Pathaan

Between its energetic pursuits and mid-air collisions and chases in snow and dust, Pathaan cleverly connects itself to Salman Khan's Tiger and Hrithik Roshan's War, making way for YRF's ambitious spy universe. The franchise was always slick, but with Pathaan, it shows smarts too in a delightfully escapist way. Discovering an unlikely action hero in Shah Rukh Khan contributes to it significantly. It's not like he's not been doused in blood before or hammered half a dozen, zoomed off in a fancy vehicle and proclaimed grand love for Bharat Mata. But the actor's weathered intensity, grizzly charisma and trademark wit lends Pathaan's all-out, devil-may-care antics a sense of purpose that historically evades mindless acts of mayhem. My Name is Khan. Shah Rukh 'Pathaan fulfills his promise' Khan.

The action sequences are true to the film's tag line- fasten your seat belts. Behind every successful clichéd Hindi hero and villain is a good fight, and I assure you, you can bet your money on Pathaan. Kudos to the writers, Sridhar and Abbas Tyrewaala, and director Siddharth Anand for giving us an out-and-out entertainer, peppered with the right dose of emotion, energy and glamour. Quite a few of the dialogues might make you frown, you have to forget that physics even exists in some scenes, the hero must take down a whole army and emerge as good as new by popping a few painkillers and the plot derails at times, but the cast is here to remind you how sheer performances can shoulder an entire film.

Just Tom on a bike doing his thing. Â This makes me realise that when it comes to action, we need to install a part of realism into our choreography. The other glitch with Pathaan is with some of the dialogues, SRK gets flirty with Deepika and calls her a ‘bomb’ while admitting he’s ready for a ‘blast’ as her thigh seductively grazes him. In another scene, he tries to use his comic side to rhyme the Russian currency roubles with the word ‘boobles’ while referring to a lady flaunting her clevage. Smarter writing would definitely have saved Pathaan. Pathaan is unapologetically fun. It isn’t trying to send a public service message or pass 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.