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Reviews
Agent Vinod (2012)
Cool, suave, calculating Agent Vinod saves the day. Pity it goes on too long.
A brilliant performance by Saif Ali Khan as Agent Vinod and Sriram Raghavan's exceptionally creative direction ensure that this Bollywood take on the James Bond series and the Bourne trilogy is enjoyable fare. While the pace lags at times and the script is a bit uneven, the fantastic production value, exotic locations and wonderfully executed action sequences provide good entertainment value.
The film kicks off in the aptly named Desert of Death, somewhere in Afghanistan, where our hero Agent Vinod has to escape the clutches of ruthless terrorists, save his partner and rescue a damsel in distress, all before the opening credits roll. Cut to a video conference discussion with Sir Metla, a supposedly philanthropic Indian businessman based in London and other powerful industrialists, of the Zeus Corporation, all located in various countries across the globe, wherein they speak about a nuclear weapon that they want to place in the hands of a militant Pakistani group fighting against India. They control the world's economies by creating wars between countries. Back at the headquarters of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Vinod is briefed on this plot. Scant information was provided by his partner moments before he is killed by the Russian mafia. His mission is to investigate and eliminate all threats. The operation takes him to Russia, Afghanistan, Morocco, Latvia, Somalia, London, Pakistan, India and eventually Cape Town in search of the masterminds behind this devious plot. En route he teams up with Dr Ruby Mendes, a former Pakistani national framed for a bombing in London which killed many innocent people. She now works undercover for the British and Pakistani intelligence services in Morocco as the personal physician for a key member of the crime network. Ruby and Vinod appear to have a common mission.
Director Raghavan and co – writer Arijit Biswas have developed an interesting screenplay which expects the audience to suspend belief as there are one too many conveniences in the plot and some scenes really require a stretch of the imagination. But then again, this is an action packed spy film, not meant to be taken seriously. The film is filled with some wonderfully creative innovations. There are many moments of sheer genius like the shootout in a seedy motel juxtaposed with an intense love song and Vinod's dry dialogues in scenes filled with sheer tension. Raghavan is quite obviously a film buff; the film takes its name from a spy film from the 1970's. He names a character Richard Maibaum, after the screenwriter of many a Bond movie. Prem Chopra, probably the cheesiest Bollywood villain ever, plays one of the villains in the same fashion. The film is filled with retro music from various vintage films. There is a suitably rocking music score by Daniel B. George and superb cinematography by C. K. Muraleedharan, ably assisted by Anil Mehta. It's fun to see some notable South African actors playing the crooked industrialists including Graham Clarke, Neels Coetzee, Paul Cowan, Rafaelle Sabatini, Mike Westcott and Hennie Bosman. In fact while their scenes are set in various parts of the world, it was all shot on location in Cape Town.
While individual sequences are edited and directed exceptionally well, the major downfall is that the overall proceedings drag on for far too long. The climax especially, could have been shortened drastically and reworked to create more tension. It's a given that the hero is going to save the day, so to prolong the events is unnecessary.
It has some wonderful characters, all excellently cast. Most of the actors acquit themselves of their roles perfectly. Kareena Kapoor as Mendes is sadly the weak link, but then her character is poorly defined. Khan takes top acting honours as he lives and breathes the role of the cool, suave and calculated Agent Vinod. He seems set to return in further big screen adventures.
Dus (2005)
Dus gives Bollywood a bad name
1 Star. Dus (Ten). Annihilated by Anubhav Sinha. With Sunjay Dutt, Shilpa Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan, Suneil Shetty, Zayed Khan and Esha Deol in their worst performances ever. Mehboob Bawa reviews.
According to the Internet site rediff.com, actor Sanjay Dutt agreed to star in this film after being narrated the story by director Anubhav Sinha in three minutes flat. That just about sums it up Dus doesn't have much of a storyline and what there is of it is a convoluted mess.
Full blame goes to Sinha, whose first action film this is. He's better known for his mediocre love stories Tum Bin (Without You) and Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hain (I Have Seen You Somewhere Before). In fact one would be forgiven for thinking that the film would have been better off without him as the storyline is completely derivative of countless Hollywood action blockbusters. He has used a flashy editing technique and snazzy camera-work to give his film an MTV look. But it cannot hide the fact that it's all shiny on top, but completely hollow inside.
Dus was originally started by producer Nitin Manmohan and prolific director, the late Mukul S. Anand in the mid - 1990's. Anand passed away tragically, soon after production began and the film was subsequently shelved. This version of Dus merely shares the title, producer and two of the original's stars, Sanjay Dutt and Shilpa Shetty.
Anand was a major force within the Indian film industry. His credits include Agneepath, Khuda Gawah and Hum. All three starred the legend Amitabh Bachchan and were memorable films. Sinha cannot hold a candle to Anand's accomplishments and based on his miserable attempt in directing Dus, it doesn't look like he'll be entering the major leagues anytime soon.
The film revolves around the activities of an elite crime fighting squad, the Anti Terrorist Cell. They receive news that a major strike is going to take place in Canada within ten days and attempt to stop a catastrophe in which 25000 people could die. They know the name of the terrorist that is planning the strike, but nothing more. That's the only info they have received from one of their agents in the field. So far so good, an interesting plot, but one would expect that a detailed screenplay would be written based on it. No such luck, that's all we get. There are numerous scenes that require us to suspend belief and are often totally incomprehensible. Bollywood is known for the fantasy element in its films, but this is taking it out of the realms of acceptability.
The film has many scenes that will have you rolling in the aisles at the absurdity of it all. The strike is taking place on foreign soil, but none of the Indian task force members think of informing the Canadian authorities about the imminent danger. The bomb is set to explode at a soccer match that the Indian Prime Minister is to attend, but there is no sign of the dignitary and this is never explained. The senior agent apprehends the mastermind, but is distracted by his fellow agents who are trying to defuse the bombs. Does the mastermind capitalise on this? No way, he just waits to be shot. Duh!
Oh, everyone in this film looks really cool. You'd think this was a fashion show, the way they walk around in slow motion flaunting themselves, while killing the bad guys. It's all a bit ridiculous. Now if they were sending up the genre, they could've been onto something, but these guys are taking themselves far too seriously.
I could go on and on, but what the heck, this film doesn't warrant that much attention. It certainly doesn't deserve yours.