Film Review: AGENT VINOD

The Desi James Bond is most definitely worth a watch

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Ravi Kissen, Kareena Kapoor, Ram Kapoor, Prem Chopra, Gulshan Grover, Adil Hussain
Director: Sriram Raghavan

Venkat was very keen to watch this film on the day of its release. After a long time, all four of us could go for this one together. As usual, I have to thank Cinemax Sion for organizing the tickets at short notice.

THE STORY:

A nuclear bomb that could destroy everything within a 10 km radius has been created in Russia. It is up for auction and criminals are desperate to get their hands on it. Agent Vinod (Saif Ali Khan) works for RAW, India’s intelligence agency. He is sent on a mission to save the world.

Vinod takes off across Afghanistan, St. Petersburg, Morocco, New Delhi and a few other places, chasing criminals. Into the fray jumps Ruby Mendes (Kareena Kapoor). But is she friend or foe? Watch the film to find out what’s happening.

MY PERCEPTION:

Well, as you can see, I have mentioned very little of the story as it is barely 24 hours since the film’s release.

First of all, Congratulations to Saif Ali Khan on producing this excellent film! His acting has got to yet another level and Saif has done a great job of the desi James Bond. I would say that it’s not very fair to compare this film with James Bond, but everyone is automatically doing just that. Even considering that, Agent Vinod is a very good film.

Kareena Kapoor has a good role and she has executed that perfectly. Kudos!

Ram Kapoor has done an excellent job of his very short role as a mafia don based in Russia. Prem Chopra was very good as the criminal based in Morocco.

While Ravi Kissen, Rajat Kapoor and Gulshan Grover had minuscule roles, the characters fitted in very well with the flow of the film.

The music does not distract you from the film in any way and blends well. In fact, the drum beat that was used throughout formed a perfect background score. Simply loved it!

Adil Hussain as the Colonel was a class apart. I had seen this actor playing Vidya Balan’s husband in Ishqiya. He makes a cool villain.

The film has it all – a clear-cut plot, slick action, a savvy hero, a stylish heroine, villains galore, song, dance, foreign locations and more. The cinematography was excellent.

More importantly, the film runs for 2 hours and 40 minutes but still manages to keep the audience hooked. And that is something! The film moves quite fast and the director deserves a special Kudos for that one. Keep up the good work, Sriram Raghavan!

VERDICT: What are you waiting for? Catch the next show

RATING: **** Snazzy

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Film Review: KARTHIK CALLING KARTHIK

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone, Shefali Shah, Ram Kapoor
Director: Vijay Lalwani

THE STORY:

Karthik (Farhan Akhtar) is a prize loser। He works extremely hard at a builder’s office but gets treated terribly in return by his boss (Ram Kapoor). He is silently in love with Shonali (Deepika Padukone) who works in the same office, but she is not even aware that he exists. Karthik will not use a cell phone as he believes it will fry his brains. The peon at work laughs at him disrespectfully for this very reason. All his colleagues treat Karthik like dirt. Then there is his landlord who nags him to pay an extra amount as deposit or threatens to throw him out of his flat. Karthik has a recurring nightmare that tops everything – of two little boys of which he is the younger one. The older boy falls into the well by accident and dies. His psychiatrist (Shefali Shah) insists that Karthik is not responsible for his older brother’s death. But nothing helps Karthik. His life gets worse day by day!

It is the last straw when his boss throws Karthik out of his job for no fault of his while Karthik also gets to know that Shonali does not know of his existence. Karthik goes home, utterly defeated. He gets more and more depressed until he decides to commit suicide by consuming sleeping pills.

It is five am when his phone rings, stopping him from popping the pills into his mouth. There is a man on the phone who insists that he is also Karthik. He seems to know everything about our loser hero including his bank account PIN number and the colour of the socks that he is wearing.

Fortunately for Karthik, whoever that man is, he helps him turn into a confident young man. Karthik turns confident, takes to power-dressing, gets his job back with four times the salary he used to earn, gets a separate cabin for himself, has his landlord eating out of his hand and the best of the lot – Shonali becomes his girlfriend.

While Karthik-on-phone guides the geek-Karthik, things get better and better. But then it is time for the twist in the tale. Karthik-on-phone tells geek-Karthik not to talk about these phone calls to anybody on earth. But Karthik breaks his promise to tell Shonali and everything goes down the drain. What happens after this point is for everyone to find out for themselves.

MY PERCEPTION:

Superb movie! Short and well-made within a span of two hours and a few more minutes! Farhan has definitely had a say in the film-making, it appears, as it sure has his touches. The editing is crisp and the film flows well. As Karthik, Farhan’s performance is nothing short of brilliant. The man’s expressions – facial, body language, intonation in dialogue – are just awesome. During his makeover from a Geek to a confident young man, Farhan still manages to capture the innocence of Karthik who has just changed on the outside but still quite the same from within. His lack of confidence hits you whenever he lifts the phone to say ‘hello’.

Deepika was great in Love Aaj Kal and she is better in this movie. Her on-screen chemistry with Farhan and the dialogue delivery are too good. She’s a gorgeous babe who can act too.

Shefali Shah as the psychiatrist has a small role that is impactful. Ram Kapoor is okay as the boss – not much scope for acting but he was good.

The music was wonderful, all background. A special kudos to Shankar Ehsaan Loy for that!

VERDICT: This one is definitely for the metros and multiplexes.

Rating: **** Snazzy

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super