Watching War 2 just a day ahead of Sholay's 50th release anniversary felt very timely. Below all its layers of the "curry" Western genre, story of settling scores, and justice, Sholay was also a story of friendship between Jai and Veeru, played by the biggest stars of the late 1970s, Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra. Their dosti was to die for, literally.
In War 2, we have Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR, the today's A-listers representing the North and the South cinemas, play frenemies Kabir and Vikram. A unique but perfect picture of national integration, on paper.
Hrithik's Major Kabir Dhaliwal, who is RAW's perfect warrior, returns in a fitter, more ferocious avatar in this sequel, with Jr NTR ably lending him a hand in all the heavy lifting as fellow intelligence officer Vikram Chelapathy AKA Raghu, who is almost like Kabir and yet nothing like him. Turns out that they are childhood friends from a Mumbai slum.
In the film, they get a very Slumdog Millionaire-ish flasback, especially with the trains. Streetsmart Raghu has always been a survivor who wants to be numero uno in all walks of life, while Kabir is a gentry wala who after befalling bad times finds a mentor in Raghu who teaches him how to live on the streets and, most importantly, fight to survive.
Years after Kabir "deserts" Raghu for a better shot at life under Colonel Luthra's guidance, they fight each other in a giant ice cave in Davos, the seat of the World Economic Forum, while an attempt is made on the life of the Prime Minister of India.
An almost fatally wounded Raghu professes his love for Kabir, "Tere baad main kisi ka nahin ho saka Tu Colonel Luthra (Ashutosh Rana) ka aur desh ka ho gaya".
War 2 sees Hrithik and Jr NTR aim for a Sholay-like bromance if it were set in the Yash Raj Films's Spy Universe and if Jai and Veeru were frenemies, but end up starring in a slog of a film at a close 3-hour runtime.
This sequel to War, directed by Ayan Mukerji, takes the viewers on globetrotting journey to at least 10 countries, stuffing episodes from the six of them in the post credits scene.
The director serves a way too long follow-up to 2019's War to do justice to the stardom of Hrithik and Jr NTR.
The story, by YRF head Aditya Chopra, actually begins when Colonel Luthra asks Kabir to cross over to the dark side and find who all are behind the Kali cartel, an organisation that rewrites the bhagya of countries and governments across the world and disses democracy. Kabir goes rogue and is now a freelancer who only has loyalties tied to money.
Come in a bare-chested Vikram, a formidable foe with a six-pack abs to Kabir, who drops from a plane to lead an attack on a Somalian pirate gang. He is the "best", they say. Jr NTR gets to showcase some shades of grey, no matter how unnecessary. Raghu's "I-me-myself" attitude goes out of the window when he realises that his childhood friend never really left his corner. He now chooses to fling himself back to "the right side of the wall" in this war.
Then there is Kiara Advani playing the role of Wing Commander Kavya Luthra of Sky Force India (what is that?) and the daughter of Colonel Luthra. She receives a Vayuveer medal for her service and knows its always 'India First for dad'. Kiara gets a few moments in the sun, and they are not just by the swimming pool in the lime green bikini, whose sequence is just as long as what one saw in the music video of Aavan Jaavan.
'Besides their stardom and a lot of green screen, Ayan bets on the beautiful eyes of his three leads. Oh, those three pairs of eyes do a lot of breathe some life into War 2. And, the way Hrithik looks at that CGI wolf... Only he can make you believe that the CGI wolf is real and that now he is its master.
We get that much-awaited dance-off between Hrithik and Jr NTR with Janaabe Ali, which pales in comparison with the RRR star's Naatu Naatu with Ram Charan. Just before Janaabe Ali plays, Kabir and Vikram meet for a drink in Spain.
The entire scene is a very obvious hat-tip to the banner's Dhoom 2, the sequence with Hrithik's Aryan and Abhishek Bachchan's Jai meeting up as chor and police. There are references to Zanjeer and The Dark Knight and those are just there too.
It would also be interesting to know why the makers decided to place a key ambush scene with Hrithik and Kiara in the basement parking lot of Noida's The Great India Place, notwithstanding the product placement.
Any war is about choice. Decisions are made, sides are chosen. Films are also about choice. Wish War 2 makers had thought long and hard about what they want to say and why. Maybe choose to kill a prominent character. At least then, we'd go home with some sympathies for the dead character, just like Jai from Sholay.
Also Read | At War 2 Screening: Hrithik Roshan-Saba Azad, Alia Bhatt-Ranbir Kapoor, Tiger Shroff And Others. See Pics
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Hrithik Roshan, Jr NTR, Kiara Advani, and Ashutosh Rana
