Movie Review : Ek Tha Tiger

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Rating : 2.5/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2012
Running time : 2 hours 12 minutes
Director : Kabir Khan
Cast : Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Girish Karnad, Roshan Seth
Kid rating : PG-13

This review is mostly to warn you off this film. You could say that the post is being written in a the spirit of public good – I’m feeling Christmas-ey; good cheer to everyone and all that. For starters this is a Kabir Khan film, director of just about average fare like New York, so expectations are low. And they remain there.

Salman is RAW agent Avinash Singh Rathod, aka Tiger. Sent on a mission to Dublin to spy on college professor/scientist Anwar Jamal Kidwai (the erudite looking Roshan Seth) suspected of sending missile technology secrets to Pakistan, the lone bachelor falls for the professor’s part-time house-keeper, the lovely Zoya (Kaif). Unfortunately things are not what they seem. By the time our angry young man has realized that love is not to be his, it is too late . . .

I don’t remember much of this film (a good thing), but I do remember being massively bored. Salman is the agent who can do it all. When he is not out fighting the baddies for the honor of his country, he is busy flexing his biceps while getting the morning milk from the doodhwala at the doorstep. The neighborhood is agog with speculation about the nice young man who goes missing for long periods of time, and Tiger dear must invent a non-dramatic occupation to explain his lifestyle.

Katrina Kaif looks beautiful and even manages to squeeze in a few kicks of her own. The chemistry between Salman and Katrina is unfortunately quite thanda, and I didn’t really care for their romance. This is a predictable film. Split apart by their countries’ borders, the two lovers must make their choice – love before patriotism ? The conclusion when it comes is foregone.

Salman is Salman – theatrical and dramatic and ham-handed in a an equally non-subtle role. The espionage angle isn’t helped by the stupidity of the script or the buffoonish secret agents from Indian and Pakistan. For an all-out masala movie this film was too slow. For the sappy romance that it wants to be, it flogs the India-Pakistan-peace cliche a bit too much. Katrina and Salman are top stars but they remain listless in love in this film.

Do not watch Ek Tha Tiger. It goes without saying then that, DVDs of this will probably make great gifts to particularly hated relatives this holiday season.

Kidwise : Violence is present. And boredom. The boredom will probably hurt more than the violence.