Amartya Smaran
Akhil Akkineni’s much-awaited spy thriller Agent, which created a massive buzz with its promotions, has finally hit the screens.
For the most part, Surender Reddy’s Agent falls into the category of a shabby spy thriller. The filmmaker conveniently sticks to the old tropes of the spy genre and doesn’t go above and beyond in terms of his narrative style or stylistic choices. However, he tries to add so much to Akhil’s character — the yelling and over the top delivery— that I had this innocuous urge to stop the lead on the screen from all that yelling. With each passing minute, we understand how little time was spent on the research and screenplay.
Agent follows the story of Rama Krishna (Akhil Akkineni), aka Ricky, an ethical hacker who does everything else but the ethical stuff. He works from a fancy-looking garage. Rama Krishna’s goal is to work for the RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), whose chief is Mahadev (Mammootty). Ricky is ‘The Wild One’.
RAW Chief Mahadev, aka The Devil, has to track down D’souza (Dino Morea), aka God, who heads a syndicate that comprises other evil-minded, powerful men. The goal of this syndicate is to topple democracy. If there has to be one, it must be of the syndicate, by the syndicate, and for the syndicate. In the middle of all this, a couple of songs and an underwhelming love angle are thrown in.
The film could’ve turned out so much better if only the makers hadn’t sabotaged the gripping moments with unnecessary explanations and subplots. The opening sequence shows missiles being launched at an isolated building. To look at choppy computer-generated blasts in the very first scene and shot is a big turn-off. Then it cuts to the RAW headquarters in New Delhi. Interestingly enough, it all starts with one question: “Why did Rama Krishna shoot Mahadev?”
Surender Reddy incorporates the voice narration technique in his storytelling. Voice narration, when used wisely, could prove effective in taking the story forward, but here it backfires. A lot of it feels redundant and sluggish.
Akhil Akkineni’s introduction shot is set in a hostile setting with men armed with guns and an unlimited supply of bullets. Kids on a school bus cry for help. With snowflakes drifting downward and debris filling the street, Akhil fights these men. The shots (cinematography by Rasool Ellore) and action choreography look highly stylized, but a huge disappointment follows. A spoiler that I wouldn’t want to give away!
Rama Krishna is so obsessed with the thought of being a RAW agent that vegetables remind him of weaponry. The editing choice (by Naveen Nooli) here looks gimmicky. For instance, we see a tray of bottle gourds turn into guns. I understand he’s got a certain obsession, but why the maker had to resort to such a stereotype, I will never understand.
When it comes to the love angle, not much subtext is given.
Rama Krishna just loves Vaidya (Sakshi Vaidya). Dialogues like “The first time I saw her, my heart beat shot up the roof!” sound old-school. The love interest speaks in a Telangana accent here, and thankfully it doesn’t sound that fake. In their first encounter, the duo strikes a deal. The girl says she’s going to reject him at any cost. Knowing this fact, Ramakrishna still insists they spend time together for four days.
This attitude impresses Vaidya, and we immediately see a digression in the flow of the screenplay again. A song (music by Hip-Hop Thamizha and Bheems Ceciroleo) is squeezed into the equation. My issue is not with the song but with the placement. The same goes with other numbers too. The background score is just about fine. Songs are important. Sure! But in recent times, we’ve seen better usage of romantic and masala songs in commercial films.
Of course, we get to see the maker trying to justify the role of the heroine in the movie at a later stage, but it seems inconsequential.
There’s no doubt that Mammootty is a legend. He’s in the pantheon of the greatest film actors and stars, but in this film, he is as good as the part written for him. He still pulls it off with grace and looks really stylish. He’s there throughout the film, and he’s the elephant in the room. The point is, the elephant hasn’t been fed well, and as a result, you don’t get to see a mammoth of a performance from Mammootty.
Akhil Akkineni, on the other hand, looks ripped. The man worked really hard for this film. One can clearly see the effort he has put into the film. His character deals with a great deal of childhood trauma as well. Something that pushes him to be an agent, but all that is flushed out with bizarre cinematic choices. We don’t get to see that build-up.
Character traits such as being unpredictable, obsessive, and loud (in speech and behaviour) don’t really come through so well except for a few scenes. The scene where he confronts Vaidya’s harassers is one of the better sequences in the film. A better script, and Akhil could be the poster child of action films down south. It looks like he’s finally found his genre.
Dino Morea, who plays D’souza, aka God, leaves no impact whatsoever. His performance lacks originality. The production quality (produced by Ramabrahmam Sunkara of AK Entertainments) is great in certain portions, but I wish they had pumped more into the CG.
I would go the extra mile and argue that Agent has all the potential in the world to be an engaging spy thriller, but the fault lies in the creative choices of the filmmaker. The film looks haphazardly arranged and never takes a coherent form. And when it almost does, it falls apart again. All told, Akkineni fans might like the film.
