Operation Valentine

The film tip-toes its way around vague, chest thumping and silly writing in places but somehow manages to engage without beating you over the head with cliches, like other films aiming to deliver a similar experience.

Part of Operation Valentine’s problem is that it just doesn’t have enough meat in the script to make for an engaging two-hour action affair. The makers try their best to make this into a full-fledged feature, but the writing doesn’t have the novelty or invention to grab our attention.

What appears like a plausible story with emotions riding high and patriotic is lost in translation. The troubled past of Arjun is never established; the relationship between Kabir (Navdeep) and Arjun remains sketchy and the rift between Arjun and Aahana is never clearly shown. The film is all about a terrorist attack and the retaliation by the Indian forces. While we see the action in the air and the way a war room functions, what’s missing is the human story, the people behind the borders they are protecting. If we cannot see what’s at stake, how do we appreciate the effort or sacrifice? One of the few moments when you are with the film comes when a retired Indian army person hijacks Pakistani radio signals and plays a love song.