Pathaan review: Bombs, bikinis & blasts, a treat to SRK fans

K. Ramya Sree

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia
Director: Siddharth Anand
Writer: Shridhar Raghavan
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Banner: YRF
Music: Sanchit Balhara, Ankit Balhara

Plot:
Pathaan is a spy action thriller film. Pathaan (SRK) is a soldier who will do everything for his nation. Jim (John Abraham), a once-patriotic former soldier, goes renegade. Deepika is a Pakistani ISI spy. How did she meet Pathaan? Why did Jim turn violent and abandon his homeland? How is Pathaan going to save India? is the plot.

Sharukh Khan looked hotter than ever. His makeover for this film including chiselled body, long hair just flying over his intensely looking eyes, were magnificent. Shahrukh was the heart of the Pathaan.

This is SRK’s first out-and-out action entertainer and we must say he proved why he is called as the ‘King’ of action and romance. He was great in his element.

John Abraham plays an extremely bad guy who feels no emotions but vengeance. He looked like the perfect villain opposite SRK. Be it duo’s fights or John’s subtle psychopath actions, they were just great for the film’s storyline. Finally, we could see the old John Abraham who used to brim with talent in this film once again.

Bikini? Oh, sorry it’s Deepika! Why? Why? Why? She is such a good performer, however her role in the film felt like it was limited to just the skin show and donning colourful bikinis. Her character was more like “I will either seduce you or kill you”. However, she looked like a bomb in this film. Svelte and glamorous.

The rest of the cast were just fillers.

Analysis:
Story of the film is good but definitely not the strongest part of film. It was predictable and the narration was slow, especially in the second half. However, director Siddarth managed to keep the pace and catch audiences pulse making full utilize of SRK’s action scenes. But the story just kept going back and forth that at times you might just get lost about the story. Moreover, they set this film in so many places that it looked like the film was the cast and crews’ paid vacation. We are not joking. From Dubai to Paris to Spain to Moscow to New Delhi and where not! The VFX were excellent. It reminded of a few great Hollywood films. The visuals were stunning showing the lead actors in their best. On the technical side, Pathaan packs a massive punch. The one-liners in the film and the dialogues were the much-needed relief in an SRK flick.

This WAS the MUSIC missing in Bollywood’s action films for a while. Pathaan got some good music that amped up the film’s pace and storyline. Stunt masters deserve a special mention. It is an action film and the director chose the right group to choreograph stunts in the film.

Over, the first half just flows; however, the second half, although it has good twits, was taken in the most sluggish way.

Special cameo by Salman Khan remains the showstopper. There were just whistles, papers flying in the air when the “Bhai” appeared on screen. And the duo’s friendship just made us go ‘awe’.

Conclusion:
Overall, this film reminisces of films like Mission Impossible, Tony Stark, Fast and Furious season 5, Saaho and a few others. There were many scenes in the film including the one in Saaho where Prabhas flies in the air wearing a wing shaped machine, is spotted in this film too (ofcourse it was copied from a Hollywood film even in Saaho). Moreover, bombs were thrown in the film at others like they were distributing some toffees. It was more of bombs, bikinis and blasts (haha). Jokes apart, this is a pure SRK film. It’s a perfect comeback for Sharukh. Intense action scenes, dialogues, SRK’s performance and makeover, VFX, all put together makes Pathaan a one-time watch.