Arijeet Maji

After all the hype created on the movie "Pathaan" since its release, I couldn't resist myself from watching it in a theatre, but surprisingly my premonition was correct. May be this is an unpopular opinion about the movie basis my personal experience, but fans of SRK shouldn't find it demeaning. First of all, this YRF Spy Universe is nothing new, it has Tiger, Kabir and now Pathaan as spy soldiers. The duo of director-producer, Siddharth Anand-Aditya Chopra, had made Hrittik's War and there are numerous similarities in the approach of this film's make and shots with War and Salman's Tiger series. The action sequences, including rifle buying in Africa, action in snow/ copters/ running trains, etc are mostly similar (barring few new shots) and even cinematography, song locations and choreography of "Besharam Rang is so similar to "Ghungroo" of Hrittik in War, including SRK wearing the hat, though Hrittik is still the best dancer in Bollywood. Movie watchers who watches movies of James Bond or Mission Impossible series, will find most of the action shots pirated with added Hindi masala. Well offcourse for Bollywood, this kind of action movie making is still only a few years history and hence all the overhype. Watching SRK in a totally new avataar of an action hero was quite refreshing after his 4 years gap, and Deepika Padukone, similar to Katrina Kaif (Tiger series) or Vaani Kapoor (War), was equally enjoyable, however diversity in acting skills was not so much reflective of their talents, as the movie is purely action oriented. Speaking of John Abraham, I somehow feel he is being stereotyped as the bad guy in many films, for eg. Ek Villain Returns, Dhoom, etc as his acting skills are way too poor and fits mostly such roles, apart from his toned muscular body which people may find appealing in screen. The music was good but the BGM was not that impressive as KGF-2. Overall, I feel purely Hindi movie watchers can watch it in theatres, only because of SRK's return to big screen after ages, while frequent Hollywood action movie goers can surely give it a miss, its overhyped. Lastly, I dont know whether the last scene (without quoting) was required and intentional of director/ actors (Salman-SRK duo) to criticise their fellow actors cum other agents in YRF world, but I am not sure it will be taken well by the other actors, without quoting, who all were targeted. All in all, its a 3/5 from my side and one shouldn't watch the movie with over expectations, just because it is a contagion effect due to peer pressure. I fell prey to this media tactics.