Aazaan Review {2/5} & Review Rating
Bioterrorism is amongst the most burning and disconcerting issues today. The perils of biological warfare -- also known as germ warfare -- just cannot be disregarded and what makes it even more hazardous is the fact that a lot of countries remain vulnerable to it.
AAZAAN undertakes a grave issue, a theme that has never been depicted on the Hindi screen earlier. Besides, director Prashant Chadha attempts to narrate the story in a style that's reminiscent of the BOURNE series. An espionage thriller that travels various continents. But AAZAAN, despite the right intent, doesn't come across as a compelling, assertive experience. What should've been fear-provoking and also emotionally enveloping, since Aazaan Khan shares poignant moments with the people he loves [brother Aman and sweetheart Afreen], doesn't register the desired impact.
Let's get to the root. Chadha had solid material to play with [story: Shubhra Swarup, Heeraz Marfatia, Prashant Chadha], which, perhaps, can trigger off debates and discussions, but a patchy screenplay [Shubhra Swarup] acts as a dampener. Bioterrorism is a new-fangled topic for Indian moviegoers and therefore, the team should've undertaken an additional effort to coherently explain the issue to the spectator. The narrative is complicated and difficult to decipher. Also, since the story moves from one location to another, it leads to puzzlement after a point. Furthermore, when you play on a realistic fear, you cannot afford to have too many cinematic liberties in the narrative.
On the brighter side, AAZAAN is embellished with a harmonious musical score [Salim-Sulaiman]. The background score, also composed by the maestros, is electrifying. In addition, the stunts, chases and combat sequences are spectacular. Also, since the film has been filmed across continents, it boasts of some stunning and dazzling visuals [DoP: Axel Fischere]. To cut a long story short, AAZAAN comes across as an assemblage of several well executed sequences, but the sheen and shimmer cannot surrogate for a spellbinding screenplay.
Aazaan [Sachiin Joshi], half Afghan, half Indian gets drawn into the murky world of espionage, only to find his younger brother, Aman [Neet Mohan], a suspected terrorist. As Aazaan infiltrates deeper, he has no clue of the price he might have to pay for it. Aazaan stands in the way of Doctor's [Sajid Hassan] plans to destroy India. All he has on his side is the love of a brother and the love for his country.
A thriller works only if it's got that nail-biting edge-of-the-seat quality. That's where AAZAAN stumbles. What you carry home are a few moments, which aren't enough. The piece de resistence is undoubtedly that car chase and the subsequent crash in the pre-climax. The conclusion, though well filmed, appears like a rushed job and also seems implausible.
Sachiin Joshi has screen presence, excels in action sequences, but would help him a lot if he works on his dialogue delivery. Ravi Kissen is competent. Dalip Tahil is wasted and so is well-known Pakistani actor Sajid Hassan. Alyy Khan manages to keep your interest alive. Vijayendra Ghatge is serviceable. Aarya Babbar suffers due to a half-baked character. Candice Boucher looks gorgeous, but gets no scope to act. Samy Gharbi and Neet Mohan fit their parts well. Sarita Choudhury gets it right. Sachin Khedekar appears in a cameo.
On the whole, AAZAAN boasts of a novel theme [Bioterrorism] and superb action scenes/stunts/chases is its biggest USP. But the film could've done with a taut script. Nonetheless, AAZAAN should find some flavor with lovers of action movies.
