Opened: 2 October 2019
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Vaani Kapoor, Ashutosh Rana, Anupriya Goenka, Dipannita Sharma, Soni Razdan
Director: Siddharth Anand
Producers: Aditya Chopra
Rating: ★★★½ 

War, the latest directorial from Siddharth Anand (Bang Bang, Anjaana Anjaani, Ta Ra Rum Pum and a few others) and an offering from Yash Raj Films is a rare example of a film so wrapped up in its own consequence that it actually works. Featuring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff, it is a film that is stylishly stupid, glamorously dumb and beautifully foolish all the while deftly executing all the things which make Hindi action films great: Extremely good looking lead stars, foreign locales, peppy dance numbers, chase sequences, a conniving villain and plot twists galore, all garnished with some Desi tadka, of course.

The plot (thought up by Aditya Chopra in collaboration with Anand) centres around Khalid (Shroff), a RAW agent who’s assigned to track down Kabir (Roshan), his former team leader (also an Indian Army Major), who mysteriously turns rogue while they’re in the middle of a secret mission to track down Rizwan Ilyasi (Sanjeev Vasta), a terrorist on their Most Wanted list whom they suspect of planning another terrorist attack.

Khalid is on a personal redemption mission: his father dragged his family name through the mud by becoming a foe of the Indian state and was shot down by none other than Kabir himself. But it is not with revenge in mind that Khalid almost begs to work with Kabir on their secret mission; he wants to redeem his family honour, and give back respectability to his mother (Soni Razdan, in a bit role). Kabir’s defection startles Khalid and so begins this cat and mouse game of mentee chasing mentor, culminating into a grand finale at an abandoned church in a wooded area in the Arctic Circle (yes, somehow, there are woods and churches in that uninhabitable place).

At the end of it all, though, the plot of the film is inconsequential. War works (and how!) and is imminently enjoyable because it is a film that understands the exact audience it wants to deliver to and knows how to deliver to them. So even though the film tries to stick to the script with plot twists and glaring plot holes that are hard to digest (there is a triple cross involving plastic surgery, of all things), the film faithfully delivers sizzling chemistry between the two male leads (more on that later), extremely stylish larger than life action sequences in various beautiful locations throughout the world (car chases, bike chases, regular chases, shootouts, you name it), with an undercurrent of patriotism and family honour (the last two, of course, would obviously appeal to home audiences in India). A special mention should be given to the action direction, which is mounted on a HUGE scale. YRF reportedly spent a lot of money on this film and it shows. This film, in fact, achieves, what Anand’s last film, Bang Bang, couldn’t. Where Bang Bang (which also starred Roshan and was also a big budget commercial action film) fell short of the mark because of its lack of conviction, combined with insipid writing, this film has the quiet confidence of selling you a glossily packaged, stylishly executed package where the sum is greater than its individual parts. You get the feeling that the filmmakers know that the film is (ultimately) a dumb action movie, and yet, they also know that you will also lap this film up with all its flaws intact. The film is, in short, extremely fun and entertaining to watch and exactly what’s been lacking in the Hindi action genre for quite some time.

War is also a film wrapped in commercial acumen. Casting Roshan and Shroff in the film is a masterstroke. Ever since Shroff’s debut, the comparisons between him and Roshan have been neverending. Just as Roshan was touted to be the next big thing post Shah Rukh Khan when he debuted way back when in the day, Shroff has been touted as the next Roshan since his debut in 2014.

The similarities are easy to see of course: Both are known for their chiselled bodies and amazing dance skills with Shroff having the added bonus of a focus on martial arts. It would, therefore, have been utter stupidity to cast them both in a film and not have them dance together. That expectation is met with Jai Jai Shivshankar, a gloriously, testosterone driven, camp dance number in which the two studs dance their hearts out to. Shroff has reportedly always been a huge fan of Roshan and the adulation shows. The jury’s still out on whether the almost homoerotic sexual chemistry between the two is intentional or not, but there’s no denying that it’s most definitely there. Throughout the film, there are subtle, and not-so-subtle, almost loving glances thrown Kabir’s way by Khalid. Kabir’s first introduction to Khalid, in a scene where Kabir alights from a helicopter, has him staring as if bitten by the love bug for the first time. There is also a blatant instance where Khalid tells Mallika (Dippanita Sharma), a member of their team who tells Kabir on her wedding day that she’s willing to elope with him to “get in line”. Kabir, on his part, reciprocates with a smirk and the confidence that all good looking men have when receiving any kind of sexual attention. It will be interesting to see any post-release discussion of their chemistry in the film by at the end of the year postmortems. One wishes this could have been a fully-fledged romance, but alas, this would probably not sit well with Indian audiences.

For their parts, the cast does its job well. Roshan looks the best he has in a very long while and oozes obscene sex appeal and silver fox energy (and if the various fan videos of audience reactions to his helicopter entry scene throughout the world are anything to go by, both women AND men have been extremely appreciative of it). He smoulders, smirks and delivers his lines with aplomb. Kabir is reminiscent of the Roshan from Dhoom 2. This could very well be the film that brings him firmly back into his groove after having had a fairly lacklustre run at the box office for a few years. Shroff, meanwhile and the rest of the supporting cast play their parts with conviction. Shroff is especially assiduous in the action scenes, which is a no-brainer, considering his USP. Ashutosh Rana and Vaani Kapoor have brief, but effective roles.

All said and done, War is a highly entertaining film that delivers everything it sets out to and leaves the audience hankering for more. This one is a sure winner. Three and a half stars.