“She is a Soldier. You are a Soldier. And This is War“
This Time, It’s Personal
The world knows my love for the Yrf Spy Universe. But iss bar dil toot gaya, for many reasons. This is not just a rant. It is a detailed analysis with explanations and examples. Toh kursi ki beti bandh lo, this will be long and detailed. “Kyuki Kali ko Mitane ke liye, tumhe Kalki banna padega.”
War 2 Ka Action
This time they went too far. It seemed like everything was done to entice young kids who are fans and accept anything. Bas cool dikhao, logic gaya bhaad mein. Ab aap kahoge, logic? Films are for entertainment, logic kyu dhundte ho? True. Main khud kehta hu films can’t be 100% factual and cinematic liberty is nice if the scene is good. But that’s the problem, the scenes are not good.
Kis tarah ke logic ki main baat ka raha hu. How did Hrithik hypnotise the wolf? Mana Kabir best hai, we love him, but kuch bhi dikha doge? Japan ja ke japanese logon ko unhi ke martial arts mein dauda dauda ke marta hai wo bhi jaise mazak ho. Bas stylinsh shots? Bhai thoda realistic tareeke se shoot karo toh interesting hota hai. Yaha bas cool ke naam pe kuch bhi dikha rahe the.
John Wick, James Bond aur bahaut action movies bhi over the top action karti hain. Par kya sahi lagte hain wo, maza ata hai, because they still present it in that manner. Effort, skill, of the actor, director, editor, sab dikhta hai. Yaha bas cool dikhana hai aur kuch nahi.
Too Much Flying
Why NTR is jumping tens to hundreds of feet and doing superhero landing? Why are they hanging to a plane and helicopter with a rope? War part 1 ke action scenes yaad hai? Ya first two Tiger missions ke? Tab lagta tha ki haan koi agent hai, cool hai, ye sab kar sakta hai. Ab toh literally “Kuch Bhi” ho raha hai.
Hrithik Roshan as Kabir
He was the best thing in War 2. He looked good, he acted well, he reminded us of the Kabir we love so much. I did not find him bad in any scene. Just that the story and dialogues did not give him full justice.
Jr NTR – Wrong Casting
I was skeptical the moment he was announced but the media was biggest praising Aditya Chopra for the “biggest casting coup”, as they felt Jr NTR after RRR means star power, collections from South India, full Pan-India extravaganza. Classic base-level mindset.
Spy Universe is one franchise where the characters are cool. They look cool, they sound cool, and what they do. is cool. But the makers did not do justice to him. I’m not a hater. I love NTR. I loved him in RRR and a few other movies. But casting perfect honi chahiye. Hrithik ko Raw Chief bana doge aur Ranvir Shorey ko Kabir toh nahi chalega na?
NTR’s haircut was like a normal office-going person. Kuch special karna chahiye tha. Even his clothes did not suit him well. Ayan Mukerji ki galti bolo ya Yrf ki, there was no Aura about him. Tiger as Khalid was presented better. Anil Kapoor’s surprise action entry had more style.
His speaking style, his stunts, nothing gave me any reason to love him. It was not NTR’s fault. It was Ayan and Adi who needed to take care of these things. It all felt very flat, like they were only thinking that his mere presence would give goosebumps to the audience.
Kiara Advani – Wasted
Heard she was given ₹15 Cr remuneration for this? Kis baat ke liye bhai? Wing Commander kyu bola tha usko bas ek bar plane udana isliye? She was not involved in action scenes. Aap karwate na action. It would have made more sense, looked better, felt better. Fir eye candy bana. kecchhod diya.
Aur Naina ke bare mei usko kab bataya? Rogue tha na uss time wo? Ya Col. Luthra ek ek detail batata tha apne missions ki apni beti ko?
VFX or YFX
Overall, theek hi laga. No major complaint. But it was not the best either. Unrealistic shots, unrealistic hi the.
We can say, Kabir was about 40 years old in War? He was already experienced by then tabhi itna senior tha, mature tha as opposed to his young colleagues? That makes Kabir roughly 46 years old in War 2 ?
Army training khatam karke joining hoti hai roughly at 25 years? Aavan Jaavan ke time Kabir ko recruit kar rahe the na? First posting hone wali thi. Toh bhai 20 saal pehle ke Kabir ke chehre par de-aging nahi karni chahiye thi? Abhi aur tab ke Kabir mein bas itna difference tha ki abhi dusky dikhaya tha, bruises the missions karke. Aur Aavan Jaavan mein face wash karke aa gaya tha bas. Same day coolie dekhi, kam se kam de-age toh kiya tha unhone.
Music
Jim ke itne acche BGM ke baad, what the hell did they do with NTR? Kya tha wo Shaitaan Shaitaan BGM? Kachra pro max. Killed the mood whenever it came.
Aavan Jaavan is a nice song but not fit for War 2. Ghungroo Toot Gaye is still groovy every time I listen to it even now. Hook Step bhi bekar tha. Hrithik se dance na karwana paap hai. Star Power pe sab karte ho Yrf, yaha star ki USP hi bhul gaye?
They hyped Janaab-e-Aali so much and it turned out to be so bad. Na sunne mein accha tha, na dekhne mein special tha, na dance-off dikha, na chemistry dikhi. Forgettable song. Jai Jai Shivshankar was way better.
Writing and Direction
I liked how the story started, the concept of Kali, the sacrifice of Luthra. Even the twist of Vikram being Raghu and then being the villain. What Kali had planned, the twist of Anil Kapoor, these were definitely nice. I even liked the flashback of Raghu and Kabbu. Anybody saying story nahi thi, usko pata hi nahi hai story hoti kya hai. Sabko ajkal bolna pehle hai, samajhte nahi hain.
The real problem was the bad action, average to bad music (Except Kabir’s theme which is awesome), aura-less presentation of NTR and no universe integration. The ending too was pathetic, which did not end the film on a high. So these things killed the experience, not that “story nahi thi.”
Direction-wise wise it felt YRF was leading, not Ayan Mukerji. Because if you remember Brahmastra, the interval block was so well designed. We were at the edge of our seats the entire time in the car chase scene, which ended with “Swayam Hi Hu Agni” moment. Even the end fight sequence is quite layered where both the hero and villain struggle a lot to acheive their goal. And seeing these stunts, I don;t believe it was all him. It was definitely Yrf, and I’ll tell you more in the next sections.
Khalid ka mention tha, uski mom ko dikhaya, Ruhi wala sequence, that was all nice. Jo accha tha wo tha, this is not a hate review.
Universe Building
So they started very well. Ek Tha Tiger, Tiger Zinda Hai and War ke time solo films thi, baad mein universe ka idea aya, its fine. Pathaan mein pehli bar jodna start kiya and mast kiya.
Pathaan was the only proper Universe movie – Luthra from War was there, and for good amount of time. He mentions, “Jim aur Kabir humare best agents the.” Tiger’s cameo, which was actually extraordinary. And the way they talked felt like they were friends since a long time. Jim makes a joke about Raw dating ISI, referring to Tiger-Zoya. Ek movie mein multiple drops the, which overall felt like a universe, apart from being a solo film.
Next was Tiger 3 where there was no integrated storyline about a universe, just a forced Pathaan cameo because it worked in Pathaan movie, and an un-related Kabir cameo, I had thought that ab Yrf dhang se universe banayega kyuki War 2 ab fresh start ho rahi hai, saare feedback ke baad better kaam karenge.
I was wrong. It felt like they did not hear a single criticism and doubled down on what They felt was working. Anurag Kashyap was right, Yrf suffers from an office problem kyuki wo bas apne office mein baith ke sochte hain. Taran Adarsh review ka toh ab sabko pata hoga. Bas ek line, wo bhi incompelte, beech ke kaat ke use kar li apni tareef main.
Bas end mein ek saans mein bol diya Kabir, Pathaan, Tiger, Vikram, ho gaya universe. Forcefully Vikram/Raghu ko unke barabar jod rahe hain, kyuki unko lagta hai he is that good as a character, future mein fans aur starpower se bahaut fayda hoga. Logically toh koi sense hi nahi banta Vikram ka.. I’ll explain in the next section.
Fir bas Pathaan movie se bol diya, “mera dost kehta tha kintsugi – tooti cheezo ko pighle sone se jodne se wo aur khoobsurat ho jati hain.” Khatam – universe hai bhai universe hai.
Leaving Logic Behind
Col. Luthra meant everything to Kabir. Unko uske hi hatho marwaya. Vikram involved tha na usme? He was part of Kali? He also hated Luthra, right? Aisa toh nahi hai Vikram ne oppose kiya ho ya usko pata na ho. Toh Kabir ne usko maaf kar diya? What will Kabir say to Kavya now? Wo maaf kar degi?
Zabardasti ka melodrama dikhaya Raghu-Kabbu ka. Itna zyada kheecha. Cinephiles who have watched a lot of films know that mostly such characters are not redeemable, so they choose to die. Why they had to pull off a Winter Soldier here? Bucky ka toh fir bhi brain-wash kiya tha ye toh by choice villain tha.
That whole melodrama happened because they needed to justify him being saved, warna unko bhi pata tha aisa character marta hi hai. They thought public ko itna emotion dikhayenge ki wo maan leneg.
And usko isliey bachaya kyuki unko lagta hai future mein star power se khel lenge. Isliye ek saans mein saare naam bol diye, barabari dikhane ke liye.
Post-Credit
What a joke. Itna hype kiya PR articles mein aur kuch nahi nikla. Alpha logo hai unka wo toh common knowledge hai na, usi ko dialogue bana diya.
It feels like it would be like Black Widow and Red Room. Where they train young girls to be assassins. Pata nahi mehnat kar rahe hain ya bas idhar udhar se utha rahe hain.
Where is Thanos?
Infinity Saga ki success ke baad Universe sabko banana hai lekin banana ata nahi hai. 6 films ho gayi, mushkil se 10 film bana payenge. Abhi tak Thanos level threat ka koi idea bhi nahi hai. I thought Kali would be that entity, jiske upar bhi koi hoga, jo ki Thanos level threat hoga, maybe Bolly deol, maybe koi aur. I was really hopeful in the first half, I was loving the concept of Kali.
Lekin Kali ko toh khatam kar diya inhone. Kya tha wo sequence? Itna bakwas, childish sequence. Kali ko itna badha chadha ke dikhaya aur itni easily maar diya? Toh Luthra ka sacrifice waste? Bobby Deol ko bhi ek film mein nipta denge? Tiger vs Pathaan being the last film toh mujhe kabhi sense nahi banaya. Inka har bar ab Raw Agent Gone Rogue hone laga hai.
Classic Yrf Problem
Marketing department toh lagta hai shut down hi kar diya hai. Kyuki jo ye karte hain uske liye dedicated year long team toh nahi chahiye. Plus inka sara focus PR pe hota hai. Saari news out karo PR articles mein aur apni tareef karwao bhar bhar ke.
Pehle NTR biggest casting coup. Hua kya wasted. Fir Hrithik ki entry scene. NTR ka ship pe entry scene. Kya hua? Dono underwhelming. Dance-off, two biggest dancers, aisa hoga waisa hoga, kya hua? Wo bhi underwhelming.
Biggest superises, Aditya Chopra is hiding great twists and turns for the film, post-credit, easter egg, Marvel of India, sab toh aap khud hi tareef kar lete ho. Hum na mauka dete ho na reason. Aap notice karo marketing ke naam pe sirf PR articles aye hain jisme ya toh information reveal ki hai (jo hide karni chahiye thi) ya apni tareef ki hai.
What I would Have Done
- South actor ko nahi leta, ya leta toh uske looks pe, personality pe kaam karta.
- Vikram as a character hi lena hota toh end mein maar deta usko.
- Kali ko continue karta, aur Kali ke upar bhi koi hota, wahi apna Thanos hota.
- Raghu-Kabbu backstory 2-3 minute mein khatam karta, just to give a reference to Vikram – na itna weightage deta na time.
- It was the perfect time to bring John Abraham as Jim. Agar Yrf ka plan usko future mein rakhne ka hota, toh kisi aur moment pe Kabir ki help ke liye unexpectedly dikhata, else ek flashback mission rakhta pakka.
- Kabir ke peeche kisko bheje? Pathaan ka naam ana chahiye tha. Then Anil Kapoor interject karta ki he is not available, I have someone fit for the job.
- Kabir is a rogue, but he needs help. He contacts Pathaan (end mein mention karta hai na ki dost hai, toh dosti ki khatir help mangata). Pathaan could have been shown busy in some mission. He refuses, but gives him contact of Captain Namit Khanna (Angad Bedi), who was last seen in Tiger Zinda Hai, as the explosives expert.
- There should have been some mention of Alia and Sharvari in the film. Either a pic on one of the distant screens, jaise Marvel mein hota tha. If they are Raw Agents, then kahi na kahi ek phone call, ek voice note zarur hona chahiye tha. Alia’s voice note passing an intel to any of the characters would have been such a cool move.
This is all just from the top of my head that I could think of in 10 minutes. Obviously, agar main writing team mein hota aur aur details, logic and impact pe dhyan deta. But I just wanted to show a glimpse how a movie Universe is built. It should be interconnected storylines, where the plot and characters are linked to each other, not just cameos.
Author: Ishan Jain
Cast – Hrithik Roshan, Jr NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana, Anil Kapoor, and others.
Director – Ayan Mukerji
Release – 14 August 2025
Produced by – Aditya Chopra, Akshaye Widhani
Studio – Yash Raj Films
Also check out: Kabir and Pathaan’s Prague Mission – Fan Fiction
Stay tuned to OCD Times for more updates. Do check out our other social accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Pushpa 2 Trailer Review Pushpa 2 Trailer Review Pushpa 2 Trailer Review Pushpa 2 Trailer Review
