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Join UsStar Cast: Varun Tej, Manushi Chhillar, Paresh Pahuja, Ruhani Sharma, Mir Sarwar, Vaibhav Tatwawadi & others
Director: Shakti Pratap Singh Hada
What’s Good: Intention of promoting the valor of the Indian Air Force
What’s Bad: Uninteresting and uninspiring execution, which is literally a yawnfest
Loo Break: Too many, especially during the scenes between Manushi Chhillar and Varun Tej
Watch or Not?: Just ignore it, as it isn’t worth your time!
Language: Telugu & Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 2 hours 12 minutes
User Rating:
The film introduces us to a command center officer, Ahaana Gill (Manushi Chhillar), and a fighter pilot, Arjun Dev, aka Rudra (Varun Tej). Ahaana always disapproves of Rudra’s attitude as he’s cocky and doesn’t care about protocols when it comes to saving the life of his teammates or taking ‘badla’ (revenge). Even though both are married, there are constant disagreements between them due to Rudra’s mindset of breaking the protocols, as in the past, they had lost their comrade, Kabir (Navdeep), during Project Vajra.
The story takes a turn when a terrorist attack takes place in Srinagar, where a suicide bomber crashes his car into a convoy of Indian security forces, leading to the death of 40 jawans. Post this deadliest attack, India plans a mission to retaliate, where Rudra, Ahaana, and their comrades play an important role.
Operation Valentine Movie Review: Script Analysis
Operation Valentine is basically a story based on the Pulwama attack and the Balakot Airstrike that took place in 2019. Full marks to the thought of presenting India’s revenge for one of the deadliest attacks on Indian security forces. However, the thing is that such concepts are getting too repetitive now. Hrithik Roshan’s Fighter had a similar storyline, and even recently released Article 370 was linked to the Pulwama attack. The latter two films were at least entertaining, but this Varun Tej-led aerial action drama fails to keep the audience engaged.
During the first half, the film seems to be running on a confused track, with more preference being given to a sub-plot between Manushi and Varun rather than focusing on the main storyline. While it’s important to give a backstory to the leading characters, the attempt isn’t impactful enough, and it just does a job of increasing the length. Due to this, half of the interest is lost even before this big-screen entertainer begins to unfold why it’s exactly titled ‘Operation Valentine.’
In the past few years, we have had many patriotic films, and this is just another addition to them. Of course, some of them have been really good, but this one falls into the category of unnecessary jingoistic films made in India.
Hari K. Vedantam’s cinematography is pretty ordinary, and honestly, there wasn’t much scope as most of the film is either backed by visuals loaded with VFX or scenes shot inside a room. The VFX work is below par, with some scenes literally looking artificial. It could have happened due to a moderate budget, but still, the poor work has to be mentioned as it did pull down the quality of the film.
Operation Valentine Movie Review: Star Performance
Varun Tej, as Rudra, looks charismatic and effortless as a cocky pilot. However, at times, his act comes off as unconvincing, especially during the emotional scenes where he is dealing with the trauma of his comrade’s death. Talking about the overall impact, his performance lacks depth and fails to establish a connection with the audience.
Manushi Chhillar, as Aahana, fails to leave any impact despite getting a meaty role. Compared to her previous like Samrat Prithviraj and The Great Indian Family, she has improved a bit, but still, she doesn’t add anything valuable.
Paresh Pahuja, as Yash Sharma, does a decent job and comes off as a comic relief in between during the entire yawnfest that’s going on. All other actors, like Ruhani Sharma and Vaibhav Tatwawadi, are okay in their portrayals.
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Operation Valentine Movie Review: Direction, Music
Shakti Pratap Singh Hada lacks the conviction to pull off such an important subject. Despite an ample scope of moments of elevation, Hada fails to capitalize. He follows the repetitive and routine template of India versus Pakistan animosity, and that’s where Operation Valentine turns boring and uninteresting. Things keep on happening on the big screen, but you tend not to bother about it.
The background score gets too loud at points, and it kills the impact rather than adding value to scenes. Speaking about the music, no tracks except for Vande Mataram fit well in the film. If it comes to only listening to songs, none of them make it to the playlist.
Operation Valentine Movie Review: The Last Word
All said and done, Operation Valentine comes off as a yawnfest despite a strong story in hands. It’s a valuable lesson to the filmmakers who are still thinking of milking the Indian versus Pakistan angle, loaded with jingoism.
One and a half stars!
Operation Valentine Trailer
Operation Valentine releases on 01st March 2024.
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