User reviews

Stylish actors,wonderful locations,lots of side characters,wayward storyline all these sum up the context of Agent Vinod.Mark,I used only two positive things,which are actually the fairly good things in the movie,whereas the reason you should avoid it,is at the behest of the negative points.The movie seems as if cut-by-cut summary of 14 different movies(because of 14 different locations) with none of them providing apt understanding of the storyline and you end up asking yourself-"What was that?","Who was that?","Why was that?". Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor did justice to their character still the storyline & some poor editing made a mess of the movie.Songs were good still not upto the mark. All in all Agent Vinod is a stylish,sleek movie beyond a good and sensible storyline.If you find STYLE dominating SUBSTANCE as good,go for it,else its far far better to avoid it.

This is just an amazingly poor film. I think Saif Ali Khan can be a good actor, I liked him on "Being Cyrus", but AV is in my opinion absolutely dreadful. It's not a spy film, it's not a Bond film or a Bourne film... It's not anything. It's just a mess. It is not original, it is just a derivative action movie. It lacks any discernible plot and replaces any character development with continuous hyper-edited action, so much so that you just end up not caring about anything. What annoyed me most were the camera angles - I felt dizzy during a number of the action sequences and there was just too much going on in front of my eyes - all at the expense of an actual plot. In Saif A Khan's character there's not even a trace of humanity as he becomes increasingly unbelievable, and increasingly unlikeable : he tries so hard to look sultry with his oiled, polished bare torso, but he has no humor or charm or sexiness as you would expect him to have. AV is basically a spinning machine, almost robotic in his ways. The effects and stunts are OK, hence my one star. But that's it. The bulging-eyed female co-star, Ms Kapoor is an enigma for me: mediocre acting and not even a hint of charisma, mystery or whatsoever. I never understood and will never understand the reasons of her mega success in India. She should move to Hollywood and watch how difficult is for a professional actress to act well and get a deserved success. After disastrous partnership on screen between Mr Khan and Ms Kapoor (Tashan, Kurbaan), maybe it's time for both to stop acting together, since they really do not show any chemistry at all...that special "something" that you would expect from two people, who supposedly are partners in real life. Overall, very disappointed : utterly soulless and quite frankly boring. I wish I hadn't bothered with AV.

A very lose film with no ends or maybe too many ends! It could ve been something special but one find himself sitting in theatre and waiting for movie to end so you can escape! I didn't like the silly one lines that Saif was uttering to make boring scenes interesting.

Said that Saif can carry the look very nicely but there wasn't any real content in the film. Screenplay was super slow and dull.

None of the characters were given enough time to grow and cos of that no one can really related to any character and therefore it didn't matter whether they lived or died!

All i can say in the end is that its a great waste of an opportunity!!!

Indian cinema at its best today Agent Vinod, the movie drags like no bodies business.

I've just watched it I've got a headache.

There are so many mistakes in the movie I got sick of it.

This movie was an equivalent of a Salman Khan movie full of mindless action with no real story.

Very overrated movie.

I think agent Vinod was supposed to be India's 007. Fail! worst movie I've seen so far this year.

Conclusion: if you watch movies to pass time and if there's nothing else to watch don't watch this enough said.

After 8 years Saif and Raghavan joined hands to bring forth, perhaps India's answer to Hollywood slick sly thrillers – 'Agent Vinod'. Want to know how it fared? Just read on… The plot seems interesting with Agent Vinod (Saif Ali Khan), an Indian intelligence RAW agent discovering the shocking plan of a terrorist group to kill millions with a nuclear suitcase bomb. Drawing a connection between a series of events that happen across the world, AV sets out on a mission traversing some 9 to 10 exotic countries of the world.

In the midst of his mission, Agent Vinod happens to meet undercover Pakistani ISI Agent Ruby (Kareena Kapoor), who pretends to be a doctor. Agent Vinod and Ruby have a common goal, but whether they will be able to crack the mystery and come to the rescue of people forms the rest of the story.

'Agent Vinod' sets out to revolutionise filmmaking in India. Sriram Raghavan's ode to the spy genre, his continued love affair with '70's Hindi cinema- 'Agent Vinod' is a genuine attempt at entertaining in a sensible manner. But it somehow falls short of being declared as a brilliant piece of work.

The first 30 minutes of the film are intriguing and simultaneously puzzling. It is bifurcated into sub-plots which make it somewhat confusing.

Kareena's character seems to have been inserted in the drama only to ensure that the there is the stereotypical romance in the narrative.

Saif Ali Khan described 'Agent Vinod' as Bond-meets-Bourne-meets-TinTin, but the makers seems to have neglected the finer nuances and perhaps that is the reason why the film fails to impress.

Dialogues are witty and breathe life into the film. The editing is slick and perfect to make the film seem crisp.

Watch 'Agent Vinod' for its stylish presentation, it hasn't got anything else to offer.

I just saw this movie and I can't believe the reviews that are written above. For what starts out as an attempt to be an action flick..this movie totally bites the dust. Saif's aim to project himself as the 007 of Indian Cinema bombs! Saif and Kareena both are really pathetic in this. There really was no chemistry in this.

The editing is not good at all..I could hear almost everyone in the theater going "what just happened" and not because of excitement. The dialogs had no punch in them. Only the locations in the movie were worth something to look at.

However, the supporting cast i.e., Ram Kapoor, Prem Chopra, Dhritiman Chaterji are pretty decent .

The movie is NOT sharp, NOT cool, NOT clever, NOT funny, NOT Interesting. A below average movie.

My Rating : 7/10

This is the Indian Robert Langdon - not James Bond.

Fast-paced, stylish and with umpteen masala moments 'Agent Vinod' is highly entertaining and perhaps an underrated gem.

It's the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously which makes it standout from other spy movies of recent Hindi cinema.

Highly recommended!

I mean, seriously, HOW could SO many people downright LOATHE this film? Yes, it's a departure from director Sriram Raghavan's past work. Yes, Kareena's character Iram is (the only character) badly written. Yes, Vinod may rely too much on luck at times, but that's the thing, isn't it?

It's a MOVIE, a DREAM of the director, where ANYTHING can happen. And, to that respect, Agent Vinod is actually logical, and makes sense, something rare in Indian action flicks, since most are just rip-offs of South Indian actioners, with a single hero sending 20-30 baddies flying with one, hand movement, or whatever it is.

The action is frantically energetic, but still controlled and realistic. Agent Vinod has many great gunfights, and feels a lot like an action- espionage video game more than a film. Which isn't bad.

Nonetheless, Agent Vinod has great characters, and a nice plot, within all that action. Saif Ali Khan is sharp as RAW agent Vinod, and the supporting cast just add even more to the entire film by their performances as the numerous villains of Agent Vinod. Ram Kapoor and Adil Hussain, especially, are great.

There are only a few problems I had with Agent Vinod. The underwritten and unnecessary female part of Kareena, leading to lack of the Saif- Kareena chemistry (which seemed to be the only thing that the dumb people watching this film cared about), and the songs are mediocre, I guess. Otherwise, you've got a pretty bombastic, explosive, yet smart espionage thriller that SHOULD have been the flagship Indian secret agent bonanza at the box office, if only the consumers would have cared less for masala, and more for good cinema, that's wholly entertaining as well as smart.

Agent Vinod, What is this? A rip off of mission impossible, Bourne and bond? Maybe, but it has enough of a "desi tadka" to it, to make it an enjoyable entertainer.

This is a huge film, filled with enough shoot-outs, action set pieces and explosions and varied filming locations. Action is intense, acting fits the role, story is okay.

The script isn't one to speak off. Although it is able to do the job of keeping the movie going forward, it lacks cohesion. Too many names, certain unexpected generic twists (with long explanations) and a washed out final scene, make the script and the story of the movie its negative points. Regardless, it is not a total waste. It still is able to keep the movie going, like i said, and compared to the other washed out stuff Bollywood has been giving us for the last 2 to 3 years (not counting Paan Singh tomar and Kahaani), it certainly is more engrossing.

Now the story may be average, but the presentation is totally outstanding. The film starts with a fire-fight in a (generic) terrorist base which ends with a bang, and goes on to include various other action pieces, which i have rarely seen in a Bollywood film. Saif Ali khan totally fits the role and Kareena Kapoor has rarely looked more beautiful than this. I certainly can't figure out the uniqueness of the direction. But still a good effort, even if Sriram Raghavan has copied many ideas from the Hollywood secret agent flicks. Let me rephrase, he has not copied, but has been inspired from the Hollywood flicks. Regardless, his implementation of those ideas paid off. ( Copying would be what David Dhawan did with 'Partner'....)

One thing i really liked about this movie was that it did not include any songs. Well, okay it did have three songs in it. But all these songs were like a background music to the real action taking place. The best scene was when agent vinod escapes from a hotel killing every bad guy, with a love piano song playing in the background. The music is awesomely done, and exceptional to hear. Certainly something i have not seen before.

The editing of the film deserves a special praise. The editing is fast and jumpy, and somehow manages to make the decent stunts appear out of this world. One scene i really like was when the protagonist was beating up an old contact, with which he had fought before. Both past and present fights were shown together, inter-mixed and gave an outstanding result. The fast pace may put someone off, but if you really like such stuff definitely go for it.

Agent vinod is not an Oscar winning A++ movie. But its a hell of a lot more entertaining than the other crap i have seen from bollywood( again not counting kahaani and P S tomar). It does nothing outstanding, but does everything well to create an outstanding entertainer. Everything fits. Don't go in with really high expectations and you will come out pleasantly surprised.....

from where to start...............the film was nothing but a useless waste of time and money and mood............saif Ali khan was as usual awful.......his foreign accent does not help this crap..................and again what Karena kapur was doing in the whole film.......not only in this one but in Ra.one 3 idiots body guard...she ate all our brain stuffs by showing non sense...........this film is a disappointment from the director after Johnny gadder and ek hasina thi...............and why the hell saif Ali khan was comparing this film with James bond films or Bourne films or the villains in tin tin.is he mad??????????????any way just avoid this movie this is total waste of time and money.......and saif please do films which have a proper meaning

AGENT VINOD is a film which has a 15 minutes introduction scene of Saif in the beginning. The film could have been easily brought to 20-25 minutes shorter as the story doesn't have much in it. It's a film that has been made on such a huge canvas that pulls the bar of expectations but what we get on screen is far behind of the hype that the film has generated. The director takes the film over the top because in each of his sequence, one can notice that the film is trying to be clever, but it's actually not! The writers are to be blamed for the half-baked role written for Kareena Kapoor. Her character more so becomes a caricature, thanks to filmy dialogues and poor direction. Also, the screenplay writers fail to maintain rhythm of the film because every scene is followed by some random action and chase scene. Pritam's music is just OK but it's not original. The cinematographer doesn't give any such views which will please the eyes. Sriram Raghavan fails to execute the film because his aesthetics and nuances, this film clearly lacks. It's a lazy attempt and hence it should have been handled well by the director. Saif Ali Khan is fantastic as he delivers most to perfection. He infuses life in the film. Kareena Kapoor is saddled by badly sketched role. It's just a fail..... an epic fail....

Well, I wasn't really looking forward to see this film. I found the first 15 minutes boring, just a lot of booms and bangs, and no story. However, after this introduction the film does develop a story. A basic spy story, but a story that doesn't go haywire, that manages to keep your interest while not getting too complicated.

I read here and there that some people found the story difficult to understand, that the scenes are random. What?!? Do these people have a neurological problem? The story is quite easy to follow.

This film is good entertainment. It delivers in the way it's supposed too. I hate that some people didn't like the film and see nothing wrong in saying it's crap. I'm tired of seeing so much disrespect everywhere (not just for this film) from viewers. Argh!

It's a basic, classic spy movie. From it you want action, a bit of suspense (not that much, we all know he's going to succeed in the end), characters with double (or more) identities, different locations, a touch of glamour, in one word: entertainment. Fun, light but not dumb entertainment. Agent Vinod delivers just that. There's no realistic/harsh action, no deep psychological drama, but these things are NOT supposed to be there.

The movie delivers just what it aims to, it's coherent, well shot, has nice actors, nice music. For that I give it 8/10. It's good. Nothing extraordinary, it doesn't stand out, but it's good.

Agent Vinod -- disappointing. High production values and a mishmash of Bond/Bourne stories do not make a good film. The film had a lot of potential but its complex plot and too many characters ruins it. It is basically a patch work of action scenes stitched together with a tired old, SENSELESS, plot. However, local audiences who lap up Dabang/Bodyguard and other such disappointing movies will love it.

Sriram Raghavan disappoints big time. He seems to be a fan boy who does not seem to grow up. His "tribute" to earlier films and songs prevents him from growing up. He should make a film which HE likes and not poor imitations of what he liked. Both the director and the film had a lot of potential, but somewhere the potential is lost.

Good points: Very slick production values. Fairly good editing. Average direction and writing (except for the complex plot) Fairly competent acting

Bad points: It is a hackneyed plot which seems to be stitched from Bond/Bourne movies. I did not like the humor of the film. Action sequences are rather poor. Songs ruin an action thriller -- however clever an attempt! Movie is simply too long.

Fans of Bond/Bourne/Transporter who were thirsty for an Indian version of such films would be disappointed. If this film had succeeded it would have had the potential as a film series like Bond/Bourne/etc.

If you are a Bollywood fan, you can definitely watch it once. However, there is no repeat value.

Really a nice movie, with a good pace. Not a single second i felt bored. Going with a good speed. Everybody did good job. Not very much dialogs given to the actors, but story line is good and according to story and direction much dialogs are not required. They did the justice with the climax of movie. It's a bollywood movie so by default a lil love-story will be there. Love story is not required with the story, and i think director also felt the same and kept it in a small amount only. Problem i found with other reviews is they always comparing the movie with Hollywood, and forgot to appreciate the new and good experiment of BOLLYWOOD.

At least you can watch it once. for me worth watching, even after getting lots of negative views from other guys.

Please remove all the negative thoughts and review's from your mind before watching the movie. I am sure you will really going to enjoy it.

One of my friends said that Agent Vinod is the remake of old Agent Vinod (Available on YouTube). I was not convinced, but when I came out of the theater I started believing it. Really? Sriram Raghavan? After Ek Hasina Thi and Johny Gaddar, Agent Vinod? I still can't believe that Saif and Sriram come up with this utterly disorganized film.

Agent Vinod is something that Saif wanted to do with Kurbaan,(Thank god they haven't repeated any love making act, may be Saif wanted to concentrate more on acting skills.) The main problem of the film is screenplay. Screenplay throws out sequences without any explanation.You can't connect with this film. It feels like writers were stoned and when they were high they started writing Agent Vinod. This film shows you glimpse of 12 or more countries with irrelevant characters that supposed to be most wanted criminals.Every character is flat and shallow. I can't even say 'underwritten'. There are ton of questions that could really make you sick and dizzy. Couple of dialogues is witty but you heard it in first trailer itself. Sriram tried different things like to relate the sequence with Charlie Chaplin's films and to synchronies the fight sequence with silent song but it doesn't hold your attention because your mind continuously tries to figure out what the hell is going on.

Too many characters but no one gets enough time to act. Saif is confused, he tries to carry the film but the plot (?) is so weak that I would have watched Don 2 again. Why the hell did editor freeze some random frames? To make an impression on viewer's mind?

The good thing about agent Vinod is that it's not in 3D. This is not an action movie, it just a movie where someone kills someone, that's it. The most idiotic thing about the film is that a bullet is sufficient to kill Vinod but then, again we have to face lame action moves. Why was there Rajat Kapoor and Gulshan Grover? They come and go, they do nothing.But why did even writers come up with those characters.

Agent Vinod is not an intelligent, smart film and it doesn't come up with anything new. This spy has license to boredom.

Agent Vinod is one of the weirdest films I've seen in recent times. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad film in entirety, but the taking, screenplay and cinematography were so bloody confusing that I began to wonder if The Matrix was simpler to understand.

Director Sriram Raghavan seemed to have been inspired from Casino Royale so much for he decided to make this film on pretty much like it. The plot is no where close, but to me, it seemed like a lot of shots were rip off's from the James Bond film. Saif Ali Khan tried really hard and put a lot of time and effort to become the Indian Bond. He even put his decision on marrying Kareena on hold until the film was out. Alas, though he comes up with a pretty good performance, the boring, boring script fails him. Except for him, the millions of actors playing different characters in the film do nothing but confuse you. Of them, Kareena looked the most out of sorts.

The fast paced action in the film is so bloody fast that you can neither make head nor tail out of what's happening on-screen. The cinematography, thought brilliant in few episodes, could have been way better. The screenplay, especially in the first half, is so confusing, that I couldn't differentiate between the good and the bad guys.

Agent Vinod is a film you can watch once. Give it a shot if you have nothing else to do this weekend!!

For a detailed review, please visit sasikanth.me :)

If a movie is to be considered good, it should qualify for that as a whole. If certain (or even all) parts of the movie are good but they do not work together in tandem with consistency and harmony to provide a satisfactory experience to the spectator, the movie cannot be admired.

This is what has happened with Agent Vinod. It has great action and thrill, a very good entertaining song (in the style of Bollywood during the sixties to the eighties), admirable performances from the lead actors and finally a very good story with an impressive climax lasting for 20-25 minutes. There are many skilfully executed scenes in the movie (alongwith certain childish sequences as well). All the same, I won't consider it as a brilliant entertainer. It's just an above average movie, something that we did not expect when a talented director like Sriram Raghavan was behind the camera and a talented actor like Saif Ali Khan was in front of the camera. It's a let down from the Saif-Raghavan duo who had delivered a brilliant thriller like Ek Hasina Thi (2004) from the Ram Gopal Varma Camp.

Agent Vinod, as the name suggests, is the story of an agent of the Indian Intelligence (RAW, to be precise) who gets an assignment to dig out the circumstances in which another agent (Ravi Kishan) had lost his life. The investigative and daredevil activities of this agent, Vinod (Saif Ali Khan) brings him into contact with a pretty but daredevil (like him) girl, Ira Parveen (Kareena Kapoor). There are several baddies in the scenario, coming across whom the adventures of these two unearth the plot of a nuclear explosion. Finally, the hero succeeds not only in preventing the nuclear explosion but also in reaching the real planner of these events whose wicked activities are hidden from the eyes of the world.

The narrative of Agent Vinod moves through several countries (even my counting failed) and contains several blows and counter-blows between the goodies and the baddies with countless heads rolling in the process. As per my understanding, the intelligence agents or the spies are trained in such a way that they rise above emotions and not moved by mishaps in the lives of the individuals (whether in own life or in the lives of the other ones). However our filmwaalas are yet to come out of the earlier era and the old-fashioned sentimental twists are still kept to tone down the profoundness of the story (and play with the sentiments of the Indian viewers as well).

The narrative is fast-paced, no doubt but this pace does not allow the viewer to understand the movement of the story and the meaning of different things shown on the screen in a proper way. Events running on the screen are known to the director because the film is nothing but a realization of his vision only. However my dear Mr. Sriram Raghavan, they should be understood by the audience too whom the movie is ultimately meant for. And that's why when the mastermind is unmasked in the ending reel, it does not look convincing because even the most intelligent and logical viewer cannot connect him to the baddies that had already come before him in the movie (and cannot make out the connection of the baddies among themselves also). Should we believe that a sovereign country like Pakistan and its intelligence wing, ISI work for an individual who has his own axe to grind through their operations ? Too far-fetched. Putting it straight, the many good parts of the movie do not act together to make the movie impressive and entertaining as a whole.

The movie boasts of a huge production value and the different locales of the many countries involved have been portrayed beautifully on the screen. Technical aspects are superb except the editing part. The movie is just too long and that's why starts boring the viewer. It should have been short by at least 15-20 minutes. Action sequences and thrills (especially in the final reels) are the essence of the movie. The final phase of the movie (final 20-25 minutes) is the most interesting and gripping part of it.

As far as the music composed by Preetam is concerned, it's according to the mood of the movie. I won't term it as excellent. Only the Mujra song picturized in the old fashioned way is impressive in listening to as well as watching on the screen. And quite interestingly, Maryam Zakaaria looks better than Kareena Kapoor in that song.

Performances are praiseworthy. Saif Ali Khan is a very good actor who has groomed himself to such an extent that he can fit the bill for any role. He is the heart and soul of the movie and the movie deserves a watch for his fans. Kareena Kapoor has also done well alongwith her pretty looks though her character confuses at many places. She dies in the end because our filmmakers are still not gutsy enough to show an Indian Hindu male marrying a Pakistani Muslim girl. The supporting cast is routine.

My final words - Agent Vinod is strictly a one time watch and that too for the action-loving audience. It's a collection of some good parts which do not sum up to a coherent whole. Frankly speaking, this movie, in its major part, is just like a jigsaw puzzle which instead of entertaining the viewer, leaves him mentally exhausted in trying to join its pieces together in the correct way.

First things first, is this movie an Indian answer to Bourne series or Bond series? Hell, yeah!

I frankly don't realize why many the so called critics are criticizing this flick, but neither they, nor do I have the ability to judge the director Mr. Raghavan ( I feel like writing a whole article on his style of direction).

The only backdrop of this movie was the Bollywood touch given to the flick considering the mass appeal (a couple of unwanted songs, and a couple of illogical scenes like pre-climax one). Minus them, this movie is a reference source for aspiring directors.

Saif is a star and he plays his layered character with an astonishing ease! The protagonist is a complex man; he is tough, cunning, flirt and funny. Kareena's character on the other hand was a bit undeveloped but still Kareena carries herself well on the screen.

A kick-start opening, a sudden interval and an unusual end; the movie is a real thriller. Dialogues are just perfect; never get too melodramatic or heroic.

Many people are complaining about the complex narrative that the director has chosen to represent a relatively simple plot. If the narrative had not been complex, film would have got boring, but due to the complex narrative (which I personally did not find complex), the film remains interesting from start to end.

The songs, which are otherwise okay, sounds good in the film (especially title track). Background score by Daniel B George is peppy; the retro feel at places makes the movie entertaining.

What's more? Brilliant performances, Stylized (in true means, unlike some movies which declare themselves stylish) action sequences, razor sharp editing and super paced screenplay.

Sriram Raghavan is Indian Tarantino! Full marks for direction.

Final Verdict: I can have a word of mouth with those critic who rate Don 2 the ultimate thriller and rate Ra One almost perfect; this movie, for god's sake, is the real action thriller deal.

A grossly misunderstood movie, this might be the best spy movie ever made in India.

Granted the movie could have been made better. Saif's character lacked personality and some of his lines are too cheesy. the conspiracy climax does no good unless the director plans to make a sequel ( a very good one!) Kareena plays her part well and the stunt scenes are worth noticing. Meanwhile comparison with Bond and Bourne series are uncalled for, their scale is totally different from ours and so should be our expectations.

expected much more from the director! sad the film doesn't justify the hype it created!

Perhaps this film was designed to be something like an Indian version of James Bond, but it does not turn out to be ANYWHERE close to 007. James Bond is not a circus man!

The intro is high octane and worth watching, but then the film DRAGS for quite a while, and picks up in between. There are many a flaw in it. The makers shouldn't have tried to make the actors talk about things they KNOW NOTHING about, especially in the medical field! Music is unremarkable.

The background score does not correspond to the various scenes in the film. Many people come, are killed quickly, and through it all, agent Vinod jumps on and off, dodging bullets, killing goons. REAL CIRCUS.

You can watch this just for fun. Don't look for complete logic.