Two-hero films were in vogue at one point but in today’s times, it’s a rarity. Yash Raj Films brings respite in this regard in the form of WAR, one of the most anticipated flicks of the year. The film features two of the most popular actors today and the way they have been portrayed has upped the excitement to insane levels..
Plot
Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff play Kabir and Khalid, respectively, two smouldering Indian anti-terrorist spies who are out to nab evil international arms dealer/terrorist Rizwan Ilyasi (Sanjeev Vasta), who looks weirdly like Geoffrey Rush cosplaying as Fran Leibowitz, dressed as he in red circular-framed glasses, cream-coloured khakis, and white pinstriped jacket. But before Kabir and Khalid set off to catch Vasta’s flamboyant-looking, but barely-developed baddie, the two leads take a while to size each other up. Kabir doesn’t want to work with Khalid, not even after a (genuinely fun) establishing action scene where Khalid disarms a room full of drug-dealers in what looks like one long take. A pair of sudsy reasons are given for Kabir’s on sight enmity—Khalid’s dad betrayed his country! Also: Khalid has bad peripheral vision!—but these are obviously just excuses to get Roshan and Shroff to give each other sexy looks, declare their love for India, and dance together. The same is basically true about, oh, all of the immaterial plot.
Two handsome leading men, both of whom amass bloody scars across their chiseled cheek bones and jawlines, must work together despite their mutual fear of betrayal. Never mind Kabir’s hetero-romantic sub-plot with single mom Naina (Vaani Kapoor), a civilian asset who becomes reluctantly involved with Kabir’s plan to catch Ilyasi; Kabir and Naina’s romance is tellingly only emphasised at the start of the film’s post-intermission second half. “War” frequently promises and sometimes delivers a series of over-the-top confrontations between Roshan and Shroff, the latter of whom goes to weird lengths to make Roshan seem like the sturdier of the two stars.
Direction – Screenplay
War, directed by Siddarth Anand, is a spectacularly tedious exercise revolving around brawny agents who love the bloody sport of pummelling each other to the ground or indulging in one-upmanship. Don’t get us wrong here. The action sequences are swish and spectacular, but after a point it just looks like the boys are showing off.
The best part of the film is that the writer and director, Siddharth Anand, hasn’t shown Hrithik as a commander with unlimited energy. He does get tired and beaten down. More importantly, just because Tiger takes his shirt off, Hrithik doesn’t do it for the heck of it. At the same time, it also suffers from some illogical action scenes such as using magnetic force to cling on to a defence plane flying at a high altitude. In such scripts, often logic and gravity is an unnecessary burden. Dialogues are well-written and throw in a tint of humour which adds to the chemistry between Hrithik and Tiger.
Music
The music and background score keeps the energy of this action flick high.
Performance
Hrithik stands out and yet again proves why he is the super-agent who can equally play darker shades with finesse. Tiger Shroff has played the gutsy, risk-taking commando in his last few films. The experience of those helps him to convince the audience that he has come a long way from the action- loving lover boy. In fact, he has a few tricks up his sleeve that becomes the highlight of the film; stealing some charm from Hrithik.
Soni Razdan is in her element, playing the role of Khalid’s mother waiting to have her moment of redemption. She is impactful whenever given the screen space. Ashutosh Rana plays Colonel Luthra, the head of the special task force. He grips his character brings in the required dose of intensity. Vani Kapoor, who enters in the second half with a role that is a little more than a cameo, becomes the moral compass for Kabir. Anupriya Goenka, one of the key team members of the task force, is given less on- ground action scenes but more desk intelligence work.
Overall
Well performed, well built action but screenplay is slick If you love action movies just watch this flick.
Verdict : 3/5
