Pathaan Movie Review: Hit or Miss?

The characters are stereotypical and at times, the emotional scenes do not have the kind of weight they should. Shah Rukh is earnest and Deepika tries but the direction falters in some of the tender moments. But Pathaan’s target audience does not mind that. It is a formula that has seen War, Dabangg, Tiger, and Singham succeed. Pathaan takes that formula a notch higher. 

Only if looks could’ve killed, this film could’ve been a better killer. It suffers from ‘War’ syndrome, but not as worse. This spy thriller has some spy & some thrills but are they enough? Yes, and no. Yes, for they’re enough to keep you intrigued for a while but no they’re not as smart as you’d expect them to be. Siddharth Anand keeps style up & high on the priority list hence hampering the story side of the film which has usually been his weakness. Sridhar Raghavan’s best work remains to be Bluffmaster, this comes with the great pressure of being ‘grand’ and he treats things with an overly generic treatment.

Director Siddharth Anand, who’s best known for glamorising his stars and presenting them in what sometimes look like lavish set pieces inspired by Hollywood films, Pathaan is no departure from his signature style. If anything, it is a reminder of his previous work – the bromance laden War and the Mr and Mrs Smith desi tribute called Bang Bang ! Here, Anand serenades the audiences with scenes and imagery that is a direct tribute to some iconic Hollywood films.Pathaan is unapologetically fun. It isn’t trying to send a public service message or pass a commentary on the current state of affairs. Instead, it sets the clock back to a time when a Shah Rukh Khan film at the cinemas was a moment to rejoice.

Shah Rukh Khan brings back ‘mass’ to ‘massala entertainment’ and he’s definitely one of the most charismatic 57-year-olds you’d witness on screen today. Just like Hrithik Roshan did with War, he carries the weak story of the film with his alluring aura. I wish he could’ve gotten better dialogues though.

Despite Deepika Padukone’s Rubai is too smart to fool Pathaan & Jim single-handedly, why she has to dance in a bikini & seduce Pathaan every chance she gets is what I’d never understand about writing ‘women’ in Bollywood. She has looked as sexy as a living soul in the history of mankind has ever could, but that’s not should’ve been the takeaway.

John Abraham is as if not #HrithikRoshan he would have been Dhoom 2’s Mr. A but the script restricts him to be just a failed prototype for the same. He holds the wicked bewitchery for a long time but he could’ve done more than what he has. Underutilised to fit in more things like… ahem… a generic cameo… ahem. Dimple Kapadia, too, falls into the trope of half-baked scriptwriting & ends up doing something that has been done by many before.

Ashutosh Rana doesn’t get a whole lot of importance, he’s just basic at its best. It’s something he could do with his numbed brain. Salman Khan’s cameo is as generic as it could’ve been. Many predicted what he’d be doing in the film & they were right. Though it seemed to be the only way of carrying forward the Spy Universe it’s the easiest way to do that.