Romeo Akbar Walter
2019 · Directed by Robby Grewal
Original language: Hindi
- action
- thriller
The story
Prior to the India-Pakistan war of 1971, the RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) trains an Indian banker in espionage and martial arts, and sends him to Pakistan for an undercover operation where he finds himself sinking between emotions and violence.
What it’s like
Saturated, period-styled frames with dusty street exteriors, muted olive and ochre tones in the day scenes, and warm lamplight in interiors give it the feel of a 1970s spy caper. Handheld camera and quick cuts carry the action sequences, while slower, more static shots hold the quieter moments between agents and lovers. The score leans on brassy, percussive thriller cues that swell into romantic melodrama and back again. The rhythm is uneven: long stretches of undercover tension and musical interludes punctuated by bursts of hand-to-hand fighting and gunfire. Emotionally it runs hot, with a loyal man pulled between duty and feeling, and the tone shifts from earnest to heavy-handed. Violence is frequent and fairly graphic in its fight choreography, with shootings and beatings, though it stops short of gore. Sexual content is limited to romance and kissing. It suits a Saturday-night action watch, or viewers who enjoy big Hindi-cinema spectacle, patriotism-tinged drama, and genre mash-ups of romance and espionage.
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