Saif Ali Khan returns to action after ‘Aarakshan’ and he is backed by his beau and current box-office queen Kareena Kapoor and director Sriram Raghavan (of ‘Johnny Gaddar’ fame). There is a solid technical team comprising music director Pritam and DOP C.K. Muraleedharan. This offering by Eros and Illuminati Films hit the screens amid decent expectations and hype. Has it lived up to it?

The movie is about an Indian RAW agent Vinod Khanna taking on a number of villains to prevent a nuclear device from detonating in the capital of our country. The culprits are not the obvious ones and there are some big fishes playing in these murky waters of terrorism.

The storyline has been treated on a very grand scale. The movie takes the audience to various places and different countries, which include Afghanistan, Russia, Germany, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, India and South Africa. Saif Ali Khan has really excelled in stunts. Saif Ali Khan is very agile and his beefed-up, rugged avatar makes him a perfect suit for this action packed role in which he has excelled. His histrionics in the end credits song are admirable.

Kareena is grim for most of the movie but scorches the screen in the Mujra number along with Maryam Zakaria. Kareena’s return to her curvy best literally sets the screen on fire. She carries off her glamorous clothes with style and she also has a decent and crucial role in the state of affairs. Her acting credentials aren’t put to much test. But, she is definitely a trump card for the movie.

The villains in the movie are pretty weak except the Colonel who puts up some good obstacles in the Agent’s path. Ram Kapoor and Prem Chopra are the villains in the Russian and Moroccan leg of the movie. They appear to be more funny than fearsome.

The songs have been used to take the movie forward and do not hamper the flow of the movie. The BG score is pretty pulsating and ‘The Good The Bad The Ugly’ seems to have inspired the director as is evident from the title card. The ‘trippy’ opening credits have a heavy Guy Ritchie feel to them. The editing pattern at places is very interesting.

The movie has a pretty laborious pace at places but, on the whole it is a decent watch for sure. The grand production values, the heavy duty action scenes, the almost blemish-less VFX work (except for the helicopter shots in the climax) and the grand scale of the movie make ‘Agent Vinod’ a watch-worthy affair. While coming out, you might even feel like checking it out for a second time.

The movie ends with the premise for a sequel and it should be exciting given the decent showing of this outing. ‘Agent Vinod’ is directed primarily at the city slickers and the ‘action’ minded. Single screen audiences don’t have much in this for them except the ‘mujra’ number.

Though there’s some amateurish feel at certain places, however, it can be excused.

Verdict: A visually appealing effort from Saif Ali Khan and team. Worth a watch