{"id":675,"date":"2021-05-28T19:59:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T23:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/?p=675"},"modified":"2021-05-28T19:59:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T23:59:06","slug":"agent-vinod-dir-sriram-raghavan-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/2021\/05\/28\/agent-vinod-dir-sriram-raghavan-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Agent Vinod (dir. Sriram Raghavan, 2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on March 25, 2012.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A suitcase bomb that threatens the fate of the world, if it lands in the wrong hands \u2013 and, of course, in true spy thriller style, it does.\u00a0 And, also in true spy thriller style, there is one man capable of saving the world \u2013 in the case of writer\/director Sriram Raghavan\u2019s film, the titular\u00a0Agent Vinod<\/strong>\u00a0(Saif Ali Khan).\u00a0 Vinod travels the world chasing villains, and eventually teaming up with another operative, Iram Parveen Bilal (Kareena Kapoor) in a race against time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"AV_Poster\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This is my favorite of all the posters.  I think it’s the shoes. Or the “Saif in action pose”.  Or the shoes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s quite possible that the James Bond franchise has spoiled me for movies in the spy action thriller genre.  Exotic locations, cracktastic villains \u2013 and Bond himself, impeccably styled and with a wit as dry as his signature martini \u2013 \u201cshaken, not stirred\u201d.  One is generally assured of a fabulously good time watching Bond save the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I wish that were true of Sriram Raghavan\u2019s Agent Vinod<\/strong>.  Certainly some of the basic ingredients are there.  The opening credits sequence is, frankly, better than any Bond I\u2019ve seen, styled like a graphic novel.  The background score is terrific.  And any film that has Prem Chopra (fabulous in a ponytail and embroidered silk caftan, and weeping over having to kill his beloved pet camel) and Gulshan Grover (villain in white with cravat!) is okay in my books.  The film is stylishly shot (C.K. Muraleedharan\u2019s cinematatography is terrific and frequently breathtaking) and features a whirlwind of locations from  Afghanistan to Moscow to Morocco to Somalia to Riga to Pakistan to Delhi.  There\u2019s evidence of clever editing \u2013 one scene in particular comes to mind, where Vinod is involved in a brawl with someone he has a history with \u2013 the back-story brawl is edited together with the present-day brawl, incredibly tidy and visually interesting.  And although Pritam\u2019s songs didn\u2019t do much for me (though I\u2019m always happy to hear a Boney M remake, this time of \u201cRasputin\u201d), the picturisation of \u201cRaabta\u201d \u2013  a love song set against an assassination attempt on Vinod and Iram —  is brilliant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also can\u2019t be denied that Saif Ali Khan\u2019s Agent Vinod is a pretty good protagonist \u2013 he\u2019s stylish, looks very fine, handles the action with aplomb, and is even given the occasional witty line.  When his partner chides Vinod for taking a risk with his life, asking him, \u201cWhat if they had killed me?\u201d, Vinod\u2019s response?  \u201cThey\u2019d have given you a medal and your wife a petrol pump.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking about this, I still stand by my first impression, that for all of that,  Agent Vinod<\/strong> lacks a little je ne sais quoi.<\/strong><\/em>Kareena\u2019s Iram is, frankly, as flat and tired as old wallpaper \u2013 though I note that it\u2019s not for nothing that the film is called Agent Vinod<\/strong>, because clearly it\u2019s all about him, and quite rightly so.  That said, I still long for a heroine with a little more depth and  sparkle.  I loved the villains, but wished they\u2019d been a little more cracktastic.  And although Agent Vinod<\/strong> is a film lover\u2019s delight \u2013 the sepia-toned opening is reminiscent of a Spaghetti Western, right down to the harmonica  (though my favorite film reference?  The Five Man Army<\/strong>, and villain Abu Nazer (Ram Kapoor) compared to Bud Spencer), I couldn\u2019t help thinking that its never-ending ending owed much to the Abbas-Mustan school of filmmaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, though, there was more \u2013 much more \u2013 that I liked about Agent Vinod<\/strong> than I didn’t\u2013 and I even adored the closing credits sequence, it was incredibly fun.  Ultimately, Agent Vinod<\/strong> was a pretty good outing to the cinema, and quite frankly, it left me longing for a sequel.  So,  Sriram Raghavan and Saif Ali Khan, more Agent Vinod, please?  And soon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"AgentVinod001a\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yes, please.\u00a0 And keep the stubble.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on March 25, 2012. A suitcase bomb that threatens the fate of the world, if it lands in the wrong hands \u2013 and, of course, in true spy thriller style, it does.\u00a0 And, also in true spy thriller style, there is one man…<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingAgent Vinod (dir. Sriram Raghavan, 2012)<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[654,652,287,561,651,653,655],"class_list":["post-675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hindi-movies","tag-agent-vinod","tag-gulshan-grover","tag-kareena-kapoor","tag-prem-chopra","tag-ram-kapoor","tag-saif-ali-khan","tag-sriram-raghavan","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":676,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions\/676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}