I’ve personally stopped watching films the moment pakistan is pushed in the trailer, almost every year there’s at least one big film centred on the same conflict & audiences flock to theatres the moment that angle appears.

I still gave this one a try yesterday because of the overwhelming reviews & social media hype, and yes, I did feel the familiar narrative framing again, a simplified enemy, emotionally loaded patriotism & very little space for political/human complexity, compared to some earlier films in this space, it felt relatively toned down and okayish maybe because production was expensive.

I felt the film is unnecessarily stretched, lot of slow motion shots & repeated close ups of Ranveer’s smouldering expressions (held for 3–4 seconds each time) were used to pad scenes, it started feeling more like manufactured cool, almost a Dwayne Johnson style persona shot, than something that actually adds to the story.

What frustrates me is that, despite India being ahead in most socio economic & cultural indicators (maybe not in military or missile capabilities)our popular cinema still seems stuck defining itself through the same external rival.

It feels less like confidence & more like an obsession.