Pathaan

 After waiting for 4 years, finally the king of romance: SRK is back on the big screen with his movie "PATHAAN". Pathaan is the first movie that begins the Yash Raj Productions' SPY universe. There are many instances in the movie that indicate that the events in this movie are happening in the same universe as Tiger (aka Salman Khan from Tiger Zinda Hai) and Kabir (aka Hritik Roshan from War). One of the characters from War (2019), Col. Luthra (Ashutosh Rana) plays a key role in the movie. 

Though the movie got into a lot of controversies and there have been protests in some parts of the country, I went to watch the movie on the first day of release, and the cinema hall wall was largely occupied. 

Here's my review of PATHAAN.

Pic Credit: Wikipedia

Pathaan is a spy who works for a government agency (JOCR) which employs retired military veterans who work on gathering intel and doing covert operations throughout the world. One such intel is about a private terrorist organization (Outfit X, headed by Jim aka John Abraham). Jim's next target could be India and Pathaan along with his team carry on an operation to stop Outfit X. During this operation, Pathaan is captured in Russia and JOCR (headed by Dimple Kapadia) considers him dead. But, Pathaan resurfaces and along with a former ISI agent (Rubina "Rubai" Mohsin aka Deepika Padukone) tries to stop Jim's plan to detonate a biologically mutated smallpox virus in Delhi.

1. SRK can be seen as an action hero with well-choreographed action scenes. His six packs melt everyone's hearts, especially the female audiences. If you are a die-hard SRK fan, you will love this movie. Deepika looks extremely sensuous and hot in the song "Besharam Rang" and she did justice to the role given to her. John Abraham killed it in the role of the main antagonist of the movie. 

Special Mention: Tiger aka Salman Khan has made a cameo in the movie in between the movie. That scene had whistles and hooting in the cinema hall and the background BGM was complementing the fight scene. The whole scene is an attempt to put the foundation of the SPY universe in place.

2. VFX on the movie is good in most places but the concept and the VFX on the climax were a little stupid. How can one fly with jetpacks on the back with no fly-suit and protection goggles? The climax remains weak as a whole missile system can be de-activated by cutting a wire with a clipper. The chase sequence on the frozen lake is good but looks copied. Many scenes of the movie are either coped or "inspired" by Hollywood movies like James bond and Fast & Furious franchises. 

 3. The suspense of the structure and working of the Virus orb is the real twist of the movie which was unexpected to me. However, Rubai's role of betraying Pathaan once and then again coming to help him stop Jim because of a change of heart looks mainstream.

4. All together it is a nice masala movie which can be enjoyed and is worth going to a cinema hall.

5. There is a mid-credit scene also in the movie which is a joke on the upcoming young Bollywood actors and confirms that we will see Tiger and Pathaan in more upcoming movies. 

Hope you like my take on PATHAAN !!!

Elliptical Focus Verdict: 3/5