Pathaan Movie Review

Shahrukh Khan’s comeback after a long hiatus of 5 years kept the fans loaded with high expectations. The Bollywood traders heavily banked on this film to escalate their stature as most of the big Hindi flicks released over the past couple of years didn’t earn them favorable results. Pathaan is the latest one to join the Yash Raj Films’ Spyverse (Tiger and War have proved to be great hits).

The film opens with Pathaan (Shahrukh Khan) getting back into the radar of his acquaintances and enemies to settle scores with a terrible miscreant Jim (John Abraham), a befallen angel and a former patriotic, who has turned against his motherland for betraying him that cost the life of his pregnant wife. The entire film revolves around the hero’s adventurous action journey to stop Jim’s master evil plan that will ruin the entire country with a pathetic threat (Not a routine nuclear or atom bomb this time).

The initial moments of the film bring up the traces of several James Bond flicks, where the handsome protagonist is seen getting hit by a bunch of monsters, only to reveal that he is preying on them, which is followed by the title credits, and the arrival of Dimple Kapadia, the Desi ‘M’ borrowed from the same franchise. The first half has action sequences that get overdosed with artificial elements. Cruising through the air, and tying the helicopters to a gigantic heavy vehicle might be terrific stuff out there with Hollywood, but here to see them all done with mediocre CG works ruins the quality of this film. The interval twist isn’t engaging as we are notified with the right prediction before the flashback begins. Director Siddarth Anand doesn’t commit the same mistakes in the second hour. The momentum picks up immediately by the post-intermission sequence. Especially, with the cameo arrival of Salman Khan, the moments get huge. The following events involving the cat-and-mouse game between SRK and John Abraham are done neatly. However, too many action sequences make our experience slightly tedious. However, the climax followed by the post-credit sequence between SRK and Salman (A special surprise and takeaway for their fans) makes it a decent and watchable film.

Overall, Pathaan will be a great treat for the SRK fans stapled with a long wait for a long time to watch their matinee-idol gleaming on the screens. Yes, there are a few dull and time-worn elements in this movie, but the film still manages to impress the fans.