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Tag: Agent Vinod

  • Agent Vinod: No flow of story, no explanations

    Agent Vinod: No flow of story, no explanations

    MUMBAI: A spy thriller is not a genre often seen in Hindi films and for that reason one thought Agent Vinod was a welcome idea as well as an opportune one. The title betrays director Sriram Raghvan‘s fascination for films he grew up watching. His last film, Johny Gaddaar (2007) was a remake of Gaddar (1973). For this film he opts for the title of a 1977 hit film, Agent Vinod. Further inspiration for the plot and situations comes from 1970s spy thrillers such as That Man In Istanbu

     

    Producers: Saif Ali Khan, Dinesh Vijan.
    Director: Sriram Raghvan.
    Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Gulshan Grover, Prem Chopra, Ravi Kissen, Ram Kapoor, Adil Hussain, Anshuman Singh, Shahbaaz Khan, Maryam Zakaria.

    Saif Ali Khan, playing a RAW agent, has lost his close colleague – Ravi Kissen while on a mission to Russia. His last message before he was murdered was just the figures ‘242‘. That sets Saif Ali Khan on a mission to find out what these figures mean as he liquidates anybody and everybody that comes in his path. His search begins in Russia and takes him from place to place; while in Morocco, he meets Kareena Kapoor, a Pakistani, posing as a personal doctor to local Mafioso, Prem Chopra, but who is actually an MI6 agent now working for ISI. Kareena Kapoor has a sad past and dreams of a future with a nameplate describing her as a doctor, children and a husband who loves her more than anything (that is the emotional quotient in the film). Saif Ali Khan‘s trust button for her keeps blinking most of the time; that is till she convinces him that she is on his side and equally anxious to stop any destruction that the villains may have planned. As he goes from Russia to Morocco to Latvia to Karachi, he always outthinks his detractors and draws his gun faster than they do. He reaches Delhi at the same time as a nuclear bomb stolen by an ex-KGB man from the Russian depot is headed there via Somalia in a fishing trawler. The villains‘ grand plan blessed by Gulshan Grover, who is a refugee don under protection of Pakistani authorities (read Dawood), is to blow up Delhi with this nuclear bomb and blame it on some Islamic group. This is when the film provides finally some thrill and excitement. The culprit is killed, bomb traced and defused and Saif Ali Khan heads to South Africa to eliminate one more of a group who actually are behind such terror plots – a promise of a sequel.

    Agent Vinod traverses from place to place as Saif Ali Khan follows clues. But because of this it comes across as a totally disjointed film. Nothing makes sense as men are tossed, kicked and shot. You don‘t care after a while since you are not taken into confidence as to who is who and why people are killing each other; no villain is constant or established. One makes an appearance and is killed soon enough. The Indian audience loves dhishum-dhishum and gun shots, not silencer-fitted guns. There is no flow of story, no explanations.

    There are no smart one-liners the heroes in such films are expected to mouth; the few that are there are wry and too subtle to be enjoyed. There are no other distractions as the film has no comedy or emotions, songs lack appeal and romance, whatever little there is, is silent.

    Yes, the film is beautifully shot and is apt technically, but that is not what attracts the audience as much an interesting story and entertainment. The film makes no demands on actors‘ histrionics as there is no drama; Saif Ali Khan has to survive this film on his charm which, alas, is missing. Kareena Kapoor is a hanger-on, playing an aide to Saif Ali Khan and looking forlorn. All the action and excitement going around never seem to touch her. The rest of the cast-Prem Chopra, Gulshan Grover, Ram Kapoor, Ravi Kissen, Shahbaz Khan-is packed off before you notice them.

    Agent Vinod has had an average opening and its prospects from single screen are not bright while prospects at multiplexes are limited and hence far short of being cost effective.

  • No entry for Agent Vinod in Pakistan

    No entry for Agent Vinod in Pakistan

    MUMBAI: The Pakistani censor board has banned Illuminati Films’ Agent Vinod from exhibition in the country as the film contains references to the ISI that could hurt the sentiments of the Pakistani people.

    A statement from IMGC Global, the Pakistani distributor of the film, confirmed that the film has been banned by the censor board of Pakistan. The importer of the film, Sheikh Amjad Rasheed of IMGC Global, fully agrees with the Censor Board’s decision and has conveyed his feelings of displeasure to the main distributor.

    As a key importer of Bollywood films to Pakistan, Rasheed has also conveyed to the main distributors that they will not entertain any such movie in future which hurts either the religious or national sentiments of Pakistanis and decelerate the Indo-Pak peace building process. It is understood that Pakistani Film Distributors have also expressed displeasure to the producers over the anti-Pakistan content shown in the film.

    Revolving around two undercover agents played by Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, this film is Khan’s second production venture under Illuminati productions.

    Pakistan is an important business territory for any Bollywood film.

  • Iranian band slaps legal notice on Agent Vinod’s music director

    Iranian band slaps legal notice on Agent Vinod’s music director

    MUMBAI: Saif Ali Khan‘s spy thriller Agent Vinod has been embroiled in a legal hassle. An Iranian band has slapped a legal notice on the film’s music director Pritam Chakraborty and its distributors for alleged copyright violation. The film’s song Pungi…has reportedly been lifted from the band’s album titled Soosan Khanoom.

    According to the legal notice issued by law firm Vidhii Partners, Barobax Corp had on 16 January 2010 produced and released the album that later became a rage. “On 12 March this year, the band came across the promotions of the movie ‘Agent Vinod‘ on satellite television in Iran. The song Pungi… was being aired. On listening to the song, the band realised that the initial portion of the song is lifted without any change from the title song of their album,” the notice said.

    According to the notice, the band is the owner of the copyright of the song ‘Soosan Khanoom‘ which is registered under the Copyright Act in Canada on 30 June last year and, hence, the music of the song cannot be used without the band‘s permission.

    Soon after learning about the copyright infringement, the band sent their representative Nargis Kazerooni to India to initiate legal action.

    The music band was founded in 2003 by three Iranian nationals – Kashayar Haghgoo, Kevian Haghgoo and Hamid Farouzmand.

    Apart from music director Pritam, the notice has also been served to Eros International Media, Illuminati Films and Super Cassettes.

    Starring Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, the film is slated for release on 23 March.

  • Agent Vinod gets U/A certificate

    Agent Vinod gets U/A certificate

    MUMBAI: Illuminati Films’ Agent Vinod, produced by Dinesh Vijan and Saif Ali Khan, has received U/A certificate from the CBFC.

    Directed by Sriram Raghavan, the film is an action spy thriller that has Khan in the title role with Kareena Kapoor in the female lead.

    “Our film has a lot of action but we have worked on keeping it more realistic and less violent. And after censor board‘s screening, we have got a U/A certificate and I am very happy. We wanted more people and even the kids to watch the film,” said Khan who is in the city for the film‘s promotion.

    The film releases on 23 March.

    Such is Khan‘s excitement about the film that he recently launched a graphic novel of the film. Not only that, he also plans to make five sequels of the film.

    Meanwhile, it is learnt that three million game players of the popular game, Mumbai Underworld, on ibibo.com had a surprise when Agent Vinod made an entry into their underworlds.

  • Agent Vinod to premiere at Muscat Intl film fest

    Agent Vinod to premiere at Muscat Intl film fest

    MUMBAI: Illuminati Films’ Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor-starrer Agent Vinod will premiere at the seventh edition of the Muscat International Film Festival (MIFF) on 25 March.

    The film is about a series of seemingly unconnected events across the world that leads to Agent Vinod undertaking a globe-trotting mission to discover why his colleague was murdered.

    “A bit of Tintin, a bit of Bond, a bit of Alistair McLean and well, a little bit of fun and frolic and a lot of adventure…that is what Agent Vinod, the much awaited Bollywood flick is all about,” said producer Saif Ali Khan describing the film in a statement.

    Shot in Morocco, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Latvia, besides other countries, the film has been directed by Sriram Raghavan.

    Averred MIFF Chairman Dr Khalid Al Zadjali, “This movie‘s entry is ground-breaking as far as the nascent cinema industry in Oman is concerned.” He added that it would be great to have movie stars like Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor visiting Muscat for the MIFF.

    Originally set to release in December 2011, Agent Vinod was postponed following a delay in its shooting schedule and will now release on 23 March.

  • Eros Q3 net jumps 48% to Rs 651 mn

    Eros Q3 net jumps 48% to Rs 651 mn

    MUMBAI: The pure play film producer and distributor company Eros International has reported a 48 per cent jump in consolidated net profit (before minority interest) on the back of commercially successful movies like Ra.One and Rockstar for the third quarter ending 31 December 2011.

    Eros has posted a net profit of Rs 650.9 million in the quarter, as against a net profit of Rs 439.9 million in the year-ago period.

    Total income during the quarter under review went up 44.8 per cent to Rs 4.12 billion, compared to Rs 2.84 billion it had posted in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

    Eros’ Ebit for the quarter stood at Rs 1.03 billion, up 57.1 per cent, compared to Rs 653.5 million a year ago.

    Eros International Media MD Sunil Lulla said, “Eros International has performed well for Q3 FY2012 on account of successful releases such as ‘Ra.One’, ‘Rockstar’ and ‘Desi Boyz’.”

    We are continuing to enhance our existing film slate by further adding new films such as Kochadaiyaan starring Rajinikanth, Yohan Adhayam Ondru starring Vijay, Go Goa Gone to name a few to our existing film slate which includes ‘Housefull 2’, ‘Cocktail’, ‘Khiladi 786’, ‘Hum Se Pyar Kar Le Tu’ and many others that also include regional language releases, thus maintaining a leadership position in this rapidly evolving sector.

    Eros has announced that it has over 50 films on its slate which will be released during 2013 and 2014. It expects to release 7-8 Hindi movies in the next six to nine months, prominent among them being Agent Vinod, Khiladi 786 and Housfull 2 among others.

    “We continue to focus on making advances towards regional movie releases including Tamil and Punjabi movies in order to widen the overall product portfolio by adding a few Tamil movies on global scale. With regards to this, we recently announced a co-production deal with Media One for Kochadayiaan starring Rajinikanth and Photon Kathaas Productions for a Tamil film titled ‘Yohan: Adhyayam Ondru’ starring Vijay.”

  • Agent Vinod to release on 23 March

    Agent Vinod to release on 23 March

    MUMBAI: Illuminati Films’ upcoming film Agent Vinod will finally release on 23 March.

    The film that was to originally release on 9 December was earlier deferred to 17 February.

    As the title denotes, the film is said to be a detective thriller with lots of action and sans usual humdrum; it takes on after a popular old movie with the same name.

    Agent Vinod is an action thriller that has producer Saif Ali Khan playing a slick, stylish and daredevil secret agent.

    It is being widely speculated that the release date has been postponed to avoid a clash with Kareena Kapoor‘s Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu that is releasing on 10 February.

    Directed by Sriram Raghavan, the film has been in the making for several years.

  • Agent Vinod pushed for 2012 first half release

    Agent Vinod pushed for 2012 first half release

    MUMBAI: The release of Saif Ali Khan’s spy thriller Agent Vinod, which was earlier scheduled for 9 December, has been postponed to the first half of next year.

    As it is, December is packed with releases like The Dirty Picture and Don2 besides Ladies v/s Ricky Bahl.

    Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol will also release the same month.

  • Eros to pump in Rs 5 bn in FY’12

    Eros to pump in Rs 5 bn in FY’12

    MUMBAI: Eros International plans to invest Rs 5 billion and release 75 movies in the fiscal ended March 2012, a senior official said.

    The slate will have 16-20 Hindi movies while the remaining will be in other languages. The company has released 19 movies in the fiscal first-quarter.

    “We intend to invest Rs 5 billion in FY‘12. Our plan is to release 70-75 films in the fiscal,” said Eros Group India chief financial officer Kamal Jain.

    The pure play movie production company will be foraying into Telugu and Bengali language films. It already produces movies in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Punjabi languages.

    “We are looking at a slate of 3-4 Punjabi movies, four Marathi movies and 1-2 Telugu movies in FY‘12,” said Jain.

    Eros has eight co-productions locked for FY‘12. It will release Mausam, RA.One, Rockstar, Agent Vinod and Desi Boyz in the fiscal.

    The company has planned 2-3 small movie releases with budget of less than Rs 50 million during the Indian Premier League (IPL).

    “We are looking at a revenue growth of 30 per cent in FY‘12,” said Jain.

    Eros had posted a consolidated revenue of Rs 7.16 billion in FY’11 and a net profit of Rs 1.17 billion.