Ek Tha Tiger

If there was a contest for the biggest fan following that an actor has in India, then it would undeniably come down to the 3 Khans. But if there was a contest for the most intense fan following that an actor has in India then it would have to undisputedly go to the most notorious Khan of all.

How else could you remotely explain a line of over a 100 people @ lined up outside one of the least attractive theatres in Goa? Well we are not talking about 100 people @ say noon. We are talking about 100+ people squashing themselves against a closed shutter @ 8 am. All for a 9:20 am show for which they may or may not get tickets. Incredible isn’t it????

That I was one of them and got back drenched in sweat after an hour of jostling and pushing and abusing the people around me was enough reason for me not to give up the 1:10 pm show for which I eventually got the tickets. I was not about to get out of THAT line without a ticket. And now all that was left was to keep my fingers crossed and hope that Ek Tha Tiger was remotely worth it.

And luckily for me, it turned out to be a pretty decent watch. After Salman’s continuous demotion i.e. ACP (Wanted), Inspector (Dabang) and Bodyguard I was half expecting it to be a watchman this time. But he got down to a level lower. A genre of people who no one has any clue about. A fascinating and yet very hush-hush profession. And debatably the lowest rung of the ladder in terms of appreciation for work done – a RAW Agent.

And this RAW Agent goes by the name of Tiger and has a boss called Shenoy (Girish Karnad). Tiger’s latest agenda is to track the workings of a Professor Kidwai (Roshan Sheth) who stays in Dublin. This is after a street fight in some village in Northern Iraq where he gets a few ISI Agents and a rogue RAW Agent killed. And like a RAW Agent would, he smartly befriends Zoya (Katrina) who helps the professor with some house work and is a choreographer by profession.

Ek Tha Tiger is actually a fairly well made espionage movie at the end of the day. Most of the stunts and chase sequences are logical. They may be quite James Bondish in execution and not something that the “evolved” Indian audience may look down upon. But I have said this for Agent Vinod and I think Ek Tha Tiger follows suit. Yes it tends to get too soppy in between but I guess the soppiness is in line with the story.

The music is decent from Sohail Sen & Sajid Wajid but I thought a couple of songs were not required and out of place – but this is Bollywood. Rameshwar S. Bhagat’s editing was quite decent. Director Kabir Khan gave us Kabul Express where he did a damn good job and a decent one with New York. Ek Tha Tiger gets him back level pegging with Kabul Express. Good show from the man.

Don’t look for acting talent. Be tolerant about the action sequences – you will enjoy the 2 chase sequences where Kat and Sallu Bhai (their body doubles of course) give some really good display of Parkour. I thought it wasn’t bad. I think Sallu Bhai comes on tops this time. Good way to say Eid Mubarak to all of us I guess. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWlorjdK8cI