Rating: C+
Dir: Ayan Mukerji
Star: Hrithik Roshan, N.T. Rama Rao Jr., Kiara Advani, Anil Kapoor
Recent years at the Western box-office have shown apparent “superhero fatigue” in action. Comic-book adaptations, which at one point seemed like a license to print money, now struggle to turn a profit. Something similar appears potentially true in India, with “spy fatigue”. The YRF Spy Universe seems to have peaked commercialy in 2023 with Pathaan, which remains the third-biggest Hindi film of all time. Subsequent entries, while bigger and more expensive, haven’t done as well. This, for instance, took in only about 60% of what War did in 2019, even unadjusted for inflation. Critics were also disdainful and scathing, giving this the worst reviews of the franchise. While probably not stopping things, it’s certainly food for thought to the makers.
Personally, this felt much more uneven. The best bits are great: exactly the kind of ludicrous, OTT excess I wanted to see. But at 173 minutes, there’s a lot that is not such fun. In particular, a lengthy flashback to the childhood of the lead characters, which is completely unnecessary and brings things to a grinding halt, from which the movie never recovers. It also feels like a rehash of elements from War. Though to be fair, I’d entirely forgotten its plot, and it was only when I re-read my review that I went “Hang on…” Again, an agent goes rogue and is hunted down by a former friend. Again, it’s not that simple, with undercover missions and betrayals to come.
Specifically, Major Kabir Dhaliwal (Roshan) has defected, becoming an assassin for the shadowy Kali group, intent on bending all of South Asia to their will. They have obviously seen the previous movie, and demand Kabir proves allegiance by killing the head of India’s RAW intelligence service. He does, but it’s a sacrifice in order to get him into Kali. “Service before self,” reminds the victim to Kabur, before adding a rather Trump-like “India first.” This bit of counter-espionage is so top secret, all of RAW is then after Kabir. That includes the victim’s daughter Kavya Luthra (Advani), and its top agent, Major Raghu Vikram Chelapathi (Rao, perhaps familiar from RRR), who probably does the three-point landing (top) when he gets out of bed. Cue the globe-trotting: this time including scenes set in Japan, Spain, Dubai and Switzerland.
The character introductions are great. Kabir offs a yakuza boss, destroys his HQ, and steals his pet wolf through pure charisma. Meanwhile, Raghu is off taking on a whole base of Somali pirates single-handed. Glorious stuff, full of things a hyperactive 12-year-old would reject as implausible, with a complete disregard to physics and biology. But thereafter? Considerably less consistent, with lengthy dead spots, already mentioned. There are still sequences: the Dubai boat chase goes hard, the soundtrack is a banger, and of course, it is not at all homoerotic. However, over almost three hours, it all ends up spread a little too thinly. Or perhaps I’m just suffering from spy fatigue myself.