Pathaan - Bollywood's James Bond

Pathaan - Bollywood’s answer to James Bond, starring megastars Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. For some time now the multiplex near me always shows at least one and sometimes two or three Indian movies. I very rarely watch them, but I made an exception for this one as I had read that it was breaking box office records in India.

The basic plot really wouldn’t be out of place in a 007 or Mission Impossible movie. Super spy learns about an impending major terrorist attack planned by an evil villain and travels all over the world (Dubai, Spain, France, Russia, Afghanistan) to uncover it and thwart it, alternately teaming up and fighting a beautiful female enemy agent. Of course you won’t ever see James Bond or Ethan Hunt stopping the action for an elaborate group dance sequence, but that’s another story.

The action is quite spectacular, if often crossing into preposterous territory. The plot is not the tightest, to put it mildly, and the esthetics can sometimes be kitsch compared to what we are used to - things like weird slow-mo shots that no Hollywood director would make unironically. In spite of that, I had a good time. It may show up on Amazon Prime before very long (Amazon is listed as a “streaming partner” in the credits), so if anybody is in the mood for an action movie from an alternate source, keep an eye out for it. Just don’t expect Korean quality.