs when you are soaking in all the SRK charm and enjoying the fast paced sequences one after the other with a great background score,but there are also the lows when a part of you is cursing the director “Couldn’t he have come up with something better when he had the best at his disposal ??”

The film remains largely engaging. There are lot many moments when you are really enjoying and smiling. There are moments when you join the whistling and clapping and get lost in the collective euphoria. The post credits last scene had me heartily chuckling. Don’t miss it !

SRK is awesome as ever. Carries the film like a true hero.

John is brawny and fantastic.

Salman is adorable in his cameo.

Dimple looks smart and super chic.

Deepika looks fit, stylish, but too caked up and bronzed. Wish I could say more about her.

But there’s a long list of complaints for the makers and director. Biggest grouse of all…

You brought us SRK after 4 yrs, and all the time we see him either being beaten to pulp, or being double crossed or being rescued. Why should a spy be mushy, emotional and taken for a ride ? Why the hell can’t you give us our hero as a calculative shrewd man who foresees, plans, dodges deception and beats the villain to pulp ? 

Does it need research for the film makers to realise that in this genre, we like our heroes as victorious and not just in the climax. We want that all the time.. is that clear ? Reminded me of a similar fiasco in Shamshera.

Wish they had a better newer story, better action, especially the VFX one, better narrative, wish Deepika didn’t seem to try too hard, wish they had used some degree of logic, wish some scenes didn’t look like spoof on Star Trek.

The film is no where close to Tiger series or even War.

Back stories failed to rev up an emotional connect.

Fancy dance steps and lots of style ,yet leaves you craving for choreography with a soul.

Sizzling hot heroine but wish it could be said for her chemistry with our hero.

It’s important to mention here that there seemed nothing lacking on part of the actors. They have given ample films to prove their mettle in these departments. It is the script that failed to support their calibre.

Despite their best efforts and team, I wonder how is Bollywood consistently failing to deliver what they are capable of. Perhaps in a race to ape Hollywood and Tollywood, they are leaving behind what they were damn good at.

Nevertheless, the film is worth your time and money if you like Bollywood style action masala thrillers. Plenty of action, style and pace.

SRK alone makes it totally worth the while. He is truly the King when it comes to charm and charisma.

Score 2.5 for the film plus 1 for SRK .. So 3.5 on 5 it is !!!