Thankfully India loses a Deewana Spy. Review on Ek Tha Tiger

With a title like that, you know that the movie is not a going be a brooding expert look at espionage. It is more likely to be a "tiger in the circus" exercise. One then hopes that the semi-serious tongue-in-cheek take will at least pack in loads of amusement and chutzpah to justify its light heart. A dekho of the film's trailer confirms initial suspicions. The post-1990s exponential increase in the tech-credentials of Hindi cinema is at once evident- snappy visuals and jazzy editing. But a stronger tug was missing in that teaser. I admit that I have not yet been persuaded to see the work of director Kabir Khan before, hence I was unsure of my expectations towards his newest venture.. Salman Khan ,after losing Aishwarya Rai, has repeatedly displayed that he has clearly lost his marbles as well. God made Katrina Kaif for eye-candy and lusciously wonderful dance moves, but she has yet to fight natural tendency and give birth to beautiful acting. With all these underwhelming factors, would this movie eventually end up as "Ek Tha Chuhaa" disguised with technical razzmatazz? Electing to take a big gamble,I became a brave agent, manoeuvred myself into a multiplex seat, and hoped that instead of being tortured, I would eventually walk away with a goofy smile.

This is the first Hindi film I have watched in an overseas theatre, and it is perhaps an auspicious coincidence that the subtitles for the international audience are complemented by world-class visuals. Opening credits feature fabulous sun-baked shots of Zaakho (Northern Iraq has also featured magnificently in the opening scenes of the 'Exorcist') .The Cinematographer's name is the third last one to feature just behind the producer's (Aaditya Chopra) and the director's (Kabir Khan) Script-writers also smartly ensure that an anti-smoking statement is dove-tailed into the entry scene of Salman Miya (its not all that great, but after all its the messsage that counts!) He plays the eponymous Tiger, a super-efficient marauding member of the India's Research and Analysis Wing. We catch tiger right as he is in the middle of a mission which centers on whether to bring home a traitor or terminate him. Just as one is warming up to anticipate some cool action, either loopy or hard-core, the editing plays spoils-sport.The person splicing the action here seems to have a poor attention span, and compounds the problem by thinking that the audience has that problem too. Terraces are jumped over, streets whizzed past, baddies bashed,a pandemonium of pots broken, and the the action seems to have crossed over from Iraq and passed into Iran, but one simply fails to a get an idea or thrill of the thread of action that is repeatedly chopped up. There is no effort to record the continuous intensity of action with fluid focus, more is the pity when one regretfully realizes that background music runs foolish and roughshod like a recklessly driven car.

But then surprisingly, Kabir Khan lifts his game with a calmer control over the proceedings. Mission stupendously accomplished,Tiger re-tools to the place which has the maximum number of wild tigers in the world. At home, married aunties go fida over this mysterious Class 1 officer who doesn't quite specify what he does for a living. Over a whisky-fuelled chat with his RAW boss named 'Shenoy Sir' (played by Girsh Karnad), the idea is slowly unwittingly sowed into the hero's mind that everything is fair not only in war but also in love. Cut to Dublin then for a new mission where our earnest champ meets Zoya (Katrina Kaif), a young beauty who hangs around the house of his target.  Despite repeated warnings by his mission-supervising colleague-pal (Ranvir Shorey in a  serviceable turn), T falls steadily and deeply into the heart etc.. of Z. There ensues a brook-side scene which is notable chiefly for an emotionally solid act by Kaif. With tears in her eyes, reminiscing the sad past, and then seguing into a smile at T's gentle jokes, Kaif proves that she is capable of making sincere efforts in emotional scenes. For this, probably both the Khans -Kabhir and Salman- need to be additionally thanked.

Just prior to the interval ,the pic slips in a neat twist that completely surprised me. I prefer to fall into that group of audience that watches a plot unsuspectingly without scheming to wrest out and deduce all the suspense from it before-hand. However,as the story moves forward, Tiger shockingly reveals further that he was criminally incapable at a crucial mission-thickening juncture. Apparently the motherland can go for a toss as long as the heart's compulsions are satisfied.  Can Tiger redeem himself now?  Post-interval in an Instanbul diplomatic ball, he displays dreamy fatalism by walking up and making a determined request.  Postcard-pretty captures of Istanbul and exotic bedrooms and bathrooms later, the split in the allegiance arrives as a brave decision is made. Shenoy's hackles are raised ,and soon the star animal is hunted from multiple quarters ,as he goes on the run with a beguilingly fickle-seeming vixen.Will this Tiger become extinct like so many others ,or will he live to roar and moan with pleasure? Contribute further to Aaditya Chopra & Co.' s  fund, to find out.

This is a very good looking film, with a fair amount of all-round hard work going into it. As mentioned before, cinematographer Aseem Chopra's lensing is grandly picturesque, strutting beautifully from Iraq to Istanbul's domes and exotic markets to Dublin to Cuba's Spanish delights (India bhool gaya kya?!) But I was puzzled by a shot in Istanbul having Salam and Katrina in the backdrop of a mosque's large dome. The blue railings they stand against has one badly rusted pole at the center which is quite conspicuous. Whatever the film-makers were thinking, I dont think it was a good choice to include it in the shot,even if it were for the sake of  realism. And in capturing action sequences it is either the camera-man who fails or the editor. There's a Dublin action sequence which stretches for a fair while and past multifarious facets of the pretty cityscape (its hero-glorifying tram-top ending is again uninspired) but we are refused the orgiastic pleasure of clean flowing captures.Even the climactic bike vs plane scene refuses to give us an unchopped viewing.Hyper-kineticism is not always good,and this film is another thankless example. 21 people including overseas names are listed in the "stunts" department, but it wont matter even if you put a 100 in there unless someone takes care to ensure a clear depiction of action choreography. In desperately trying to recollect at least one example of fantastic action in Indian films, one remembers the fights in Pithamagan (but lets not talk about that film's terrible drama)

And again,one notes the background score's blunders- it is horribly unrefined in the first half, and barely manages to get regain some shame later.  Why are so many main-stream Indian directors poor at finding good soundtracks to enhance their films? None of the songs in the story show talent in composition- only "Mashallah" which plays during the end-credits is rhythmically virile, and further sexed up with Katrina Kaif in admirable outfits and an 'Arabian Nights' set-design. But the positives eventually provide the much-needed solace.Continued in comments section.