Agent Vinod (2012)

What makes it different from others?

Brilliant and touching

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This movie was brilliant and entertaining and enjoyable and storyline great and storyline enjoyable excellent performance and entertaining and storyline enjoyable and entertaining and enjoyable and storyline great and storyline enjoyable and entertaining and excellent Storyline is good screenplay is good editing is good direction is good Background music is superb and songs are really impressive Saif was outstanding kareena was good adil is brilliant Ravi is good ghulshan Grover is brilliant ram is good shahbaaz khan was good zakir was superb prem was good7/10

Money spoils everything, Hence proved. With over Rs100 crore of money Agent Vinod went overboard with style and fashion. Sriram Raghvan was a good director, once you get money you loose the plot, and that's what he did. Disappointed. Although a good movie but looking at his standards his worst. If you remember him in Johnny Gaddar which is one of the finest thriller in the history of Bollywood, you will have a much better expectation with Agent Vinod. But the price was paid when you got your actor as a producer. The movie is good in its wit and humor and in patches along with its support casts. Sin city style casting which gave an impression of sloppy editing and camera angles but soon the movie went linear and with almost not so good story. The loopholes could not hold enough water for the movie and it fell flat on the ground. I can bet it will be another hit because the action sequence are far better and real than comical Salman Khan's movies.The film revolved like a Globetrotter where its easy to jump countries than changing shoes. The Agent went to Russia then Morrorco with just a clue to decode 242 which in turn is just another Nuclear Bomb like any B grade movie. The impossible mission was accomplished by the help of a Pakistani spy with no mission at all. The female spy would simply fall for our Desi agent and forget her agenda. After all there was no agenda of her than to seduce the silver screen. One good thing about this movie is that although it shows Pakistan's ISI chief assassinated by its own subordinate and supporting terrorism but it never bashed Pakistan's sentiments and kept it subtle. Another loose thing was not to end the movie at the right time and stretching the end in such an unconvincing way that shows Lashkar-e- tauiba as more efficient and proactive. Like always, Sriram, maintained its Homage to Charlie Chaplin, Mahendar Sandhu, Amar Chitra Katha, Amar Akbar Anthony, Vidya Mandir, and many other unnoticeable. The movie went from Afganistan to Russia to Morocco to Latvia to Somalia to Karachi to New Delhi. You will wonder why Maryam Zakaria was packed in a sack in the middle of Kabul just to appear again in Karachi to invite Kareena for a cleavage competition in a routine dance of Dil Mufft ka. The song was unnecessary the same way Gulshan Grover was used, there was no mention of his role and he vanished as soon as song ended. Ram Kapoor was good in a fat Russian drug mafia, however he hired an Indian bodyguard along with too many Russians, another small loophole. While Dhritiman Chatterjee and Adil Hussain were good in their character. It was Anshuman Singhas Jimmy who gave an impressive debut without any screenplay. Zakir Hussain was also good as side kick.Saif Ali khan was sleek and never looked like a suave Jamesbond neither a survivor like Bourne, nor a traveler like Tintin. He was just another Bollywood hero with all the skill set to fight his enemy, right from shooting with efficient aim, driving bikes, chasing girls and flying a helicopter.Kareena's character was a real spoilsport in this movie. She looked amazingly beautiful but too beautiful to do justice to a spy from Pakistan. You might wonder when does a country like Pakistan has really grown out of its male chauvinism to allow such a beautiful spy. Sriram Raghvan's screenplay was strong and good enough to keep up the pace, however it was not backed by good background score and music. The editing was good and had new pair of scissors in right hands.All I want to say one thing:- I don't watch movies for time-pass, i watch them so that I can enjoy. I have got face book for time-pass

A brilliant performance by Saif Ali Khan as Agent Vinod and Sriram Raghavan's exceptionally creative direction ensure that this Bollywood take on the James Bond series and the Bourne trilogy is enjoyable fare. While the pace lags at times and the script is a bit uneven, the fantastic production value, exotic locations and wonderfully executed action sequences provide good entertainment value.The film kicks off in the aptly named Desert of Death, somewhere in Afghanistan, where our hero Agent Vinod has to escape the clutches of ruthless terrorists, save his partner and rescue a damsel in distress, all before the opening credits roll. Cut to a video conference discussion with Sir Metla, a supposedly philanthropic Indian businessman based in London and other powerful industrialists, of the Zeus Corporation, all located in various countries across the globe, wherein they speak about a nuclear weapon that they want to place in the hands of a militant Pakistani group fighting against India. They control the world's economies by creating wars between countries. Back at the headquarters of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Vinod is briefed on this plot. Scant information was provided by his partner moments before he is killed by the Russian mafia. His mission is to investigate and eliminate all threats. The operation takes him to Russia, Afghanistan, Morocco, Latvia, Somalia, London, Pakistan, India and eventually Cape Town in search of the masterminds behind this devious plot. En route he teams up with Dr Ruby Mendes, a former Pakistani national framed for a bombing in London which killed many innocent people. She now works undercover for the British and Pakistani intelligence services in Morocco as the personal physician for a key member of the crime network. Ruby and Vinod appear to have a common mission.Director Raghavan and co – writer Arijit Biswas have developed an interesting screenplay which expects the audience to suspend belief as there are one too many conveniences in the plot and some scenes really require a stretch of the imagination. But then again, this is an action packed spy film, not meant to be taken seriously. The film is filled with some wonderfully creative innovations. There are many moments of sheer genius like the shootout in a seedy motel juxtaposed with an intense love song and Vinod's dry dialogues in scenes filled with sheer tension. Raghavan is quite obviously a film buff; the film takes its name from a spy film from the 1970's. He names a character Richard Maibaum, after the screenwriter of many a Bond movie. Prem Chopra, probably the cheesiest Bollywood villain ever, plays one of the villains in the same fashion. The film is filled with retro music from various vintage films. There is a suitably rocking music score by Daniel B. George and superb cinematography by C. K. Muraleedharan, ably assisted by Anil Mehta. It's fun to see some notable South African actors playing the crooked industrialists including Graham Clarke, Neels Coetzee, Paul Cowan, Rafaelle Sabatini, Mike Westcott and Hennie Bosman. In fact while their scenes are set in various parts of the world, it was all shot on location in Cape Town.While individual sequences are edited and directed exceptionally well, the major downfall is that the overall proceedings drag on for far too long. The climax especially, could have been shortened drastically and reworked to create more tension. It's a given that the hero is going to save the day, so to prolong the events is unnecessary.It has some wonderful characters, all excellently cast. Most of the actors acquit themselves of their roles perfectly. Kareena Kapoor as Mendes is sadly the weak link, but then her character is poorly defined. Khan takes top acting honours as he lives and breathes the role of the cool, suave and calculated Agent Vinod. He seems set to return in further big screen adventures.

Despite having found the 2009 teaming of real life Bollywood power couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the terrorist Thriller Drama Kurbaan to be a paring that killed off any promise that the paternally exciting screenplay had to offer.I decided,that since having heard the this film was a "dream project" for Saif,and that it was being directed by the man behind the highly praised Film Noir Johnny Gaddaar,I felt the there was a good chance that this Bollywood " Masala" 007 style film would offer some terrific thrills and a gripping,undercover spy storyline. The plot:After having escaped from a Taiban camp in Afghanistan,RAW (Indian secret service) Agent Vinod heads back to his headquarters in India,where he is told that his next mission is to find a man who murdered a fellow RAW agent in Russia,and who also has a scorpion tattoo and has some strange connection with the number "242".Rushing round in Russia,Vinold eventually finds out that a man called Freddie Khambatta is meant to be delivering 50 million to a powerful Mafia boss in Morocco.Relaxing on his flight to Morocco,Vinod is left dumbfounded,when he discovers that Freddie Khambatta is working as a stewardess on this very flight!.Using his charms to win the trust of Khambatta,Vinod sneakily decides to take Freddie's identity,so that he can meet the cities local Mafia boss:David Kazan.Initially being terrified of Kazan sniffing out his cover,Vinod is almost caught out when Kazan's personal doctor, called Ruby Mendes (who actually works for the Pakistan secret service ISL),injects Vinod with some chemicals that force him to give all the real details.Realiseing that his life is hanging by a thread,Vinod quickly shows all the stolen document proof the he can get his hands on,to prove that he really is Freddie Khambatta.With showing good imitative and also having a huge amount of luck,Kazan falls for his alibi and begins to show Vinod the "explosive" secret behind the number 242.View on the film:Looking at the main performances in this film,I was extremely disappointed to discover that despite filling dozens of magazines with their real life romance,Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor leave any signs of a sizzling chemistry completely off the screen,with the dozens of scenes that they both share lacking any sense of a "spark".Whilst the film was pacifically tailor made for him,Khan sadly gives a very wooden performance as Vinod,with the scenes of the agent risking his life to find out the truth behind "242" lacking any feeling from Saif of excitement or intense fear of being Vinod's cover being blown at any given moment.Although Manish Malhotra's excellent costume design allows Kapoor to wear some eye-catching costumes,her flat performance sadly stops any of Ruby's fun flirtyness or paternally thrilling espionage skills to fully blossom in the film.Despite the two lead performances not having a strong,confident presence which is usually expected in epic Spy films,Prem Chopra shows that he can steel the film from right under everyone's noses.For his performance as Kazan,Chopra cleverly mixes the characters ruthlessness (such as killing his own, beloved camel!) with a strong comedic side that helps to light every scene that he features in,with the scenes of him attempting to develop a "closeness" with Ruby being a particularly hilarious highlight.Using the "242" mystery as a Hitchcock style mcguffin for the film,writer/director Siram Raghavan at first shows signs that he is impressively going to mix James Bond style action with a Hitchcock Thriller edge.Sadly as the film plods along on its overstretched 2 and a half hour running time Raghavan gradually starts to show a clear lack of focus,as the initially intriguing mystery Thriller side disappointingly becomes a tangled mess,as Raghavan seems to spend more time focused on changing the films location every 5 minutes then he does from stopping the mystery side of the film from ending up as a flat-line.Despite the action scenes weirdly only being in short bursts ,Siram uses the scenes to put his fantastic,stylish directing on full display,with a mesmerising,uninterrupted 3 and a half minute,one shot shoot out scene displaying the excitement and stylishness which should have been featured in the whole film.