Movie Review : Agent Vinod

Oh, so you are thinking of giving this spy thriller a miss because the film critic has given it a thumbs-down? Well, I'd use that thumb to cock a snoot at this critic. For the first time, we have an Indian undercover agent who's gritty, pithy and witty.It's not often that you have an Indian agent, who has the style,substance,network and resources at his command to launch a global operation.Agent Vinod has to diffuse his resources over seven countries to defuse a nuclear suitcase bomb fallen in wrong hands. As is their wont, Agent Vinod too handles this with the elan of an open and shut case.

It not often that you have Indian agents who, in the pursuit of their quarry, don't end digging their own graves. Agent Vinod moves from Afghanistan to Latvia,Morocco, Somalia and other exotic and not-so-exotic locales encircling the globe without running around trees. The challenge before Agent Vinod is Bondesque and he is equally so.

The cinematic experience of watching Agent Vinod is as good as the best from Hollywood. Sets look real and the action slick as he goes about giving the enemies a RAW deal. It is not one of those films where the producer splurges on the wardrobes of main cast leaving the rest looking attired in tatters darned out of holes in the producer's wallet. Every character here is well attired, intelligent and articulate. Agent Vinod's suits too are well cut and his work is, well,cut out.

When agent Vinod joins forces with a Pakistani agent working for the British Secret Service, he comes into his own. Jointly, they track down the incendiary device to Delhi with the countdown well underway. With no password to defuse the situation, Agent Vinod is given the task of loading this on a chopper and crashing the bird behind the bush - which is an abandoned Copper mine just outside Delhi.

Only if Agent Vinod had succeeded in stopping the countdown at 008 seconds, he would not only have been smarter than Bond but faster as well!