Yash Chopra presents . . . a film by Kabir Khan (his 3rd YRF movie) . . . a story by Aditya Chopra (no one told me he's unwell?) . . . in Ek Tha Tiger . . . where naturally, Salman Khan is TIGER !! There is not an iota of doubt when the director Kabir Khan says "there's only one TIGER in the film industry" as he's dauntless, invincible, irresistible, dynamic and a bit exaggerated. A film like Ek Tha Tiger comes as a surprise from the director who is mostly known for his serious films and documentaries. Kabir Khan makes a comeback after three years and bangs the silver screen with his action packed romantic thriller casting the most bankable actor of Bollywood awarding Yash Raj Films a fortune.
Tiger (Salman Khan) is Research and Analysis Wing's (RAW) most important and fearless officer who is always ready for any field mission and is best in the game. His reporting head Shenoy (Girish Karnad) tells him about the next mission where he is supposed to observe Prof. Anwar Jamal Kidwai (Mass Comm. and Research Centre ?), a scientist teaching at the Trinity College in Dublin who is suspected of sharing information with the Pakistan defence establishment. Tiger reaches Dublin undercover with his fellow officer Gopi (Ranvir Shorey), and meets Zoya (Katrina Kaif) who is the part-time caretaker of Prof. Kidwai's house. Tiger and Zoya develops friendship, comes closer to each other and falls in love. Tiger suspects something fishy around him and after he was attacked by an stranger twice, he comes to know that Zoya is an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agent. He completes the mission and tells Zoya to run away who disagrees that she ever loved him. After a gap, Tiger meets Zoya again in a conference in Istanbul where she tells him that she loves him a lot and how they both can never be together. They try to elope after the conference and how they face adversities explains the rest of the story.
As stated before and as the history explains, Salman Khan is the "tiger" of Bollywood having a charismatic screen presence and a macho style which is irrepressible. Though he looks a bit older but nevertheless he is the super-hero of Hindi cinema. He makes action sequences looks effortless which is worth praising and for his fans even watching him on screen doing anything is more than a treat. Katrina Kaif looks gorgeous, alluring, dazzling, fascinating and every other adjective. She's not merely a cute-looking-teddy-bear in the film rather she has an equal role to play to which she does justice. Girish Karnad is natural as always and gives a very composed performance, Ranvir Shorey has not much to do but he is brilliant in whatever he is supposed to do. Roshan Seth as Prof. Kidwai is exceptional (but in an incomplete role).
The actors in the film are mostly experienced but what about the writers? Are they not? Aditya Chopra, who gave us some absolutely brilliant stories has messed up with this one. Though the initial idea about the friendship between India and Pakistan by portraying the secret agents of both the nations in love is commendable but the most expensive film coming from a banner like YRF cannot be based only on an "idea". The story starts with a decent pace but due to lack of an interesting story and an arresting screenplay (which is badly needed in a spy thriller) it falls short of events and could not move forward till the end leaving you asking for more (at least a proper end). Sohail Sen's music is hard hitting and Julius Packiam's background score is outstanding (you actually feel the background sound). Aseem Mishra's cinematography is magnificent as he frames the most unique and picturesque locations ever seen in a Hindi film. Rameshwar Bhagat's editing is top notch with fine inter-cuts of the scenes to make the film look sleek (but it's not). Kabir Khan has raised his bar of expectations from his past films, namely New York and Kabul Express and this film is surely going to disappoint his admirers as it falls short of a decent story line and suppresses the talented directors efforts and capabilities.
ETT is not just another Salman Khan's super-human film (though it has some action sequences which leads to indigestion) but it has an element of sensibility carried on very smartly, for example, it has a scene where Salman Khan strips off his shirt, but to put it intelligently he does it to change his shirt and not to beat the enemy, smart huh? Salman Khan fans won't need a review to watch his films, they'll watch it anyway but to put it short 'Bollywood still needs to think seriously about the story factor in a film, esp. when it comes out of the biggest production banner". Who said "Salman ki Agent Vinod?" . . . Critics you know!
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