Performative—that’s the word that won’t leave me ever since I left the movie hall. The banter, the camaraderie, the romance, the feminism, the shock, the angst…all were motions being performed. Because it is assumed that nothing more is needed to fill the seats.

it is difficult to take things very seriously when your mind is wandering and wondering.

The supposed humour, like protagonist Patty (Hrithik Roshan) says, is not funny. The romance hardly makes you go ‘kiss, kiss, kiss’. The banter between friends seems to be mere placeholders between all the action in the skies. The latter, in turn, is barely engaging. Sure, it might be a first for an Indian film, but given the budget, the aim ought to have been more than just ‘recover the money.’ Of course, they are in the business of making movies. But shouldn’t making movies be a little bit about the art?

The story oscillates between Patty’s personal journey and the India-Pakistan war, not doing much justice to either storyline. Now, the jingoism is yawn-inducing. But then, I went in expecting that, so no love lost there. But, couldn’t it have been some other country or entity? This one is done to death and the narration is as dry as it gets. Yeah-yeah, I know. Where’s the fun in that, right?

Now, given that nothing new is going to happen, there is nothing at stake for us as an audience. We know we will have token representation of communities and gender. And some people have to die to prove that they are patriotic despite belonging to those communities. Yeah, I know this is me not giving the movie away. So what if you could have seen it coming from a mile away?

Now, what could keep us interested is that it is related to a true-life event. But it is difficult to take things very seriously when your mind is wandering and wondering. Is that logo on the soldiers’ inner t-shirt a part of the uniform or is it product placement? Because there’s a lot of that going on otherwise. Is that hairstyle allowed? Does each soldier arrive individually in an Air Force plane when they report for duty? Are spouses allowed to accompany soldiers when they are sent for secret, important missions? Do the helmets carry their pet names or was it for our benefit because they would be difficult to recognise with helmets on? Do only Pakistan’s helmets have their flags on them? Maybe it is all good? But the mind wandered. In a thriller. Because it was full of slow-mo and loud-loud music. And unengaging.

But hey, I can thank the movie for keeping me focussed for the bits when white-marble-like chiselled faces and pretty people were on screen. And they didn’t do too bad acting-wise too. Deepika Padukone has slowly started creating a space for her characters where it looks easy to be that person.

Hrithik looks like a beautiful mural, though less than usual. Beautiful, same, even more. Mural, less. Yes, that’s a compliment. Rishabh Sawhney’s baritone had potential, and so did his character’s menacing demeanour. But nothing much was made of it, so we will have to wait for another film to find out more about his skill. The rest of the cast is more jarring than not. And why-o-why is Anil Kapoor rushing through his lines? To cut the unnecessarily long runtime of the film?

…all were motions being performed. Because it is assumed that nothing more is needed to fill the seats.

There was this one line that caught me unaware. It equated revenge and war. And that’s a deep philosophical take, and something totally unexpected. And it was done really well too. I found my time, money, and effort rewarded by that line. But then, I was already there. Would you want to go for just that? Okay, fine. And some beautiful people doing a decent job of acting?

– meeta, a part of the audience