Don’t read this review!!!!! This is for people who have seen the movie and want a place to discuss it. The twists are so good/bad (as in, completely impossible and jaw droppingly dumb and yet entertaining) that you REALLY REALLY shouldn’t spoil yourself. Read this review to get pumped for the film, then come back here to discuss it after watching. Oh, and if you aren’t interested in a big dumb action movie, don’t even bother reading this review, the plot summary alone will bore you and infuriate you.
Whole plot in two paragraph:
We start with Hrithik, top Indian secret agent, shooting his an Indian analyst and going rogue. Tiger, fellow top agent who he trained, is brought in to be part of the team tracking him down. But he is not put in charge of the team because (as Ashutosh Rana, their boss says outright in an open briefly) “you love him”. Flashback two years, Tiger is a young commando just assigned to training with Hrithik, top hero agent. Hrithik doesn’t trust him because Tiger’s father was a traitor who killed Hrithik’s partner and then Hrithik shot him. But Tiger begs for a chance to prove himself. Their mission is to capture a terrorist who is being secretly funded by a top international billionaire. Hrithik and Tiger end up fighting together and then are in love. That night, Hrithik calls Tiger into his private office and confronts him because Hrithik has realized Tiger has a problem with his peripheral vision. Tiger begs to stay on the team and prove himself, reveals his eye sight was damaged when his classmates beat him up after his father was revealed as a traitor. Hrithik agrees it will be there secret. And then they dance. And then they get word that the top billionaire guy has been spotted in Marrekech. The team goes to get him but, at the last minute, it is revealed that one of the young members is a traitor. Tiger goes off chasing the traitor, Hrithik tries to take down the billionaire and fails. Tiger is found a week later washed up on the beach but still alive, Hrithik is in the hospital too. They are the only ones remaining of the team except their female IT support Anupriya Goenka and closer than ever. In the present, Hrithik does an amazing midair assassination of a General. And then Tiger gets on his train to go home and is surprised by Hrithik. Hrithik intensely offers him to either tell why he is doing this or give him the name of the next target. They almost kiss, and then Hrithik gives Tiger a note with the name of the next target and disappears. INTERVAL
Post-interval, we see Hrithik with an adorable little girl. They talk about her mother and Hrithik flashes back to Vaani Kapoor. She was a night club dancer in I want to say Prague? Somewhere like that. Hrithik romanced her, but it is revealed that was only because he thought he might need her to help to get his latest target. He is having no luck getting close to the target and he overhears a conversation the target has about bribing a “Bishop, Knight, Rook, and Pawn”. Desperate to learn who these highly placed people are in Indian government, he tells Vaani the truth and sends her in to download files off the computer. As she is in there, Hrithik realizes his target is actually the billionaire terrorist who had perfect plastic surgery to make him look like his own accountant. Vaani is then discovered and killed, leaving her adorable little daughter (the little girl in the present day) an orphan. Hrithik realizes he can’t trust his own agency since Vaani was killed soon after he called in about the mission. He also realizes who the “Rook” must be, the analyst that his boss called about Vaani. He kills him, and gets him to tell the name of the “Bishop” and “Knight” who become his next two targets. Tiger tries to protect the “Bishop” (a scientist) which leads to a high speed motorcycle chase through Portugal before Hrithik finally gets the mysterious codes from the scientist before he dies. Tiger is then off the case but continues investigating on his own and tracks down Hrithik. Hrithik tells him the whole story and that Anupriya has been feeding him information the whole time. They go to Anupriya’s wedding to ask her help translating the codes and learn they are for an army communication satellite. And then Tiger POISONS Hrithik! And reveals that he is not Tiger after all! He is that traitor member of the team who was given high tech plastic surgery to look just like Tiger after he killed Tiger. He has been working against Hrithik the whole time and now he has the codes! Evil Tiger goes to Finland to use the codes to take down the satellite along with the top evil billionaire. But then Hrithik shows up! He has been tracking Evil Tiger! He know Evil Tiger was Evil and Not Tiger. He and Evil Tiger have a final chase and fight and Hrithik kills Evil Tiger. And then in the epilogue, Ashutosh Rana tracks down Hrithik in Australia where he is vacationing with Vaani’s little girl and they agree that he will continue to pretend to be a rogue agent in order to work undercover, and Hrithik asks that full credit for the mission go to Good Dead Tiger because it was all for him after all. Soni Razdan (Good Dead Tiger’s mother) gets an award in his name while Hrithik surfs in Australia with Vaani’s daughter.
This is the kind of movie this is. When Evil Tiger is revealed as Evil, he immediately starts wearing guyliner. Because as an Evil person, he has a natural affinity with guyliner which he has been hiding while undercover as Good Tiger. There are secret poisons, and also secret antidotes. And of course, there is plastic surgery that can be done in total secret and yet done so well that you look identical to someone else post-surgery. On the other hand, the Indian secret service apparently has no way of identifying their agents besides eyeballing their faces, no fingerprints or blood tests necessary. And Hrithik, as a rogue agent, somehow has limitless resources available to him (how does he pay for the airplane that he uses to fly over and then land on another bigger airplane?). Also in the final fight, Hrithik literally breaks stone pillars with his head and then shakes it off. This is very much a “leave your brain at the door” kind of film. But that’s a fun thing!
What I really love about this movie is that the stakes are so low. At the very very end we learn that they are taking out the communication satellite so the Indian army will have no way of communicating with each other. The characters try to make this out to be Worst Thing Ever, but it’s really not. What did they do before they had a satellite? Just do that again! Or borrow someone else’s satellite! It’s actually refreshing after all these action movies that drag out the terrifying danger (whether it is constantly showing the hostages in danger, or talking about massive potential bomb blasts) to have a movie that expects you to keep watching just because it is fun, not because you are terrified and stressed.
The only stakes really are the romantic ones between Tiger and Hrithik. The tension in the early sequence is so high, mixed with longing glances. And then there is the pain of the separation as Tiger struggles to decide if he could ever really kill Hrithik while Hrithik can’t help reaching out to him through untraceable phone calls and secret train meetings. And finally the reunion, fighting side by side, going to the wedding together (where Tiger makes a joke about eloping with Hrithik). Before the heartbreaking reveal that Tiger isn’t really Tiger and Hrithik’s love is dead. I’m not even joking or reading against the grain, the whole film is built on the tension between the two. The plot zigs and zags and doesn’t really hold together or make sense scene by scene, but the love story keeps you going.
What’s fascinating is that the tension is both textual and extra-textual. Within the plot of the film, everyone knows and acknowledges that Hrithik and Tiger are in love. That is why Hrithik trusts and reaches out to Tiger even while on the run. That is why at the end of the film all he asks is that Tiger get credit for the mission and what he did. And when he has the final fight with Evil Tiger, he emotionally says he can’t kill him while he has Tiger’s face. But Evil Tiger and Hrithik also have moments of tension together, even though when Evil Tiger was played by another actor pre-plastic surgery there was no tension. So the film is both giving us a Tiger-Hrithik love story, and giving us extraneous Tiger-Hrithik sexy scenes between the actors that are technically unrelated to the love story. Put it another way, we get a tender love story in the first half, and a sexy stressful hate-love story in the second half.
Beyond the Tiger-Hrithik relationship, there really isn’t much to the film. Some fun action sequences, but only two songs. And some kind of not fun action scenes too. No real clever dialogue or amusing situations. The villain does not even have an actor listed in the credits that I can find, he wasn’t that entertaining. Anupriya Goenka was great, but didn’t exactly have a character. Vaani Kapoor has almost nothing to do. Compared to Bang Bang (love Bang Bang!) there weren’t the fun light pure humor moments, and there was no villain who came close to Danny Denzongpa and Javed Jaffrey. There wasn’t an emotional heft like we got in Bang Bang from Deepti Naval at the end, or Katrina’s innocence. It’s all just Man Love and action scenes.
Bottom line is, if you are not here for the Man Love, I cannot honestly recommend this film. It’s a series of action scenes tied together by a charming leading man and that’s not really enough to carry the film. But if you watch it as a tragic love story, there is a lot there.
Oh, and Vaani Kapoor and Hrithik have, like, negative chemistry together. Which the film acknowledges, never even pretends that it is a love story. Kind of awesome for how Vaani’s character is treated, in the end. She gets to Hrithik because she is different and special and good, not because he is in love with her. Vaani’s is special not because she is “sexy” but because she makes Hrithik question the human cost of his missions by standing up to him and reminding him she is a person and a mother before she dies. Come to think of it, Anupriya too. She is one of those Swiss army knife female assistants who can find any information, decode secret encryption, and even make poison antidotes on demand. But the film treats her as one of the team, a trusted partner, with no hint of romance between her and anyone else. Making the two leads gay really opens up possibilities for the female characters!
And, to put this as delicately as possible, it also opens up possibilities for the imaginations of the female audience. Why more people don’t realize that just as many women like male-male content as men like female-female content, I do not know.
dontcallitbollywood 
I had to work to stop from yelling out “Kiss Kiss” whenever Tiger and Hrithik were gazing at each other!
The bromance was definitely the highlight of this movie.
I know the end of the movie claims that Khalid is dead, I can easily see them bringing him back as technically we don’t seem him after the plastic surgery, he could be alive through movie magic. It’s a stretch but if they are making a Part 2 Tiger could be in it, which I would love to see.
I mean that full intro shot of Hrithik coming out from the helicopter, with Tiger watching him was straight out of a romance, when the girl/boy see’s their object of affection for the first time.
First Bollywood movie after Anadadhun I watched in a theatre, and I think it was worth it. The action is pretty great, and both of them look amazing. First time Tiger has seemed manly to me instead of boyish.
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Yes, I had the same thought! I was really hoping for an end credits surprise shot of Original Tiger’s eyes popping open to show he is awake.
I think I have to write a fanfic version where they do actually kiss. It wouldn’t even be “fanfic” it would just be “scenes we didn’t get to see but which were heavily implied to exist”.
On Sat, Oct 5, 2019 at 7:18 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh my God, that intro shot. Hrithik comes off the helicopter in slow motion and the wind is blowing through Tiger’s hair and his mouth parts slowly and he gets tears in his eyes. Like when you said this movie was gay I really had no concept of just the depth of the gayness. And holy cow they looked great, especially Hrithik. He’s developed that Anil Kapoor silver fox mojo and I am here for it.
Some of the action sequences got laggy especially at the end but that opening scene with Tiger was so good that my son turned to me and said I’m already in love with this movie, LOL. And yes, my son came with me and it was his first Bollywood movie in theater so that was really fun.
Oh, one more thing, that opening song in the desert was ludicrous, made absolutely no sense whatsoever and it was amazing when you see it after all the sexual tension between Hrithik and Tiger. I give the movie two stars for coherence and plot, three and a half stars for action, and a million stars for hoyay.
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Yes! The opening sequences are so extreme, I legit had to look away from the screen. It was so intimate, like I was watching someone’s real love story onscreen. And Hrithik looks so good! After a series of movies where he plays younger than he is, playing his own age is way way more attractive and I just want him to do that from now on. Who needs young Hrithik when you can have grey sex god Hrithik?
The opening fight scene with Tiger was impressive technically, but this little voice in my head kept saying “but, can’t he just shoot them?” Like, he kept taking guns and throwing them away. Just shoot them! Shoot them!
On Sun, Oct 6, 2019 at 12:05 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Lololol my son had the same reaction. He actually shouted just get a gun and shoot them!!!
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That intro shot is something else! When Tiger’s lips part, I had so many feelings. I legitimately had butterflies in my stomach and felt heat rising on my cheeks. Also, noone can do a sexy smoulder like Hrithik!
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Yes! It’s the perfect combination of sexual attraction, romantic feelings, and euphoria of first love. I honestly cannot remember a moment onscreen that powerful short of the Gazebo scene in KKHH. “Breathtaking” is the only way to describe it, I could not breath while watching it.
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I love them for leaning into this.
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Still not as good as this from the Dishoom promotions:
On Sun, Oct 6, 2019 at 12:26 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Hey, it’s just friends hanging out wearing nothing but towels and eating breakfast together 😳
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As they promote a super homerotic action film together!
On Sun, Oct 6, 2019 at 2:21 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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GOOD GOD DISHOOM WAS GAY OH MAN
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But not as gay as this! I think Varun being the director’s brother restricted him.
On Sat, Oct 26, 2019 at 11:30 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I wonder if Vaani was in this to fulfill her contract, cause literally her role could have been played by any random good dancer, it was an extended cameo at best.
It’s been awhile since her last movie, and I can not believe that she actually thought that this was a good role, especially cause she’s dead. If it was a role that continued on for the sequel then atleast you get to be a part of a franchise. She’s getting negative buzz on her chemistry with Hrithik because this movie is all about Tiger and him.
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Yeah, it was a goodish song for her, but they didn’t even promote it! the trailer was just the bit where she’s dancing with Hrithik, not the elaborate night club act part. It really was just dumping her in the film and forgetting about her. I don’t think they made the role small, I mean, that role was always going to be small. But they could have brought in Disha Patani or what’s her name who did the dance in Stree just as well.
On Sun, Oct 6, 2019 at 7:00 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Nora Fatehi and yep, agree. Also this is kind of mean but Vaani had cheek implants and they were so glaringly obvious on a big screen that I couldn’t look at anything else during her scenes, especially because there was nothing else to pay attention to.
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See, this is how I felt about Hrithik’s hairpiece slippin’ and slidin’ around! Only he had other stuff to do, so I could manage to distract myself a bit.
On Sun, Oct 6, 2019 at 9:10 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Okay this movie was made for me. My absolutely favorite moments in the movie besides the intro shot:
1. When Hrithik and the others are in the war room planning their attack and Hrithik stares right at Tiger. The intensity of that gaze was electrifying and would make anyone blush and look down.
2. Hrithik calls Tiger into his office and tells him he knows Tiger’s secret. Hrithik is sitting with his legs spread wide open, shirt unbuttoned, while Tiger is sitting timidly, sideways, with his eyes down and legs together. The sexual imagery is amazing!
3. In Jai Jai Shivshankar at 39 second when Hrithik enters and Tiger instantly stops everything he is doing to stare at Hrithik with adoration in his eyes. And between 50-54 seconds: Tiger extends his hand to Hrithik, Hrithik pretends to give Tiger his hand, but then takes it away and brushes his hair (so very SRK!), Tiger’s face instantly falls with disappointment, and then Hrithik gives Tiger his hand and Tiger is gleefully excited. This whole sequence could have been from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I am almost wondering if it was nod to it but gay.
4. The train sequence. Just kiss already!
5. When Anupriya Goenka on her wedding day says she is willing to elope with Hrithik and Tiger shyly tells her to get in line. I love that Tiger with all his “sharam” just says it.
6. At the end when Hrithik is staring at his iPad and quickly puts it away when Ashutosh calls – almost like he was caught doing something he shouldn’t. He then quickly makes an excuse and says that he was just looking for cheap flights. But, to me, he is staring at pictures of Tiger and missing him, but embarrassed when Ashutosh calls. Hrithik’s look and the mannerisms in that scene are of a person “chori chori” looking at pictures of his/her lover.
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Thank you so much for reminding me of these moments!
1. Yes, now I am remembering that I kept thinking there was going to be a reveal that Hrithik was assigning a special role to Tiger or something. But no, he was just staring at him because of luuuuuuv.
2. Hrithik is so over the top sexy in this whole movie, but that scene in particular feels like he must have fluffed up his chest and practiced his posture before calling Tiger in, just to be as sexy as possible.
3. The rest of the song too! The way Hrithik drags Tiger around, and throws colors on him, and Tiger’s joy in it, sooooooooooo sexual metaphor-y. I feel like we are getting the dance version of the night they just spent together.
4. But that was Evil Tiger!!!! Is it that Hrithik’s love for Tiger is so strong he is putting it on Evil Tiger? Or was Evil Tiger also in love with Hrithik but never able to attract him?
5. Again, Evil Tiger! What was up with that? Was the Hrithik-Tiger love so obvious to the whole team that Evil Tiger knew it would be expected for him to say something like that?
6. Yes! Or, in my fantasy version, he was skyping with Good Tiger who is secretly alive and at home making dinner for them all.
On Mon, Oct 7, 2019 at 11:48 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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As far as the train sequence goes, I think Hrithik is so in love with Tiger that he is a bit blinded to the fact that this is not his Tiger but Evil Tiger, yet something is off, and therefore, Hrithik won’t/can’t actually kiss him. To me, this sequence is parallel to the scenes in Krissh 3 when Kangana shapeshifts into Priyanka. Hrithik is still in love and wants to pretend Kangana is Priyanka but never actually does anything sexual with Kangana because she is not the real Priyanka.
And the wedding sequence, to me, is Evil Tiger’s desperate attempt to get Hrithik to look at him the way he looks at Good Tiger. Because technically, in that sequence, Hrithik has already figured out that Evil Tiger is not his Tiger. Evil Tiger needs Hrithik to stay in love with him and be blinded by it for Evil Tiger’s plan to work.
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Do you think maybe, like Kangana in Krrish 3, Evil Tiger has fallen in love with Hrithik a little bit by now? No, never mind, he still tries to kill Hrithik, he is completely heartless.
I like your interpretation of the wedding. Maybe this is a regular joke in the team? Anupriya talks about her wedding and says she would elope with Hrithik and Tiger always says “after me”? That would explain how Evil Tiger knows just what to say and how to say it.
I have to rewatch the train scene to see if the performances make sense as “Hrithik is with the man he loves, Tiger is trying to understand a complicated emotional whirlwind that he is not part of”. I think it might work, I know on the first watch it felt like Tiger wasn’t sure if he could still love and trust Hrithik. But that is similar to not being sure exactly how deep this relationship is and how he is supposed to be reacting. Like, would Real Tiger care about the next target or the why of Hrithik doing this?
Oh! I just realized! Tiger and Hrithik are playing out the same pattern as Tiger’s parents! Do you choose the man you love or your country? Only in this case it turns out no one was a real traitor, they were both true.
On Mon, Oct 7, 2019 at 12:33 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Just saw it and OH MY GOD I LOVE IT! Something I never thought I needed but needed anyway in the most perfect tragic love story kind of way!
1. To answer the question about Finland. Yep, its the end driving sequence through the forest on small lanes as well as the way the houses looked and the way the snow was on the ground (no one ever films there in summer? They should. Beautiful except for the hoard of mosquitoes) that tipped me it was in Finland (subconscious knowledge of how the trees look like here since we have a lot of them something like that)
2. Fantastic action scenes!
3. Yep, same here in going “Kiss Kiss!” under my breath or in my head.
4. The looks Hrithik gave Tiger, his eyes (gah! Beautiful on the big screen) and for the first time I found myself blushing because of Tiger as well. Might be because we are in the same age bracket, well, appropriate one. He really is a puppy in love in this movie and its both precious that I want to hug him through the screen and want Hrithik to kiss him at the same time. This and SOTY2 have now made him my “see what he does next and go see it no matter what”
6. Hrithik, yep, the camera loves him so much it pretty much made me blush (as well as the women next to me). I swear the whole theatre was on heat from collective blushing! And how good he was with Vaani’s daughter felt like wish fulfilment in the best sense because we see the soft and hard side to him and then Tiger comes in and I swear it was like: here Vaani’s little daughter, meets Step-dad or new Dad Hrithik’s boyfriend Tiger with whom we had a little fight with and now we are going to talk like adults while you go.
7. Nice that the wider release date was for Dusshera, women were in sarees and small children came with their parents but couldn’t come because they are too young (the ones with small children got a refund)
This movie was seriously so good and enjoyable I just want it to come to DVD quickly so that I can watch it again!
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1. Yaaaaay, Finland! Weird we got so little of it. Although I guess that finale car chase probably took a few weeks to film correctly, even if it was only 5 minutes screen time.
2. I love the action scenes because they combined realistic well-done stuff (actors actually doing their own parkour and kicks and stuff) with fun ridiculous movie magic (jumping on a plane in midair). I hate the action scenes where you actually see blood and it feels “real”, but I also don’t like the ones where an actor just kind of waves in the direction of the extra and they fall over. This was the perfect combination.
3. I reached the point of just assuming they had shot the kiss scenes, and then the censors made them cut them because they were too hot for this earth.
4. I have (tragically) seen every single Tiger movie, most of them opening night, thanks to my Tiger-obsessed friend. Anyway, he had way more charisma in this and SOTY 2 than in anything else I have seen him do before. Which is good, maybe he is aging into charisma?
5. YES! That meeting with the little girl had such an overtone of “first time my kid is meeting my significant other”. Tiger being nice, Hrithik being nervous about her behaving well, and so on. To bad it was Evil Tiger.
6. Awww! Too bad small children weren’t allowed. I had loads of little kids in my theater.
I cannot wait for it to be on DVD or streaming. I really want to watch that first hour over and over again and then turn it off and pretend they are happy together forever and ever.
On Tue, Oct 8, 2019 at 3:23 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Same here. Watch the first half only 🙂
And then wish that Good Tiger will return for the sequels by movie magic and everything will have its happiness.
Although this movie along with the second half really gave me my well dosed drink of Tragic Romance which I absolutely love! The fight scene with Hrithik saying to Evil Tiger all that intimate stuff made me cry, wanting him to punch the Evil Tiger to high heaven and also not to because Tiger’s puppy dog eyes at the end
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I suppose for the sequel they could bring in a new love interest for Hrithik in the traditional way with these tragic action film romances. But I don’t know if I want that? He and Tiger had something special, it would cheapen it to bring in a replacement.
On Tue, Oct 8, 2019 at 3:57 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yep! If it will be a franchise then it has to start with them and end with them together.
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Maybe Tiger has another “good” twin brother?
On Tue, Oct 8, 2019 at 4:14 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Or a doppelgänger in the world? Miracle cure from death? Long lost cousin he saves accidentally on a mission?
Either way the Hrithik inner conflict will certainly be interesting, like Lamhe but with Tiger as Srideiv’s characters and Hrithik as Anil. That would be gold! Oh the pain and angst and the tension!
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Hrithik’s Dad had a secret family and a secret son who the government has hidden away but now reactivated as part of a mission for Hrithik? Like Aurangzeb, but even hotter?
On Tue, Oct 8, 2019 at 4:20 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Either way the Hrithik inner conflict will certainly be interesting, like Lamhe but with Tiger as Srideiv’s characters and Hrithik as Anil. That would be gold! Oh the pain and angst and the tension!
You are a genius and I want to subscribe to your newsletter.
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I liked the movie but I don’t really have much to say about it. One thing I didn’t like was how they dealt with Vaani Kapoor’s character. It was so obvious that she was going to die as soon as they showed Hrithik with her kid. Also I didn’t even think the mission he sent her on made any sense. She wasn’t trained enough to expect her to go in and get the data from that guy by herself. When he was originally talking to her, I thought she was supposed to distract the bad guy while he goes in and gets the info he needs. He literally sent her in with no clear back up plan. Okay, now I’m probably thinking about it too much for the type of movie is. Anyway, it sucked that Vaani died. Also I just wish they found some way to add another couple songs in the movie. For once, I was actually hoping for an end credit song!
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You are definitely thinking too much about it! There’s also the time/energy Hrithik put in to wooing Vaani just as a back-up person for a strange 30 second mission that makes no sense. Why romance her? Why not just approach her cold and say “we will pay you to do this thing”?
And yes, I was also really hoping for an end credits song! Another reason Bang Bang was a superior movie.
On Wed, Oct 9, 2019 at 11:54 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Maybe she was also his cover story as to why he was in Italy(?) in case he got caught. Like he would just say “I’m just visiting my girlfriend, Vaani”
I still haven’t rewatched Bang Bang. I feel pretty confident that I would like it on the second watch. But yeah, the songs in Bang Bang were better.
What do you think the next step for Vaani is in her career? I’m going with the theory that she did this movie to finish her yrf contract. So now she can sign some movies with other production houses. I feel like she should sign a dance movie. Oh I just looked it up and she’s in Shamshera but that’ll take forever to come out.
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I would love to see Vaani with Varun. They are both great dancers, and have a similar kind of modern young energetic feeling on screen.
On Thu, Oct 10, 2019 at 8:18 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh yeah, that would be fun! I was hoping that Vaani would be the one that they casted in Street Dancer after Katrina dropped out. I’m glad that they ended up going with Shraddha but Vaani was my other preference.
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I watched it today and lovvvvvvvved it!!! This is the Bollywood movie that was missing for so many years & I feel like I had water after many years. Hritik Roshan-holy cow!! I was oddly reminded of Mission Kashmir with a young Hritik & Jackie/Sanjay Dutt trying to be the father figure & now who is the hot DADDY! I am all for the sequel but it has to have both of them & I don’t want the dynamics of their relationship to change. The homoeroticism got a big shout out and I just wish they won’t try to curb it by adding unnecessary female love interests or changing things btw Tiger & Hritik.
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So glad! Join us on the good ship “Hrithik+Tiger= Tru Luv 4Ever”. I have many posts.
But, you understand Good Tiger is dead, right? This is the puzzle, if there is a sequel will Evil Tiger turn good? Or will Good Tiger come back from the dead? Or will Good Tiger have a secret twin? How do we do a sequel to a tragic love story?
On Fri, Oct 11, 2019 at 5:15 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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They don’t really show what they did with the Good Tiger. So I’m hopeful he is alive somehow somewhere. It will be so stupid if the sequel doesn’t make use of this strong a relationship. But usually sequels tend to use only 1-2 main characters,I’m doubtful if Tiger would be there.
Oh also,I think when a director is so much in love with the hero that he writes the role specifically for the hero & one can’t tell apart the actor & character,it makes for a riveting lead character. SRK or anyone looking for a comeback needs a director who loves him as much as Raajamouli loves Prabhas or Siddharth Anand loves Hritik or Vetrimaaran loves Dhanush.
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Counterpoint, Jab Tak Hain Jaan. Yashji was in love with Shahrukh, but was so in love he could no longer see him clearly and tried to make him fit in a role he was too old for. But generally speaking, yes! I love it when you can feel how much the camera loves the actor, and it makes you fall in love with him too.
On Fri, Oct 11, 2019 at 7:57 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I thought that was more of a love of convinence than a genuine tailoring of role for SRK. Anyone could have played that role,maybe even better had it been someone younger.The love that say, Siddharth Anand has for Hritik is such that I can’t imagine anyone else in that role.It is written specifically for the actor’s physicality,age etc but somehow enhances the appeal altogether. Force fitting v/s tailoring.
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I don’t think I have much else to add from the comments I made on the non spoiler post, but I thought I’d jump here so I am free to talk spoilers.
Given what happened after Tiger chased the villain, the lessening of the sexual tension makes sense. The viewer would have been completely thrown off if the sexual tension was just as palpable throughout, only to discover that Tiger was dead for basically the entire second half of the movie and it was someone else Hrithik was flirting with. So maybe Hrithik dialed it back on purpose. But the affection was so so real, you can practically see the heartbreak on his face when Evil Tiger confesses who he is, and when in that final confrontation, Hrithik says “I can’t kill you when you have his face.” If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.
Also, in a few other unrelated things, I spoke in great length about the Hrithik/Tiger romance to my sister who didn’t see the movie, but I explained the basic plot to her, showed her one grainy 30 second clip filmed in the theater of Tiger ogling Hrithik when he walked out of the helicopter, and she was immediately like “yeah that’s so gay, he wants to do nasty things to him, definitely.” We discussed who bottoms in the relationships (spoiler alert: it’s Tiger. No question) and I made this because the rest of the Internet made me: https://taylorklaine.tumblr.com/post/188641484271/war-was-great-kabir-is-a-dilf-khalid-is-a
Sorry if half of this is dirtier than necessary, lol.
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That train scene at the interval though? With Hrithik leaning on the glass? For me, that was the top romantic moment of the film. But on the other hand, it was also all from Hrithik’s side, just him looking and leaning and Tiger being confused. Which makes sense if he is Evil Tiger and he isn’t sure if he loves Hrithik or not. Same with their phone calls, it’s Hrithik reaching out after all, wanting to talk to the man he loves, but Tiger is oddly stiff and nervous. On the first watch it read as him not being sure he can still love Hrithik if Hrithik is a traitor, but on the second watch it reads as him not feeling the same way as Hrithik.
what do you think about a theory that Hrithik’s first true love was his dead partner, he never thought he would love again and had a series of flings including with Evil Tiger before the surgery, than he met Tiger and suddenly felt things he thought he would never feel again? Evil Tiger turned Evil partly out of bitterness that Hrithik was never able to love him like that, tried to be Good Tiger and finally have Hrithik’s love, but deep down knew it was false and unsatisfying and Hrithik didn’t really really love him and therefore eventually turned fully evil again?
On Sun, Oct 27, 2019 at 8:48 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Plus, Tiger starting to follow the train when it started moving felt like a mini DDLJ tribute, which obviously means ultimate romance is happening. Even if that might have been after Good Tiger was killed. But overall, I think Tiger fell in love with Hrithik first. I’d have to watch it again in order to pinpoint where Hrithik started to reciprocate the feelings.
It’s a really interesting theory. It would make sense why Hrithik is still SO upset about his partner’s death so many years later (just guessing on the time frame). I think if that’s the case about Evil Tiger, he might have still had some motivation of the actual mission to make the change, maybe even some hesitance, but with the angle of gaining Hrithik’s love, whether from within or from someone on his team knowing his secret and his history, that might have been enough to push him over the edge to get the operation. I wonder if there could have been a moment in the movie when he fully turned Evil, when he realized Hrithik was never gonna love him? Maybe when Hrithik started to doubt that he was still Good Tiger? I don’t normally stray this far away from canon, but all of this would be a really cool concept for a completely different movie that we deserve.
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The tags on your Tumblr post, I’m dying. Also sharing a couple of things because I think you’d appreciate them.
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Oh and one more I forgot:
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I’ve been watching videos of Hrithik walking off the helicopter for hours now, both just to stare in awe and also for Tiger’s reaction. Bless your soul for sharing all of this.
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I think Tiger was in love even before first sight, we know how much he wanted to be on the team, and he had that whole speech prepared for why Hrithik should trust him. Hrithik I think was all turned around and spun about by INSANE ATTRACTION almost immediately. The way he watches Tiger from the porch? And the eye banging in the briefing? But I think he really started to give in to his crush and acknowledge it was more than just sexual during their first fight scene, and true love happened after Tiger’s passionate speech about why he should stay on the team despite his eye problem.
I vote Evil Tiger turned Evil when he shows up in black in Portugal. Maybe that train scene makes him realize how very much Hrithik loves Good Tiger, that Hrithik never loved him (Evil Tiger) in the same way. And so he is fully committed to actually catching Hrithik in Portugal and from then on.
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