"Once a bullet is fired, it won't go back into the gun."
Hello everyone!
So I had a thought while picking my next movie to watch, and I figured I could probably do a compare-and-contrast between Om Shanti Om, which is on record as the first (of many) collaborations between SRK and Deepika Padukone, and their latest (or one of their latest) movies.
Turns out they released a second one towards the end of 2023, Jawan, but I haven't gotten to it yet and I'll probably take a mini SRK break before I do, but the point still stands.
Starting off in 2007, these two have definitely starred next to one another a couple of times since, and I found it fascinating to see the differences that almost two decades can bring.
Also, I'd wanted to watch this movie since forever, but just never got to it, so finally sitting down and DOING it feels like an accomplishment!
Ergo, we're diving into the spy world, and doing it with style, as our main character would say, because of course he would, in Pathaan.
Pathaan is part of the YRF Spy Universe, which I suppose is the equivalent of the Bond movies in Hollywood, except Bond only caters to one character, but this movie melange covers a variety of them, and I'm intrigued enough that I'll want to watch the rest of them.
Also one, War, features Hrithik Roshan, so you KNOW you'll be seeing THAT on this blog soon!
But anyway.
Pathaan starts off with the Indian-Pakistani conflict regarding territories like Kashmir, and a general who really doesn't like this so he calls up a terrorist group known only as Outfit X to get a deal going.
In the present, Pathaan resurfaces, much to the chagrin of the people he's fighting, and kinda destroys a warehouse during his interrogation scene, in which the bad guys think they're interrogating HIM, but joke's on them since he's the one asking the questions.
Meanwhile in India, his former boss Nandini gets a hit on one of Outfit X's members, so she and another junior member of the team Pathaan actually formed head on out to get the information to the agent. In the process, she tells the kid (who's greener than the newly grown grass) what actually happened during the years.
After having been badly injured and recovering, Pathaan looked up other retired soldiers who still wanted to serve India and formed a group that would operate outside legal jurisdiction and get things done when and where no one else could. They bring Outfit X to the attention of Colonel Luthra, and add in the fact that their next target - Dubai - just so happens to be where the president of India's going to be giving a keynote address.
Turns out that the whole thing is a ruse; rather than going for the president, Outfit X kidnaps one of the scientists that were also supposed to be at the conference, after a long and exhausting battle with Pathaan, who uncovers that the leader of these people is a man called Jim - someone who used to serve India.
Bringing this information back to Luthra, he learns that Jim used to be the top RAW agent - alongside Kabir (Roshan) - who was too good, so Somalian pirates kidnapped him and his pregnant wife to demand ransom from India after he succeeded in a mission. Since no government negotiates with terrorists, this obviously didn't happen, and the pirates killed his wife, which flipped a switch in Jim, causing him to fake his death and swear vengeance.
Pathaan, disgusted with the fact that a soldier was so easily discarded, focuses on the next thing his group uncovers: Raktbeej, a word that keeps popping up but they don't know why or how. Instead, he follows a lead on Pakistani doctor, a woman named Rubai, who had apparently paid the agents in Dubai.
He tracks her down alright. And she leads him straight to Jim, revealing herself as part of Outfit X - and that Jim wants Pathaan on it, too. The ever-grazing Pathaan rolls his eyes and then bugs them out when Rubai suddenly flips sides to rescue him, revealing that instead of being an ex-ISI agent, she's still one, and they've been trying to stop Outfit X for a while now.
Together, the two of them head to Moscow to steal Raktbeej before Jim can, with Pathaan concocting a fantastical plan to get it out of the world's most secure vault, including but not limited to Rubai seducing a high-standing government official and hiring two hobby pilots along the way.
Then the kicker: Rubai betrays Pathaan, revealing that Jim had planted her with him all along to get Raktbeej for him.
Listen, we all saw it coming. With half a movie left, you know there's a down point somewhere.
Pathaan is arrested and tortured badly by the secret police, supposedly renounced by his own superiors, except Nandini gives him a coded message that another RAW agent is on his way to get him out of there - none other than Tiger, who started this whole franchise, by the way.
He shares the fight - and painkillers, because these guys be old as dirt and need them - with Pathaan, and Pathaan swears that he'll only return to active status if it's something to do with Raktbeej, since his pride is wounded that someone beat him.
Well, in present day, that's what he's doing, interrogating Jim's henchman and, after getting word about Rubai, heading to Paris, telling the woman that she successfully called him to her side, so now what? Before he shoots her for betraying him, of course.
Rubai, for her part, shows appropriate remorse when she reveals that Raktbeej is much worse than anyone thought: it's a virus, and Jim mutated it with the help of that kidnapped scientist. It can decimate a full city in days, faster than even COVID, and he's going to be using it sooner rather than later.
Also, his lab is conveniently in Siberia, because why not?
Hightailing it over there to get that virus, Rubai and Pathaan work together in the fight against Jim, who finally clocks into the fact that Rubai's double-crossed him. In high-stakes action with motorcycles somehow managing over heavy snow and ice, our heroes recover one of the Apples of Eden, I mean, virus orbs, but Jim escapes with the second.
And while Pathaan is all about destroying it, Luthra says they need it to craft the antidote, so the disaster that follows is on him: Jim tricked them all, something Rubai reveals during her own interrogation, basically spelling out that the plans of Jim's plans have secret plans with backup plans of their own backup plans.
If you understood what I just said, congratulations! You understand how Jim works.
Basically, he hid the virus into one of the security layers of the orb rather than where everyone expected it to be, thus ensuring they'd accidentally release it on themselves, and Nandini, who's infected, orders Pathaan to finish the job, while Luthra bombs the facility to prevent the thing from escaping.
Pathaan then lures Jim out by pretending the virus escaped into an Afghan village - which turns out to be patently false, and the villagers are just helping him. Why? Well, he saved their lives during his first military operation, a joint one with the US, when the US almost bombed the wrong place, but he diverted the bomb, got into a coma for his troubles, and was told when he woke up that he would always be theirs and they his.
Name of this village? Pathaan. See what he did there?
Anyway, Pathaan chases after Jim, who thinks he's Falcon or something, while Rubai deals with the missile that's got the virus attached to it, only SURPRISE, of course it doesn't. The virus is already on a plane, circling above Delhi, and Luthra has to make the difficult choice to shoot it down before it can land, although Pathaan has the final say there as he fights Jim for control of the trigger.
He gets it, too. And somehow manages to walk away with a fatal stab wound, but I suppose when you're Pathaan, a little thing like a knife under your heart only makes you sneeze rather than drop dead.
With the crisis averted, Nandini's posthumously awarded the medal of bravery, and Luthra reinstates Pathaan, this time as chief of his unit, telling him there's plenty more ex-soldiers out there who still want to serve, but they need someone like Pathaan to bring them all together.
And seeing as Pathaan and Tiger both agreed - after destroying the Russian train during which Pathaan accidentally pulled a grenade pin, making Tiger wonder what he's ever done to deserve such idiocy - that no young agents could replace them, our man is more than ready to keep fighting the good fight, especially since now he has Rubai, too, no trickery included.
So with a final song and dance we leave them, and boy, is this an enjoyable, funny experience! From Pathaan's Pikachu face while Rubai kicks ass, to the way he's as nervous as a teenager when she puts on the moves trying to seduce him, not to mention sooo many little inside jokes and teasing about SRK because they want to point out they follow the media (including but not limited to his body and the fact his hair needs a cut), this is a good laugh from start to finish.
I mean, just having Tiger pop up on scene and giving an 'are you kidding me' look when Pathaan reveals the grenade pin in his hand, is hilarious.
It's also a really great showcase of just how far Padukone's come. From a wide-eyed ingenue in Om Shanti Om who played a rather ditzy heroine, to an action star of her own right who kicks ass and takes names, making SRK just go 'all yours, ma'am, don't mind me over here!', it's brilliant, and you can very well see the result in her confidence, her conviction in the role, and her rapport with her co-star as well.
Kajol might be SRK's Bollywood soulmate, but having worked for as long as he has, he's built great relationships with pretty much everyone he's ever come across, and Padukone's no exception. I highly recommend watching this little skit, from the release of her cosmetic line, because it'll just give you further proof of what I'm talking about.
On the whole, Pathaan is an great experience and rather different from other Bollywood movies I've watched so far because it doesn't focus as much on the music - in fact, it only has two featured songs, in contrast to Fighter who had a full handful, for example. But it flows nicely and makes for a compelling story, which is basically all you need; and I swear if Michele Morrone and Frank Grillo had a love child, it'd be John Abraham who plays Jim, he reminds me of both the guys so much.
ALSO, I find it great how they name-drop in this one. It's telling that Luthra mentions Jim AND KABIR are ranked as the best of RAW's agents, because it builds something: excitement, for one, because YOU JUST KNOW Roshan's going to KILL IT in the role, but also that RAW has a bunch of problems if their agents are going rogue, which is an underlying issue that I think might be addressed in the universe as a whole.
Or I hope in any event!
So I'll leave you here to enjoy Pathaan beating the heck out of all his enemies while looking stylish, even as I fangirl over the idea that War might be an even better movie than this one was. All in all, however, they're all worth a watch, so what are you still waiting for?? Give it a go, you won't regret it!
xx
*images and video not mine
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