Last updated: 25 January 2023

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Film: Pathaan

Directed by: Siddharth Anand (Bang Bang, War)

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia, Ashutosh Rana, Salman Khan (cameo)

Highlights: Performances of Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham and Deepika Padukone, engaging story, good plot twists, Salman Khan’s cameo as Tiger and his banter with Shah Rukh Khan, fight scene on a moving train in Russia

Lowlights: songs, sloppy camerawork, inconsistent VFX, absurd action scenes (ex. Dubai fight scene, flying scene wearing an Iron Man suit but without a helmet)

Cinemania rating: ★★★☆☆

Detailed Review

Plot: Espionage-thriller Pathaan follows a patriotic RAW agent (Shah Rukh Khan) – the titular character – who takes up a new assignment to travel to Dubai to protect the touring Indian President from a private terrorist organisation. Pathaan learns that the organisation is headed by an ex-RAW-agent-turned-terrorist Jim (John Abraham) who was presumed to be dead. Jim is hellbent on destroying India (his flashback justifies his actions) using a secret weapon codenamed “Raktbeej”. In order to find out what “Raktbeej” is, Pathaan travels to Spain to befriend a Pakistani doctor Rubina Mohsin (Deepika Padukone), who is believed to be funding “Raktbeej”. What is the connection between Rubina and Jim, and what exactly is the secret weapon, and does Pathaan save his country from Jim is revealed in the rest of the story.

Performances: All three star actors – Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham – get ample screen time to showcase their acting as well as action skills, and play their roles with ease. Dimple Kapadia, playing the head of the Joint Operations and Covert Research department (Bollywood equivalent of James Bond’s M) and Ashutosh Rana (playing RAW joint secretary) do justice to their roles. Salman Khan shines in his reprisal of Tiger role in an interesting cameo that sets the screen on fire.

Technical departments: Several scenes in Pathaan have below-par CGI – for example, the fight scene in Dubai between Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham, the skiing scene on a frozen lake, the scene where the protagonist and antagonist fly using an Iron Man suit – to name a few. Editing is impressive and makes up for the mediocre VFX. Camerawork is poor, especially in the Myanmar scenes where the camera is shaky during the conversation between Shah Rukh Khan and Dimple Kapadia, and in the climax cave scene where focus is not on the speaker. The background score is apt, however the theme music for Pathaan’s character is a bit weaker when compared to the theme music for Tiger’s character.

In summary, Pathaan is an entertaining film despite its inconsistent VFX and stretched action sequences that lack logic. The Siddharth Anand-directorial will emerge as a blockbuster for Shah Rukh Khan in his comeback film (his last theatrical release as a male lead was Zero in 2018, though he did several cameo roles since).

Don’t miss the post-credits banter between Tiger and Pathaan – that’s one of the best scenes in the film.

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Follow Cinemania on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for updates and reviews on Hindi films.