The movie ROMEO AKBAR WALTER (R.A.W.) is here and so is our movie review. Releasing on April 05 2019, the espionage thriller directed by Robbie Grewal stars John Abraham, Mouni Roy, and Jackie Shroff. Does ROMEO AKBAR WALTER (R.A.W.) has the thrills we are waiting for? find out in this ROMEO AKBAR WALTER movie review.
Immediate reaction when the end credits of ROMEO AKBAR WALTER rolls
Better luck next time, but what about my 2hrs 19 mins of time lost in this pursuit of some genuine thrills that ended in a grill of glorious make belief and in-your-face kind of cinema. Maa tuhje marte dam tak salaam aur inko pranaam.
The story of ROMEO AKBAR WALTER
Rehmat Ali aka Romeo (John Abraham) is an actor on stage who can easily get into any character though he works as a cashier in a bank for his livelihood. Before we can figure out, the on-stage chameleon quality of Romeo strikes a chord with Shrikant Rai (Jackie Shroff) – Director, Research & Analysis Wing (R.A.W.)!!. Romeo is the chosen one and he in reality is the son of a brave heart Indian soldier. Romeo joins RAW, changes his identity to Akbar Ali and begins his mission to gain information from the Pakistani establishment. The movie is said to be a dramatized account of an ex-RAW agent in real who played a major role in India’s biggest win against Pakistan in the historic 1971 war.
Plus points
John Abraham’s outright sincerity in giving some life to this lifeless, slow burner that goes cold in the end. Jackie Shroff’s competence as the RAW chief. Raghuvir Yadav’s short cameo. Tapan Basu’s brilliant cinematography and authentic set designing by Swapnil Bhalerao and Madhur Madhavan.
Minus points
Considering the time we are in, Robbie Grewal had tremendously explosive dynamite, a walking talking time bomb on screen. Just imagine the historic 1971 war, Mukhti Bahini, Indian army, the enemy nation, insurgency, freedom, revolution, but alas, Robbie Grewal’s fascination for cold war thrillers like BRIDGE OF SPIES, THE IPCRESS FILE, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, etc. and his sheer inability to excite, spurn surprise and increase the adrenaline rush like BABY, or get into the soothing soul searching and debate like RAAZI, is completely missing. Other actors = Mouni Roy, Sikander Kher, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi are misfit. Just looking cool in creating a setting and era doesn’t mean cool. And what on earth was the Walter episode? A classic case of an implausible espionage apocalypse without depth or resonance, a bland and cold spy with mundane tactics making a mockery of the unmatched genius of the real RAW harping on forced patriotic sentiments and tagged with all the tad superficial realism money can buy. Cry ‘Baby’ cry.
Final words
Oh ‘Baby’ John is ‘Raazi’ but Robbie isn’t (dirty minds, stop taking this otherwise), what I mean in reality is; John Abraham is ready to go at lengths in RAW and he gives his best but the writer director Robbie Grewal is unwilling to give him the wings of a solid, taut and knock out script to make this spy fly high in the sky.
