'Operation Valentine', produced by Sony Pictures International Productions and Sandeep Mudda, was touted by its makers as an edge-of-the-seat entertainer showcasing our Air Force heroes on the front lines and the challenges they faced as they fought one of the fiercest aerial attacks that India has ever seen. The film hit the screens today (March 1). Let's analyze its hits and misses.
Story:
Arjun Dev (Varun Tej) is a Wing Commander in the Indian Air Force. A failed mission left him severely bruised back in 2017. Yet, his spirit remains indomitable. He and his wife, Radar officer Aahana Gill (Manushi Chhillar), are faced with the biggest test of their lives when they have to steer India's unprecedented retaliatory attack against Pakistan after the February 2019 Pulwama carnage that killed many jawans. Arjun Dev and his colleagues rise to the occasion and teach Pakistan a lesson. A set of semi-fictionalized events follow.
Performances:
Varun Tej's tall physique redeems his underwritten character to an extent. His performance in some scenes reminds us of his earnestness from the days of 'Kanche'. Manushi Chhillar, the former supermodel, gets to play a war-room leader and a concerned wife.
Director Shakti Pratap Singh Hada had a tough time keeping the casting balanced in this Telugu-Hindi bilingual. The likes of Paresh Pahuja (the flirtatious soldier) and Mir Sarwar serve the function of catering to the Hindi audience. On the other hand, Navdeep (as Wing Commander Kabir Singh), Ruhani Sharma, Abhinav Gomatam, Ali Reza of Bigg Boss Telugu fame, Sampath Raj, and Anish Kuruvilla are there to ensure Telugu nativity.
Technical Departments:
Mickey J Meyer's music is not bad. Hari K Vedantam's cinematography is breathtaking in bits and pieces. Navin Nooli's editing is a plus; the film's running time is not stretched out in the name of detailing. Avinash Kolla's production design is average. The action choreography (by Vijay and Nataraj) brings out the toughness of aerial stunts. The daring maneuvers of the parties, however, don't come across as forceful at all. The execution suffers.
Merits:
1. Choosing a backdrop like the Balakot Airstrike, a historic event, needs conviction. The makers of the film under review zeroed in on it before the makers of Hrithik Roshan's 'Fighter' did.
2. The 'Shaheen Vs Rudra' episode in the second half.
3. The last 25 minutes.
Demerits:
1. The screenplay (by director Shakti, Aamir Khan, Siddharth Rajkumar) portrays the camaraderie among combatants with zero freshness.
2. The enemy camps could have had more space.
3. Dialogue writer Sai Madhav Burra's lines are too dry or cliched.
4. The viewing experience gets drowned out in too much technical jargon on display.
Vox Verdict:
'Operation Valentine' is not your ideal aerial action thriller. The account of the Pulwama Attack and India's retaliation is reduced to a hero-centric narrative.
