Passable spy thriller with wafer thin plot powered by the SRK brand.
Plot: Jim(John), rogue RAW agent tries to destroy India and Pathaan(Srk) , another RAW agent is brought back from exile to thwart his plan along with Rubina(Deepika).
Shahrukh is back in all glory after a 4-year hiatus and he is delivering the goods in a character that hinges more on swag than acting chops and boy he delivers!!
I have been a SRK fan since childhood and he has been my gateway to Bollywood films and it has bad couple of years for the star with continuous flops,facing a bit of career crisis which made even ardent fans think, has the badshaah lost his Midas touch ? but he has successfully reinvented himself as a action star with Pathaan.
Shahrukh enthralls you during hand to hand combat and has great agility for a 57 year old. At one point he lets female agent save him showing that he is not afraid of opposite sex stealing limelight and is confident about his stardom.
In a movie headlined by SRK and Deepika, it is however John Abraham who surprisingly steals the show with his villain act. Writing for the villain character is splendid and you finally have a good antagonist that make you root for the protagonist.
Action sequences were all inspired from Hollywood movies and director has taken umpteen references from spy thrillers that makes you tiring after a point.
For a movie with 350cr budget the CGI and VFX looks amateurish. Music and BGM are also nothing to write home about too. Siddharth Anand really delivers in the second half after a shaky first half. War(2019) is still his best effort.
YRF tries to build its spy universe but somehow it does not feel coherent. Pathaan is patriotic but does not border on jingoism and that is a good thing.
Verdict : Paathan is a popcorn action flick with great action set pieces and SRK proclaiming to the world that he is not done yet.
Go for it if you are a SRK fan because the king is truly back.
