Movie Review : ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ (* One Star)

(By Akshat Sharma )It is festive season and Salman Khan knows how to take advantage of such charged environment. His latest release ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ is one of those movies which work only because of media hype and star presence. No one doubts that Salman Khan has one of the most loyal fan following in India but his movies give a clear impression that he is working in some of the most idiotic movies of modern era.

Fairly speaking movies like ‘Wanted’ and ‘Dabangg’ had some entertainment value and these movies had showcased Salman Khan’s star power in a better way.  But ‘Bodyguard’ and ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ treat your commonsense with contempt. No matter how big your stardom is you need to deliver on screen.

Salman Khan is a Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) Agent working for India. When you build a character around spying and use Indo-Pak relations in the backdrop you need to put something into the script which connects with the subject. If the film maker was not serious about RAW and India-Pakistan tension then what was the need to even mention it. He could have easily been a private detective trying hard to protect a woman.

Even Saif Ali Khan did a better job in ‘Agent Vinod’ as he was atleast working on some kind of a mission which forced him to travel thirteen different countries. But Tiger (Salman Khan)  doesn’t need such basic plots. We see him on a mission in Iraq. His next assignment is to spy on a Professor who could be playing into the hands of the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency.

Following the College professor Tiger reaches Ireland where he meets (Zoya) Katrina Kaif and it doesn’t take long before he falls in love with him. Since he is a RAW agent he can not afford to fall in love. This eternal dilemma of to be or not to be forces Tiger to take a escape route along with Zoya. The end of the movie has to be favourable to Salman Khan so no surprises here.

Directed by Kabir Khan, ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ is a below average movie which works only in certain patches. These patches are few and far between. Salman Khan looks lost in most of the scenes and only when he is doing action or comedy he looks natural. His chemistry with Katrina Kaif had potential but the director was not  able to tap this to the fullest and they looked like an odd onscreen couple.

Music is the only saving grace in the movie as it packs some of the foot tapping numbers. Yashraj Films spend nearly 80 crore in production so the even if the movie crosses 100 crore mark it would only be a nearly 25 percent return on the investment. Keeping the number of prints, shows and increased ticket price in mind the movie is almost certain to cross 100 crore mark. But the fact remains, ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ has nothing to offer to cine-goers who want to be entertained by a good film. So if you are not a pukka Salman Khan fan then it is better to watch a sensible movie than to watch this nonsense in the name of cinema.