The Vaccine War

Going to theater after more than a year , when it's a Vivek Agnihotri film you just have to! After watching this film I just want to say thank you to Vivek ji! Only you have the guts to make something like this.

Brings out the most unique subjects with the best execution. He is just getting better and better with each film.

The film keeps you on the edge through out, you just get no time to think in the first half! The film just grips you and takes you on a roller coaster of emotions.

The actors are institution in themselves, Nana ji and Pallavi ji just amazing and Vivek ji succeeds in getting the best out of the newcomers too. If there was anything left the last 5 minutes will completely blow whatever was left of your brain! Just amazing!

The vaccine war is a drama thriller film directed by vivek agnihotri.

This film has many positive points. First being the performances, you cannot find fault in anyone's performance. Nana patekar again plays the quintessential leader of the group with thorough determination. Pallavi joshi brings a warmth into the film, so does girija oak and nivedita bhattacharya. The women cast did wonders in this film.

The film celebrates india's health workers and the medical wonders india pulled during covid-19. The medical terms and scientific learnings are not oversimplified for the sake of audience. The film treats its audience smart and knowledgeable. The dialogues are also praiseworthy.

But, the film fails to differentiate between its health officials and the government. It treats the victory of health workers as the victory of the government, papering over all cracks that were visible during the days in medical facilities, transportation and the dire situation that the people were in. It is like america making a film on atom bomb and not even mentioning the state of japan. It seems ignorant.

The background music is on tricky spaces. The parts in the drama portion work but during the trials, the use of heavy breathing sound did not serve the purpose. It seemed haphazardly engineered and sounded out of place. The cinematography is good.

The film completely villainizes the media, showing them in a negative light. I guess, it needed some good writing to go the grey line. Instead of negative, the characters could have been grey and human.

It is very tough to make a coherent and engaging film on an esoteric, yet relevant topic, such as making vivid vaccination. Kudos to Vivek Agnihotri for getting it executed well, for the most part.

Based on the book Going Viral by Dr Balaram Bhargava, the head of ICMR, Vaccine War (VW) shows the challenges to culmination in a chronological manner, of the drive to produce an indigenous vaccine for the dreaded Corona.

It could have done well with better editing. This is my only sore issue with the film.

There are interweaving shots of family and professional lives, of the scientists. After a point, they feel forced and take you away from the central theme.

There are several shots, several times, which show people just nodding heads during meetings.

The politicking bit, with a journalist going after the vaccination to show the government of the day in poor light showcases Agnihotri's established political leanings. This bit is acted well by Raima Sen, who vamps impressively.

Nana Patekar is at the top of the game in most bits.

I liked it. Recommended for the intellectually curious.

Exposes the hypocrisy of many so called "journalists" and applauds the scientists who dedicated there lives in the tough times of Covid to serve humanity, many even losing their lives for the cause. The film was well made and the actors and actresses all performed well, but specially Nana and Pallavi. The specified timelines were also in narration as it was based on the book "Going Viral: Making of Covaxin" by Dr Balram Bhargava. I can for sure say that many people will now know that being in the field of medical research is not as easy we all thought of.

The only problem I felt was the lack of subtitles, specially of the regional languages, when it comes to the dialogues being delivered in english.

As is the norm after TASHKENT FILES,the filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, has once again made a hard hitting and sensible movie based on actual facts with competent acting by almost everyone.

The takeaway(for me) from this movie was that up today we have this dreadfully dreadful situation where many Indians(for various reasons) are hell bent on disgracing their own motherland India for their own selfishly selfish motives and in turn don't hesitate to serve the vested interests of foreign countries which are intensely jealous of India's successes in different fields.

This movie needs to be judged in a different light as it does not seek to entertain the viewer,but to enlighten us from an Indian perspective,on what really happened during the Covid 19 crisis 8/10.