Tried, tested and tired

Nonika Singh 

An ageing superstar flanked by two lovely women, one of whom, like him, is a RAW agent and the other is a nuclear scientist.  And then there is a battery of fine actors, old and new, from Shekhar Kapur and Rahul Bose to Jaideep Ahlawat for the added gravitas. But despite the trappings what we get is nothing more than the same old kahani, some mind boggling action and war against terrorism. 

Is this Kamal Haasan’s answer to Mission Impossible or in the same continuum as Tiger Zinda Hai or his own prequel, Vishwaroop? Whichever way… what we know for sure is that this is the tried, actually tired, and tested formula of yet another tale of one-man army going full throttle. 

Kamal Haasan is a RAW agent, Major Wisam Ahmad Kashmiri/Vis, who averts bomb attacks in his own country, is sent to a mission in Pakistan. Lo and behold, he even defuses bombs under the sea in United Kingdom. Mr Bond, you have serious threat in our homegrown agent! Just kidding, just as the film befools you in believing it is far more than just a formula film. Heavy-duty words like nuclear oncology, CDM are bandied about to up its intelligence quotient; even when in the nutshell the film churns out anything but intelligible. Storyline goes back and forth to connect the dots to give us a picture that goes tangent far too often. We all know Kamal Haasan is an adept and adroit dancer…clearly he can’t resist bringing in a dash of classical dance. With Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj’s name appearing in the choreography credits, you know his magic will unveil at some point. But when it does appear, it’s almost an intrusion. 

The back-story of Vis as dancer who became a soldier is as much a sore thumb as much else. The ever graceful Waheeda Rahman’s presence as his Alzheimer- stricken mother, though unwanted, does however remind you how old is gold. In a few minutes despite the incongruity of it, all she brings both beauty and substance  into her otherwise badly written  part and makes you sit up for a while.  

But the rest of the film is so much been there and done before that excitement takes a straight kick out. Actually, it’s not only bodies that are thrown about, but logic and reasoning too. Blood and gore…we are told is a natural part of soldiers’ life. Expectedly men, and women too, are kicked left, right and centre in the most gruesome manner.  Heads roll in and out, arms are amputated, bones are broken all in the name of entertainment, which by the way is singularly missing. 

Even more annoying is the attempt to infuse humor. Regular dialogues, ‘sleeper hun to saunga hi na’ are pitched up to sound like punchlines. Gadaar ki yaaddaasht achhi honi chahiye…is the wisecrack from Rahul Bose. As dreaded terrorist Omar Qureshi, however, Bose does get a few moments to flex his acting muscles, especially with his radiation affected jihadi act. Girls look pretty and Andrea Jeremiah as agent Ashmita Subramaniam gets her pound of action. Hassan the actor is consummate but the director in him fails him completely. Why should a gifted actor like him dish out a jumbled up narrative where an officer has to bear the ignominy of a court martial to become a spy? Pray why, exactly our point Mr Hassan. 

The film neither serves the cause of the actor in you nor is likely to benefit your impending political innings. As for you dear viewer…staying away would not hurt you at all.   

nonikasingh@tribunemail.com