Cast: Varun Tej, Manushi Chillar, Ruhani Sharma, Mir Sarwar, Navdeep, Abhinav Gomatam
Crew:
Written by Shakti Pratap Singh Hada, Aamir Nahid Khan, Siddharth Rajkumar, Sai Madhav Burra(dialogues)
Edited by Naveen Nooli
Cinematography by Hari K. Vedantam
Produced by Sandeep Mudda, Sony Pictures
Directed by Shakti Pratap Singh Hada
Operation Valentine Movie Rating: 2.5/5
Varun Tej has been looking to crack the Pan-India market with different attempts. He tried a film like Anthariksham 9000kmph before, which is a first Space based film for Telugu Cinema. Now, he has decided to come up with Operation Valentine, a film about Indian Air Force retaliation post Pulwama Attack. Shakti Pratap Singh Hada, the director, has made the film as Telugu – Hindi bilingual with ex-Miss Univese Manushi Chillar, playing the leading lady role. Let’s discuss about the film, in detail.
Plot:
Indian Air Force, Wing Commander Arjun “Rudra” Dev(Varun Tej) and his co-pilot Kabir(Navdeep) had a bad crash while performing Test Flights for Operation Vajra. Vajra operation, is an innovative mission for IAF Fighter planes to fly below the radar under 20 Meters height above the ground. He survives with great difficulty but Kabir passes away. His wife, radar control incharge, Wing Commander Sonal “Eva” Chauhan(Manushi Chillar) wants him to not perform such daredevil stunts that put himself at grave risk.
But Arjun always puts his life on the line to save others. IAF asks him to Test fly a Fighter jet in Srinagar while Pulwama Attack happens. Pakistan Air Force locks him but doesn’t engage in war. He tries to override the command from radar control and hence, he is put on an inquiry. This is a cover-up as he is assigned to be part of Operation Valentine. What is this operation? Will he be able to pull it off? Watch the movie to know more.
Analysis:
Pulwama Attack like November 26 attack on Mumbai has promoted some filmmakers to explore screenplays that involve IAF Fighter pilots as heroes. URI film’s huge success has also made many try this almost alien genre in our cinema. While the idea to try something new and different are always welcome, this Operation Valentine lacks in connecting us emotionally. Director has even tried to bring popular Meme image into real and he seems to think making leads soldiers is enough for connecting with them emotionally.
Fighter, the other Indian Air Force movie, also had similar plot line involving Balkot Strikes. It did have better VFX and budget, sadly, even better story too. Operation Valentine lacks in writing department and it just feels like makers watched Top Gun, too many times to bring this movie to life. The risk behind any Army, Navy or IAF soldier’s life is imminent and we cannot even start to describe their contribution to safety of Indians and their selfless service, sacrifices are worthy of mentioning and glorifying.
But all that needs a good story and not some half baked documentation. Border succeeded at connecting with the audience and same makers failed to pull off LOC. So, a coherent story and characters that we can relate to, are important for any film, even if it has soldiers.
Varun Tej is fine in his performance. He is not given much to do on land or in air. Makers needed him to look in a certain manner and he did. Manushi Chillar had much more drama to handle and perform but she did not really impress with her acting skills. All others also do not really impress us as they seem like cardboard caricatures than characters. For the budget constraints, VFX is fine but there is a lot left to desire as the main attraction for the film is Air combat and those sequences did not turn out as engaging as anticipated. On the whole, movie doesn’t really bring the flare that is needed for an Indian Air Force Mission based film.
Positives:
Varun Tej looks and dedication to character
Ambition
Authenticity of Fighter Jet Combats
Negatives:
Lackluster writing
Lack of any emotional connect
Not much inspiring or goosebump inducing
Operation Valentine Movie Bottom-line: Misses Target!
Vishwak Sen’s Gaami Trailer: Very interesting & intriguing