Agent Vinod Review..

Agent Vinod (U/A, Thriller) Dir: Sriram Raghavan Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Prem Chopra Rating: *** Stars (Out of 5) A still from the movie What's it about: There's a cool dude RAW agent Vinod (Saif Ali Khan) who is on a mission to diffuse a bomb that will kill millions. His job zips him across some exotic as well as dreary places on the world map with an assortment of characters thrown along the way. These include arms dealers, pimps, drug barons, business magnates and intelligence officers. There's a particularly pesky Moroccon don David Kazan (Prem Chopra) high on the Agent's list to tackle as well as his aide, a doctor-cum-spy Ruby (Kareena Kapoor) who is actually Erum, a Pakistani, with an agenda of her own. When Vinod is not chasing clues or pulling the trigger, he is happily spewing Smart Alec one-liners at an unsuspecting Ruby. Till he succeeds in his mission, she has to play the game with him. What's hot: The film starts on a promising note in a desert in Afghanistan. Agent Vinod's escape to freedom is captured extremely well as well as several sequences throughout the film especially the filming of Agent and Ruby's escape from the hotel after they realise they have just lost a vital clue. Also look out for the Agent's memory inducing scene when he rattles off names of Bollywood characters to save his skin. It's fun. Saif puts in an earnest effort in his role though at times Kareena does seems a tad disinterested no wonder she has proclaimed she would rather shun action flicks. What's not: Though there is an earnest attempt to make a thriller considering that the director (Sriram Raghavan) is known for this genre of films - Ek Hasina Thi and Johnny Gaddar --- this time the makers have tried to make a masala thriller stirring in too many ingredients making it difficult to digest. Its long running time (over two and a half hours) proves tedious for the viewer. Instead of incorporating item numbers, there should have been more focus only on the agent's mission. Also, the plot criss-crosses from Afghanistan to Morocco to Russia and even Somalia, but just everyone either knows Hindi or understands it. If only the locals in the various destinations of Agent Vinod spoke in the local languages (with subtitles) would have lend more credence to the plot. The Agent's every move is explained leaving little suspense for the viewer, as by then you know the end. What's that? Ruby aka Erum is a spy, out to avenge what's wrong but she won't kill! One of the characters a flight pursuer called Freddy Khambatta is caricatured to be gay (inspired by Freddy Mercury perhaps!) while the rest too are stereotyped to fit the baddie mould. Look out for the small screen's Mr Kapoor (Ram Kapoor) as Abu, a Bud Spencer avatar gone wicked! Also, the Agent may be a cool dude, who can stare death in his face, but his last wish is either to drink some bubbly or whisper sweet nothings over the phone to the lady he is attracted to! What to do: During the screening for the media, Saif stepped into the auditorium during the interval to say that if you have sat through the first-half, you will surely sit through the second half as there was lots more! Hope the audience does too. But that apart there are those moments to make Agent Vinod a ONE TIME WATCH..

Shah Rukh Khan 'slaps' Shirish Kunder at Sanjay Dutt's bash

Shah Rukh Khan

Prachi Kadam and Sayantan Dalal
Actor Sanjay Dutt’s bash on Sunday night to celebrate his recently released film Agneepath’s success at the BO, apparently turned out to be a battle ground of sorts. The bash thrown at a popular suburban night club was well attended, including the likes of Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn. But the celebratory mood soon turned ugly following an apparent altercation between SRK and filmmaker Shirish Kunder, say onlookers.Khan was later also joined by Dutt.

Asource present at the venue says, “Shah Rukh walked in late at the party. Shirish, who was standing near the bar, saw SRK and started making nasty comments. He also followed the star wherever he went, including the washroom. And this is when SRK got irritated and pinned him on a sofa, first trying to talk to him. But when Shirish continued to retort back, SRK slapped him.”Amidst all this, there was also a touch of comic, said a source, when biz honcho Baba Dewan stepped in to stop the fight, thinking that a girl was being targetted. “Baba Dewan felt that SRK was fighting with a girl as Shirish was sporting long hair. He stepped in to tell SRK to stop fighting with a girl. He realised his mistake when SRK turned to look at him. In the meanwhile, Sanju arrived on the scene and separated the warring duo,” said the source. Another set of onlookers say that Sanju, after separating the duo, apparently slapped Shirish as he had apparently been sending inappropriate messages to his wife Maanyata.
Shirish refused to take calls from (Bollywood Times,Hindustan Times,Times of India,Dainik Jagran) but his wife, filmmaker Farah Khan texted a pointed message, “Shah Rukh has always told me that physical abuse is the worst way to sort out a problem, that it means the person who’s hitting has either a personal or professional crisis going on. It saddens me to see him doing the same...”
Ever since Farah broke off ties with Shah Rukh, who earlier produced her films, Shirish has never let an opportunity for snide comments on the actor pass, including hisRa.One, say insiders.