R.A.W. Movie Review: An Out And Out John Abraham Show, The Film Has It’s Fallacies But It Does Grip You Till The End

Film: Romeo Akbar Walter - R.A.W

Actors: John Abraham, Raghubir Yadav, Sikander Kher, Mouni Roy

Director: Robby Grewal

Rated: 3 Out Of 5

My Verdict: John Abraham Looks The Part And His Performance Shows His Hard Work; A One Time Watch For Sure

John Abraham’s Romeo Akbar Walter tries hard to be an edge of the seat espionage outing and it succeeds to a great extent. Once halfway through the film, I thought all of it was much reminiscent of the Meghna Gulzar directed film Raazi where an undercover Indian agent is sent to Pakistan in order to collect information that would help the country.

Having said that, John’s Romeo Akbar Walter act is restrained. He means business. John is the teller at a government bank in India. But impressed by some of his skills, the RAW agents abduct him and what ensues is a rigorous training in order to get him well-equipped with the wherewithal necessary. Once in Pakistan he befriends a businessman who is close to the Pakistan Army General so that he can get access to all the important information which needs to be sent to India. The first part of the film is a bit dull and drab, so much so that my eyes were lulled to sleep. I think this is also because of the dialogue between the characters. At times it is a bit too much. There are certain aspects that are dealt with in the film, which the writer of the filmmaker thought will be of interest to the audiences. – Well, they were until they were overdone!

One of the biggest pluses of this film is John Abraham who has immense faith and belief in the character and it shows. Everything about him is meticulously worked upon, be it his appearance, or his facial expressions or his body language. To put it succinctly, he looks the part! Jackie Shroff as the RAW chief is good too but his baritone was a turn off. It sounded so husky that at times it became difficult for me to even fathom what he was saying. Well, Mouni Roy again didn’t have much on her plate, given that it is an out and out John Abraham show. However, what I could notice is her overtly plump upper lip. It was showing more than her acting in the film!

The writing was a bit drab as I have already mentioned in the first part. By the time the second part ushers in, you are waiting for something to happen and that’s when the twists and turns start unfolding and it starts to get interesting. What is worth mentioning is, you have to pay utmost attention on the screen. If in case your concentration strays even for a moment, chances are that you will not be able to fathom as to what is going on. The ending of the film again meanders to the “saluting of our national flag”, which might evoke sentiments of nationality in the viewers and it is a good thing. And one more thing that needs to be mentioned about the concluding part in the film is that, it has been written in such a way that the film looks well-rounded. It has been written in the form of an origin story and that will surely hit the audience in a great way.

The cinematography in the film is good as well and so is the music. Well, there are places where the songs do look a bit crammed in without any situation and it also feels as though the situation has been forcefully created just to fit a song in the narrative. There are also parts in the film which cannot be understood at all – For instance, when Raghuvir Yadav’s character receives a bruised John in the house (who is back from a third-degree torture), he warns the latter that people might be on the look out for him so he should leave. Now what I fail to understand why a person who is so concerned about John’s well-being surreptitiously roams around at night with a pistol only to be shot by him (because John thinks, just by looking at his shadow, that he belongs to the Pakistani armed force!)

If you can overlook that and some such similar situations, Robby Grewal has done a good job with the film and it surely is a one time watch!