by Shalini Rai
The film Pathaan has been a roaring success. It made several hundred crores in the first week of opening and continues to mint money at the box office.
I realise that in this scenario, trying to 'criticise' the movie may not be the wisest thing to do. But someone has to do it. So, let me stick my neck ooot (I luvv the Scottish accent).
One of my main grouses with the SRK-starrer is that it borrows heavily from Hollywood spy flicks. Whether it is cutting open toughened glass windows with a blow torch-like thing or the fact that Pathaan is presented as an orphan (much like Daniel Craig's James Bond avatar), the film does not shy away from taking a leaf (or the entire branch) out of previous spy adventures.
In the film Skyfall, Bond confronts M in a scene just after he resurfaces post being presumed dead and asks her, "What was it you said? Take the bloody shot!" (referring to her decision to have him 'neutralised' while at a critical juncture in a mission)
This line is matched almost word for word by SRK's Pathaan while meeting his 'boss'/handler/superior Nandini (played by Dimple Kapadia) after coming back from the dead, almost.
Then comes make-up, prosthetics and such like.
Before that, let me say that the film has commendable production values and cinematography, a laudable background score and songs you want to groove to. All this is expected in a YRF outing but still feels good and gives you that 'paisa-vasool' feeling.
Coming back to the make-up et al, in one scene, Deepika's prosthetics are astonishingly similar to that of Evelyn Salt (a Russian secret agent played by Angelina Jolie in the movie Salt). Despite being produced by YRF, the film and its clever cinematography cannot quite conceal SRK's sunken cheeks and overall tired look. You are getting on in years, mate....
While in classic Bond movies we would see the desirable female lead step out of the sea, oozing charm and much else, here we are treated to the sight of both Jim (John Abraham) and Pathaan flaunting their perfect washboard abs somewhere near a water body.
(Note to designers -- Please avoid making Indian female actors wear those figure-hugging, monochrome one-sies. Our bone structure just isn't made for them...)
Another bit of the screenplay that seems commandeered from any of innumerable Hollywood spy outings is the creation of the special unit that first Nandini and then Pathaan heads. I can't help but be reminded of the IMF -- Impossible Missions Force -- that Tom Cruise is shown leading in the Mission Impossible series. Even the design of the orbs containing the deadly 'raktbeej' are borrowed from this same film franchisee -- Mission Impossible (Fallout) to be precise.
There are moments of originality, 'kintsugi' being a case in point. 'Kintsugi' is the Japanese practice of repairing broken, chipped, damaged artefacts (think vases, crockery, other, similar objects) by using gold as glue, which makes them more durable and renders them more valuable than before. In one scene, Pathaan urges Nandini to treat his proposed team of secret agents as a gathering of broken but unbeaten patriots. A kind of Kintsugi 2.0 Indian version.
The makers have cashed in on SRK's legendary, decades-long popularity by inserting relevant references in unlikely places, an example being him singing 'Tu hai meri Karen' to a Russian woman named Karen while she lies in a deep, sleeping pill-induced sleep.
In a particularly-jarring instance, SRK and Salman Khan sit atop a mangled train and wonder (without taking names) who should take their place as Tiger and Pathaan. It might be an underhand way of saying nobody can better them at the 'game'.
As the film draws to a close, Pathaan even ends up spouting a version of US President John F Kennedy's famous quote, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
Seriously?
In conclusion, Deepika's turn as ISI agent Rubina Mohsin makes you wonder why Bollywood refuses to end its romance with all things Pakistani. In this case, the audience is first left wondering if she is really ex-ISI or still-with-ISI. Then, we are given a peek into her not-so-comatose conscience when she is shown as helping Pathaan stop 'raktbeej' from creating mayhem in the world by going against Jim and the ISI General-who-has-three-years-to-live.
Rubina is even referred to by all as 'Rubaai', implying a familiarity far outweighing that which the screenplay depicts. She saves Pathaan's life on a couple of occasions, opens up about her journalist father's death and even glugs down a single malt (one hopes) in one go, while cavorting in bikinis and tackling brawny 'bad guys' in one-sies, hair perfectly coiffed.
But if we look at YRF's previous cinematic outings, this 'love-for-the-enemy' thing and/or making exceptions for common Pakistanis, even ISI agents, is not new. One only has to watch the over 20 years-old-film Veer-Zaara to get a sense of the production house's deep-seated love for our bellicose neighbour and its citizens, especially those involved in such noble pursuits as espionage.
