A mess of an espionage film
AIYAARY Direction: Neeraj Pandey Actors: Sidharth Malhotra, Manoj Bajpayee Rating:
The delicate relationship between a master and his protégé turns sour when the latter realises the futility of the tasks he is expected to carry out. The highly talented student turns rogue, triggering a war between the two. Each is trying to not blink first, but one has underestimated the other.
In theory, director Neeraj Pandey’s (A Wednesday, Baby, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story) Aiyaary seems like a satisfactory ‘Catch Me If You Can’ kind of thriller. In reality, it fails to hold your attention for more than five minutes at a stretch. It’s an insipid tale of forced slowmotion shots, endless chase sequences and at least three endings. Colonel Abhay Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) doesn’t think twice before shooting foreign agents point blank in uncharted territories and heads a special covert unit.
Major Jai Bakshi (Sidharth Malhotra) adores Abhay and has learnt the tricks of the trade from him. But Jai is disillusioned after realising the extent of corruption in the country’s defence deals and the involvement of highly placed officials in it. He tries to earn some money out of the shady deals, but Abhay is determined to not let this happen. Aiyaary, which means the act of espionage, is designed as a race between two gifted people who understand the nuances of the country’s defence programmes. They are not the kingpins, but they are important enough to run it without interruption.
Pandey wants to weave a web of lies, deceit and suspense around the central plot. But at some point, the film runs out of steam. Pandey probably wants a re-run of A Wednesday, he even brings in Naseeruddin Shah to play a clueless character. This forced twist is lame, changing the film’s tone. What results is 160 minutes of mess.