What a movie this was! A thriller with non-stop action, Shah Rukh Khan with a muscular and sculpted physique, breathtaking Deepika Padukone, a ruthless villain in the form of a toned John Abraham and the entire screenplay happening in locations outside India. I appreciate the director Siddharth Anand and his crew for being unapologetic for the film not having a story or being original, yet producing a dazzling entertainer. The film has elevated Bollywood to Hollywood heights in terms of its filmmaking technology, it is not easy to shoot in so many locations and such complex stunt sequences. For these reasons, mangoidiots is giving a Ripe rating to Pathaan (2023).
Pathaan (Shah Rukh Khan) works for a new unit under India’s foreign intelligence agency RAW. Their agency finds themselves in a tough situation when they need to fight an unknown enemy who is hellbent on seeing Indians suffer like never before. To do that Pathaan needs to join hands with an agent from India’s western nemesis’ intelligence agency. Can he trust the agent, will the two succeed in their mission?
I liked the way, the screenplay used the example of the Japanese technique of kintsugi which uses molten gold to fix broken pottery to make it stronger than before. Compared to the other scenes in the film, some thought has been given to the scene where an orb with three inner layers was described. The frozen lake chase sequence, the helicopter chase in Dubai and the Aeroplane ride over Moscow were brilliant. Deepika Padukone seems to have surpassed SRK in the ease with which she has performed the fighting stunts. It is not surprising that the film is rumoured to have earned over INR 1,000 crores (120 million USD) so far.
Don’t go looking for any logic in this film, you will be disappointed.
Footnote
When I saw this film today (20th February 2023) in Six Degrees (Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai) I saw a group of over twenty ladies from a foreign country (European?) who were enjoying, clapping and dancing to the songs. Their guide captured the dancing off the screen. It looks like #SRK has fans all over the world.
Ladies from Europe dancing for Pathaan film in Chennai
Comments