Title: Agent VinodYear: 2012
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapur
It was so refreshing to see a non-moralizing, nonpreaching straightforward action film! I'd much rather watch a film like this than Kahaani any day- so there!
Saif is agent Vinod, our Indian Bond/MI combo. And he plays it with admirable restraint- can you just visualize what SRK would have done with it?! I had a huge scare moment, when he pretends to be gay- I was ready for some cringy moments ala K Johar- but- it was cute- pretty much exactly how some of my gay friends did (and still do) act.
Kareena is just fine really- restrained, not shrieky or screamy, and fit into her character.
The movie turned out to be more than I expected, having seen the few, but all terrible spy films out of Bollywood since the 80s ("Warrant," anyone?). Dharam's 60s-70s spy films were cheese, but had that swagger that the later films were a ugly parody of. Finally, Agent Vinod could indeed be the 1st true heir to Dharam's spy legacy. Needs work on the swagger tho, without losing the restraint!
Saif hops the world trying to secure a nuclear bomb, meets Kareena along the way, and saves the world- well not quite, but definitely saves parts of the Delhi suburbs. Simply story, choreographed with very satisfactory action, and a definite air of mystery. Characters die all over the place- luckily there are enough villains to go around.
Of course the films has its weaknesses-what doesn't (wait, "Paan Singh Tomar"is flawless). But its strengths outweigh the weaknesses of script. Besides, isn't the perfect Bollywood film where you can simply leave your brain behind?
Not to miss:
1- The cute homage to Mahendra Sandhu, the hero of the original Agent Vinod from the 70s.
2- Ram Kapur as a drug lord who looks like Vijay Mallaya. Yep, just wrote that.
