Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
Tags:
Wars are won not just by the valour of those who fight the ground, but also by crafty intelligence agents. It is 1971, and the Indo-Pak war is looming. How best to stymie the dastards in Pakistan who are busy reaching out to their counterparts in China? Simple, declares superspy Dev (Vidyut Jammwal), just block the Indian airspace, and promptly gets down to doing just that.
IB71 claims to have been cobbled together from actual events, but the execution is both simplistic-comic-book and convoluted. Two Kashmir sympathisers, played by Vishal Jethwa and Ashwath Bhatt, are steered towards a clunky hijacking: an old plane is given a lick of paint, a bunch of primed spooks, led by the doughty Dev, are on it, and our two thickly-accented Kashmiri gents are given a chance to wave a pistol and demand that the pilots land in Rawalpindi. No can do, low on fuel, the pilots say, so Lahore it is.
Watch IB71 trailer:
Back in the war-room, senior intelligence officer Awasthi (Anupam Kher) and his team is working in tandem with our brave spies, who not only get to have a splendid Lahori meal, and given bunks in a stately hotel, but also manage to trump the Pakistani establishment good and proper. Just to keep things going, President Bhutto (Dilip Tahil) shows up, makes a few comments, and disappears. Rolling your eyes seems to be the only acceptable response.
Jammwal, who does oversee a couple of high-speed chases down the Dal, doesn’t get to physically pulp the enemy. What’s the point of a Jammwal flick then? I protest.
IB71 movie cast: Vidyut Jammwal, Anupam Kher, Vishal Jethwa, Faizan Khan, Ashwath Bhatt, Dalip Tahil
IB71 movie director: Sankalp Reddy
IB71 movie rating: 1.5 stars
Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
