Pathaan, 2023 - Movie Review

Spoiler Alert!

After years of a post-mid-life crisis that got further intensified with Bollywood’s own ongoing identity crisis, SRK is back with a bang-bang-BANG big cinema blockbuster, with a no-holds-barred, full-throttle action-packed two-and-half-hour entertainer of the year. Even though it’s only the beginning of the year, it seems that #Pathaan will turn out to be our #Maverick of this year. And why not! If Tom Cruise can do it at 60, why can’t SRK at 57! 

The film is a classic spy action thriller, borrowing heavily from Hollywood inspiration, crossing between Mission Impossible, Fast and Furious, Avengers, and the likes, with storyline and dialogues that make it inherently Bollywood in essence. Ex-military agent Pathaan creates a not-so-secret special ops unit under the retired agent Nandini Grewal (played by Dimple Kapadia), with a team of other ex’s to fight wars that official spy and military outfits can’t. In one mission he meets his nemesis in Jim (John Abraham), another ex-RAW agent that has gone rogue, being betrayed by the Indian Govt in an earlier mission. And from then on it is a cat-and-mouse chase between the two, one trying to foil the other, with ISI agent Rubai Mohsin (Deepika Padukone) playing I love you-i love you not, between the two missions (much, I guess, like the unit she represents in real life!). With non-stop action from one scene to the next, and a speedy story-telling (no time to get bored), the joyride culminates in multiple climax-type face-off scenes, leading to the winning of good over evil and the hero saving the day.

To be clear, we wouldn’t have enjoyed this film a few years ago. It is sketchy and not really a new storyline, the plot is quite ridiculous, the action is superficial, the characters are cliched, and the dialogues are banal. But the film coming at this time in our lives, after a vacuum, which has been filled with too many clever, politically correct, intellectual, health crisis and often depressing conversations of the last few years, the mindless fare that this film is,  comes as a breath of fresh air.  It is as stereotypical as Bollywood gets and is #WYSIWYG. And we can’t help ourselves enjoying all of the above and more. It’s the same part of our lives that is going out eating and drinking and holidaying and travelling and releasing and recovering and reclaiming.

It’s an SRK film all the way, #obvio. And he does a good-SRK job (and we all know what a bad-SR-K-kkkkk job is). Minus the ham, the over-acting, the teary-eyes, the mellow drama. Plus the long hair, the ripped (on screen at least) body, and the action-hero avatar. While still staying true to his underlying and quintessential romantic hero USP. If you’re an SRK fan, then this film is definitely for you. John Abraham, as the no-moral-compass villain, gets full marks for trying but fails to make an impact, not least because of his ageing face and body which is only a sad reminder of what a perfect ten he was. Deepika Padukone (fanboy alert) looks gorgeous as always, and her body language through all the action sequences is surprisingly spot-on. But after an impressive start to her character in the first half of the film, the role disappointedly deteriorates after the interval to fall back into the cliched heroine stereotype. She goes back to being the same old Deepika Padukone we've seen in all SRK movies, right from her first in Om Shanti Om, to Happy New Year, playing the second fiddle. And this, despite having shown us in the last few years, that she is one actor that can carry the lead in the film and how. After Piku, the Bhansali trilogy, Gehraiyaan, this is not what we expect to see Deepika as. What a loss! 

However, the film’s cleverness (and possibly one of the biggest reasons for its success, especially in the times we live in) is in striking the fine balance between Indian patriotism (a must-have for any film these days) and an inclusive narrative with Muslim characters, including and especially in the lead heroine, ISI agent Rubai. Nicely done SRK! 

The other thing that exactly hits the right spot (and possibly my favourite part of the film) is the cameo of Salman Khan as Tiger (the spy), who comes to the aide of Pathaan when he needs him the most. With almost (and possibly already planned) an MCU Avengers kind of franchise in the making. The inside jokes of an ageing generation that is still trying to stay relevant in the age of the Millennials and Gen Z, hit the perfect spot with all of us Gen X’ers watching and cheering. In many ways, the runaway box office success of Pathaan is a bit of 'a revenge of the Gen X’ers' having their moment of glory (no matter how brief it will be). The end-credit scene, a dialogues exchange between SRK and Salman Khan, is hilarious and is absolutely the cherry on the cake, which ends with SRK saying “Desh ka sawaal hai, humein hi karna padega, bachchon pe nahi chhod sakte”

To be clear, I’ve never been a fan of SRK. Quite the opposite. But you have to give it to him, for making this film and giving us a full-on Bollywood paisa-vasool entertainer (And no Bhool Bhulaiyya 2 was not!), to watch along with friends and family in the cinema, after a really long time.  And for that, we cheer loudly for SRK, for Bollywood, and for Tollywood and for all kinds of wood, for the beautiful diversity of film-making that continues to thrive in India (touch wood), and for making us get back in touch with our good old Indian Middle-Class desires of seeking moments of escape. 

Now whether this marks the return of King Khan and the solution for Bollywood’s crisis or it turns out to be a one-off flash-in-the-pan, only time will tell. After all, it is only the beginning of the year.