Operación Koh-I-Noor

Drawing inspiration from Hollywood's cheesiest action flick 'Knight and Day' and showcasing both brawn and beauty in all previews, director Siddharth Anand didn't quite set expectations of anything sensible in this glamorous, big-budget extravaganza. However, 'Bang Bang' does 3 things well and these are the factors contributing to its runaway financial success. You will be entertained, moderately satisfied and for a big budget film these days, that's mission accomplished.

The premise of all the action and heroism involves an international villain Omar Zafar (Danny Denzongpa)'s attempt to thwart the Indo-UK extradition treaty from getting executed. He declares a reward for any Indian thief who can steal the Kohinoor diamond so that the hype around the theft could alter the government's plans on the treaty. Our hero Rajveer (Hrithik Roshan), walks away with the precious gem and offers a trade off in Shimla but things go wrong with the greedy dealers and later on, he meets Harleen (Katrina Kaif), who is simply charmed by this suave stranger who she mistook for being her blind date. A bit of song and dance, action, car chase and escape later, they encounter Zorawar (Pawan Malhotra), a Government officer who attempts to capture Rajveer but a close escape sees the couple transported from Shimla to a remote island where it all seems like a vacation for a while. Some exemplary cellular connectivity enables their foes to suddenly appear at the hideout and in no time, the couple escape again, only to end up in a hotel in Prague. Here, the objective is to extract the location of Omar Zafar from his top aide, Hamid Gul (Jaaved Jaffrey) but as things go wrong upon the hotel's terrace, Harleen has been informed about Rajveer's true intentions by Zorawar. Her distrust leads to Rajveer handing over the Kohinoor to her, triggering a location tracker that leads Zorawar's squad to them and forcing our hero to jump off the bridge to his uncertain death. Shortly after, in yet another turn of events, Harleen gets kidnapped by Zafar who learns about the fake kohinoor. The hero silently eliminates guard after guard around the fortress in the desert and after some action, chase sequences and Harleen's romance on a high, they all end up in a burning plane. The wounded hero wakes up in a hospital, surrounded by the government officials who worked with Zorawar and the next thing you know, Harleen secretly transports him out of there on a journey that will take him to his home.

The director takes the idea of remaking quite literally and neglects any possible reinvention of the plot. With intellect thus left in the bin, he solely escalates the action and visual appeal through the screen presence of the actors, locations and song sequences. Not surprisingly, that approach works this time around as they look stunning throughout the movie, the locations are fresh and simply spectacular whereas the song sequences are brilliantly choreographed. Therefore, the three things that make this film work are: Hrithik-Katrina – Rarely has a pair complemented each other as well when it comes to a visual appeal on screen. This is what Hrithik should be doing if he is to only appear once a year. The film exploits his talent in terms of dancing and limited action without a stunt man while of course providing enough opportunity for him to display the brawn that he works on for the entire year. This one is for his ardent fans. Katrina doesn't have much in it to display her acting skills but certainly, her beauty remains unparalleled. Locations - Meherbaan is that optimized visual feast with Santorini and Mykonos in the background of good looking actors romancing. Uff showcases spectacular parts of the Himalayas during winter that were rarely witnessed before. Prague's heritage appeal is also well captured by the cinematographers. The gorgeous beaches of Thailand as well as a brief car chase through Abu Dhabi add to this cinematic journey across continents. Music – The highlight of the film appears at the very end when we witness some incredible choreography that has Hrithik moving in such a fluid manner that makes him look unreal. Bang Bang is an epic closing to the film that also saw Hrithik in another crazily choreographed song, Tu meri. Apart from the dances here, just watching the stunning pair in Meherbaan and Uff is worth the ticket price.

'Bang Bang' doesn't take itself too seriously either. The action is sometimes impressive and often over-the-top, with many visuals struggling with the special effects. But with a budget of just over $22 million, viewers will take that and appreciate the director's effort to top a movie like 'Knight and Day'(which wasn't quite a challenge). With an aim to be a commercial entertainer that has solid visual appeal with attractive actors, locations and action sequences, the movie does pretty well. Expectations of this being an intellectually satisfying outing at the cinemas should be deemed as those coming out of an imbecile's head. If 'Kick' can make the kind of money it did, let alone the prospects of Farah Khan's next stupidity, then Hrithik and Katrina deserve this limelight that shines bright upon their night and day.

• 6.877 on a scale of 1-10.

Until now I believed God has given me enough IQ to understand a movie plot, but this movie proved me wrong. From the start itself when a military officer goes for extradition (not intelligence officer) of a most wanted convict (and tells him that instead of bilateral extradition treaty India has negotiated an extradition treaty with all nations now! Wow, that kind of achievement would be hard even for US),you start to gear up yourself for what is going to follow next.After a non-effective clichéd patriotic dialogue we are made to believe that the whole building is taken over by a group of militants and they(militants) find time to change clothes to sherwani before taking our most wanted militant.This is just the start of a to be 'thrill ride' where you would find yourself bamboozled by a lot of questions. For instance our hero starts driving on a Shimla road but later he is found traversing Delhi's narrow gullies.And, after a while they are in Manali, which by the way we are told is Shimla again. Our hero who is a champion swimmer starts swimming from an unknown island most probably in India and finds himself in Prague after sometime and that too when Interpol is after him. In one of the chase scenes our hero hurts his legs (nd probably breaks it) just to find himself showing his dance moves just the same day. And yes our pretty lady lives in Shimla ,works as a receptionist but lives in a house akin to GM's and believe it or not she has to rely on blind date site to get a date.Also it snows heavily in Dehradun in fact it is snow covered as we are told.It makes you wonder what motivates these stars to agree to do these non-sense movies.

The movie is not all bad. Hritik and Katrina look good,though have no chemistry whatsoever.Even the (unnecessary) kiss could not make their chemistry any good.Hritik has his charms and tries very hard to carry the movie on his shoulders, but the script fails him umpteen number of times.Background music and to some extent cinematography (especially Prague,Greece) are also good. Action is one of the best you would see in a Bollywood movie,but it happens so vaguely you hardly understand why is it happening. The music disappointed me apart from 'Tu meri' song.Overall a passable movie which you can easily do without watching. In fact I wouldn't have strongly recommended the original mediocre 'Knight and Day' leave alone a caricatured copy if it.

An official remake of the Hollywood film Knight and Day, 'Bang Bang' is A Typical Commercial Entertainer, the boasts some impressive action-sequences, energetic music & fair entertainment. Expect less, and you won't be disappointed!

'Bang Bang' Synopsis: A young bank receptionist gets mixed up with Rajveer Nanda, a man who has a mysterious background.

'Bang Bang' has a brisk & engaging first-hour, where almost all the over-the-top situations & mindlessness hold an appeal. The second-hour, however, is dragging & a bit too long. The brisk pace turns slow & the nonstop action also looks forced, after a while.

Sujoy Ghosh & Suresh Nair's heavily Adapted Screenplay begins very well, but loses steam in the latter hour. Also, the dialogue could've been smarter! Siddharth Anand's Direction is stylish. Cinematography is good. Editing is crisp. Action-Sequences are impressively executed. Music by Vishal-Shekhar is energetic.

Performance-Wise: Hrithik seems correct for the role. He enacts the robber on the run with perfection. Katrina is cute & shares a nice on-screen chemistry with Hrithik, throughout. Danny Denzongpa is awesome as the antagonist. Jaaved Jaffrey is competent, as always. Pawan Malhotra is efficient. Vikram Gokhale is decent. Jimmy Shergill is superb in a cameo.

On the whole, 'Bang Bang' is a good one-time watch, at best.

Bang Bang is a part Espionage Thriller, part Bollywood Revenge Drama, part Musical, part Romantic Comedy, and full Global Action Adventure that not just excels in its parts, but is also riveting as a whole. An official remake of 'Knight and Day' - this is a movie that will surely seem like a knight in shining armor for the adrenaline junkie awaiting a prince charming.

Hrithik Roshan excels as the suave and sexy international thief on a mysterious mission of his own. With muscles of steel, eyes burning with a fire of passion, a body as fluid as water, and feet that seem to fly with the wind, Hrithik Roshak is truly in his elements here.

Giving company to his Greek God looks is the demure damsel in distress - Katrina Kaif - who for a change is less of a seductress and more of a girl next door. She manages to somehow keep pace with the brilliant Mr Roshan and hold her own. The supporting cast - be it Jimmy Shergill, Danny Donzongpa, Jaaved Jaffrey, Kanwaljeet Singh, Deepti Naval, Pawan Malhotra, or the delicious Dadi spice up proceedings with measured performances that meet the need of the hour aptly.

The action is truly stupendous and honestly much better than anything of "Spiderman 2" Andy Armstrong that I have seen so far. The cinematography, sets, locations, and costume design effectively add to the allure of breezy, hip, and yet picturesque scenes. Multiple international locations (Prague, London, Abu Dhabi, Phuket, and parts of Greece amongst others) and our very own India (Shimla, Kashmir, Manali, Mumbai, Delhi, etc) are captured in stunning visuals that will leave you gasping for that dream holiday you couldn't even dream of, and which Katrina as 'Harleen Kaur' gets to live.

To be honest, the story isn't the most gripping of tales, and the screenplay wouldn't 'script' history even though Sujoy Ghosh of the taut "Kahaani" fame and the prolific Abbas Tyrewaala seem to have had a hand in this. But the action, faced paced screenplay, and taut direction by Siddharth Anand, who redeems himself after a forgettable "Anjaana Anjaani" more than makes up for it. The hit maker of Hum Tum, Salaam Namaste, and Bachna Ae Haseeno is back to business in dishing out an entertaining dish with a dash of superstar allure in the form of Hrithik and Katrina.

Without giving too much away, I would like to summarize this as an apt action adventure film with tremendous production values, some foot tapping music (Vishal Shekhar), and outstanding choreography by Bosco-Cesar (especially Tu Meri and the title song - Bang Bang that pops up during the credits). Low on emotions, high on action, and about average on originality and recall value - this is a movie that starts and ends with a Bang and when it does, you might just say to Hrithik "Thank you Man!"

For those who have watched Knight & Day, this is gonna be a nightmare movie!! Recently in a interview, makers of this movie said "they worked around 7 months on the script". i doubt that for sure! Remakes Happen, but bollywood is extremely poor at making Hollywood remakes, and yet proved again. Hrithik tried every bit of his to imitate Cruise from Knight by trying to be witty, charming & dangerous, but failed!! It's 153 min long journey with lot of potholes, word by word being copied from the original, there is no innovation at all!! Why i rated 5 stars?? Thanks to Pawan Malhotra(The ISS Agent) who is the only saving grace & Mr. Andy Armstrong for providing good action! The chemistry between Hrithik & Katrina was charming but could have worked better if they just released their some dance videos which of course you will see at regular intervals through idiotic songs( Songs makes the movie even more laggy!! If you have not seen Knight & Day, then Bang Bang is pretty enjoyable because you would be facing the lower side of the ride without knowing the exact adrenaline you might receive by watching the original!!