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War (2019 film)

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Wikipedia article




'War' is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Siddharth Anand and produced by Aditya Chopra under his banner Yash Raj Films. The film stars Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff and Vaani Kapoor in the lead roles while Ashutosh Rana, Anupriya Goenka and Soni Razdan play supporting roles. It is the third installment in the YRF Spy Universe. Tentatively titled 'Fighters', the name of the film was revealed to be 'War' on the release of the teaser trailer. The film follows an Indian soldier, who is assigned to eliminate his former mentor, who has gone rogue.

'War' opened worldwide on 2 October 2019 on Gandhi Jayanti 5-day extended weekend. Released simultaneously with its Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions, it received generally positive reviews from critics and audience with praise for Roshan and Shroff's performances, visual effects, action sequences and technical aspects. It created an historic record for the highest opening day collection made by a Bollywood film in India at that time earning over 53.35 crores net domestically in India. With a Worldwide gross box office collection of over , the film became a huge box office and a blockbuster success, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of 2019 and the15th highest-grossing Indian films of all time.

Plot



RAW agent Kabir Dhaliwal kills V. K. Naidu, an aged RAW agent in New Delhi who assigned him to kill a dreaded terrorist named Farid Haqqani, and escapes. Shortly after, Kabir's former boss and RAW joint secretary Colonel Sunil Luthra, relays Kabir's betrayal to Defence Minister Sherna Patel, who calls for the agency to summon Captain Khalid Rahmani, another RAW agent and Kabir's former student to kill Kabir. Khalid reminisces his past with Kabir.

'Past': Khalid is brought into Kabir's team by Luthra. Though reluctant as Khalid's father Rahmani was proved as a traitor to Kabir and the nation. Kabir agrees, where his team, consisting of fellow agents Saurabh, Prateek, Muthu and Aditi, are assigned to complete a mission in Tikrit, Iraq, and the mission is successfully accomplished. After seeing the love for his mother Nafeesa, and seeing how he has proven his worth, Khalid is acknowledged by Kabir and gets recruited in the team. Kabir plans his next mission to target a terrorist mastermind and businessman, Rizwan Illiyasi. The team capture Illiyasi, who reveals to Kabir that there is a mole in his team, who is fully loyal to his cause. Killing Prateek and Muthu, Saurabh reveals himself as the mole, which enrages Khalid, who chases Saurabh despite Kabir's pleas. A shootout ensues where Kabir is knocked by Illiyasi's men. Kabir wakes up at the hospital and meets a severely injured Khalid, who tells that he killed Saurabh.

'Present': Khalid is nearly taken off the mission when Lt.Col Jimmy Shroff, is murdered by Kabir. Khalid manages to find Kabir and learns that his next target is Dr. Utpal Biswas. Kabir is seen doting on a young girl named Ruhi where he remembers Ruhi's single mother, Naina Verma.

'Past': Kabir began his relationship with Naina in order to make her a civilian asset. Later, on learning the truth, she becomes mistrustful and hesitant to help Kabir, but agrees for Ruhi's sake. Naina is sent by Kabir to spy on Illiyasi's associate, Firoze Contractor. Kabir, who has been in touch with Aditi, learns from her that among Illiyasi's many contacts is a plastic surgeon, Dr. Mallika Singhal. Realizing that Firoze is actually Illiyasi, Kabir rushes to Naina's aid but Illiyasi kills Naina throws her from the flying helicopter, leaving Kabir devastated.

'Present': Khalid is unable to prevent Biswas from being killed by Kabir. Infuriated, he chases Kabir, who escapes again. After Khalid tries to convince Luthra to give him one final chance, he is fired on a doubt that he might have joined Kabir secretly. Khalid traces Kabir through Ruhi and finds out that Kabir is actually targeting associates of Illiyasi and is on a covert mission to recover a hard drive with a secret code that Illiyasi needs. However, Kabir's hideout is attacked, but Kabir and Khalid manage to escape and reach Kerala for Aditi's wedding. The duo recovers the hard drive with the secret code that Illiyasi needs. Kabir hands over the drive to him, but Khalid poisons him with TTX while sharing a drink with Kabir on a boat.

'Past': After Kabir was shot by Illiyasi's men, Khalid and Saurabh engage in a hand-to-hand combat where Khalid is shot dead by Illiyasi. Saurabh undergoes plastic surgery to disguise himself as Khalid, just like how Illiyasi had transformed into Firoze Contractor.

'Present': Saurabh throws a helpless Kabir into a river, where he returns to Illiyasi, who bases himself on a heavily armed icebreaker ship. Kabir, who was assumed dead by Saurabh, parachutes aboard, single-handedly assaults the ship and eliminates Illiyasi's army. Kabir confronts Saurabh, revealing that he had known that the latter was not Khalid, having seen him aim and shoot perfectly with his right side in a way which Khalid couldn't due to his impaired vision, and also for his choice to drink alcohol, which was considered forbidden by Khalid due to his religious beliefs. Hence, Kabir had acquired the antidote for the TTX in his drink and put Aditi to spy on him. Deciding that Illiyasi has become expendable, Saurabh shoots him dead in the confrontation and escapes. After an intense chase and fight in a derelict church, Kabir kills Saurabh by collapsing the church's dome.

The RAW posthumously honours Khalid for his bravery and sacrifice as he laid down his life, in order to save the nation and team with his mother Nafeesa receiving an award from the PM on behalf. Kabir, who is still believed by the agency to be a traitor, spends time with Ruhi and feels proud of seeing Khalid and Nafeesa getting the respect they actually deserved and after a brief conversation with Colonel Luthra, Kabir continues with his next covert operation against Farid Haqqani.

Cast



* Hrithik Roshan as Major Kabir Dhaliwal

* Tiger Shroff in a dual role as Captain Khalid Rahmani & Saurabh (Plastic Surgery Treatment)

* Vaani Kapoor as Naina Verma

* Ashutosh Rana as Colonel Sunil Luthra, Kabir's boss

* Anupriya Goenka as Aditi Nahta

* Dipannita Sharma as Dr. Mallika Singhal

* Soni Razdan as Nafeesa Rahmani, Khalid's mother

* Arif Zakaria as Dr. Utpal Biswas

* Mohit Chauhan as V.K. Naidu

* Swaroopa Ghosh as Sherna Patel, Defence Minister

* Yash Raaj Singh as Saurabh, Illiyasi's mole in Kabir's team

* Sanjeev Vatsa as Rizwan Illiyasi

* Dishita Sehgal as Ruhi Verma, Naina's little daughter

* Imran Ahamed as Saini

* Jessey Lever as Muthu

* Mashhoor Amrohi in a dual role as Firoze Contractor / Rizwan Illiyasi (Plastic Surgery Treatment)

* Amit Gaur as Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Shroff (Para SF)

* Ravi Awana as Basheer Hassib, Illiyasi's ally

Production



Development

, was hired as a stunt actor for the shooting of the film. He was seen in the opening scene of the film as a henchman, when Tiger Shroff's character Khalid was beating up Oslav's Henchman in the safehouse of Valletta, the capital of Malta

On Yash Chopra's birth anniversary, Yash Raj Films announced a new action film starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. Vaani Kapoor was finalised to play the female lead. Two international action choreographers from Hollywood and Korea were employed to design action sequences.

The climax scene of the film was shot actually on the Arctic Circle, becoming the first-ever Indian film to do so. Siddharth Anand, the director of the film stated, "We want to push the benchmark of action movies that are made in our country. So, we are bringing two of the biggest action choreographers together to design some of the most outlandish and visually-spectacular sequences. On one hand, we have Andy R Armstrong from Hollywood and on the other, we have Mr SeaYoung Oh, who is an outstanding martial arts action choreographer from South Korea."

Filming

Principal photography began in the second week of September 2018. The film also has a dance off between the two stars in the song "Jai Jai Shivshankar". The film schedule was wrapped up in the beginning of March 2019. The film has been shot in multiple exotic locations at Delhi, Uttrakhand, Kerala, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Georgia. The bike chase sequence between the two stars was filmed in Portugal. The car chase sequence which is the climax of the film was shot at the Arctic Circle.

Music



{{Infobox album

| name = War

| type = Soundtrack

| artist = VishalShekhar

| cover =

| alt =

| released = 30 September 2019

| recorded = 201819

| venue =

| studio = Vishal and Shekhar Studio
YRF Studios

| genre = Feature film soundtrack

| length = 14:24

| label = YRF Music

| producer = Aditya Chopra

| prev_title = Bharat

| prev_year = 2019

| year = 2019

| next_title = Khaali Peeli

| next_year = 2020

| misc =

}}

The music of the film is composed by VishalShekhar, with lyrics written by Kumaar. All themes are composed by Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara.

Release



The film was released on 2 October 2019, coinciding with the Gandhi Jayanti.

Reception



Box office

'War' opened with collection of 53.35 crore on its first day. It is the highest opening day collection for Hindi film. On the second day it collected 24.35 crore, On the third day it collected 22.45 crore, taking its total collection to 100.15 crore. 'War' has already created six new records as the film reaches to 100 crore mark at the box-office. The film entered the 100 Crore Club in three days of its release. The extended opening weekend collection of the film at 166.25 crore is the highest opening weekend collection for any 2019 Bollywood film. The film by crossing 200 crore in its opening week has become the fastest Bollywood film of 2019 to achieve the feat.

As of now, with gross of 378.46 crore from India and 97.04 crore from overseas, the film has grossed 507.5 crore worldwide, and has become the highest-grossing Indian film of 2019.

Critical response

'War' received generally positive reviews from critics; on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 72% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10.

Among positive reviews, Anupama Chopra said "War is a popcorn entertainer and you can't ask too many questions but if you're willing to suspend disbelief, the twists and turns exert a solid grip." A writer for Bollywood Hungama gave the film four stars out of five, and said "'War' is an action entertainer which has style as well as enough twists and turns to keep the viewers engrossed. At the box office, the extended weekend, dazzling action, stunning international locales and stylish execution will ensure mammoth footfalls for the film". Taran Adarsh gave it four stars out of five and called the film "[e]scapist cinema at its best". Komal Nahta of 'Film Information' opined, "The film could prove to be the starting of a new franchise for the Yash Raj Films banner". Writing for 'India TV', Sonal gave the film three and a half stars out of five, writing, "Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff of Abbas Mustan kinda twists, turns, characters, situations, logic, gravity, physics, chemistry, and some Ekta Kapoor-esque tricks all tossed together to make a visually spectacular concoction". Rajeev Masand of News18 gave the film two and a half out of five stars and said, "Both Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff fully commit to the action, bringing swag to the big stylish sequences and a visceral energy to the one-on-one punch-ups in the movie."

Among the reviewers who granted the film mixed reviews, 'The Times of India' rated it three stars out of five and felt the film had "lot of style, stunts and show, but lacking a solid storyline". 'India Today' rated it two and a half stars out of five and wrote, "'War' is a crowd-puller, but it isn't meant to further the cause of cinema". 'Daily News and Analysis' gave three stars out of five and wrote, "'War' seems more like a Hrithik Roshan and YRF come back than anything else". Writing for 'The Indian Express', Shubhra Gupta granted the film two stars out of five, stating, "The chief trouble with 'War' is that all the space is divvied up between Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff, that the poor baddies don't really get a chance". Writing for 'Firstpost', Anna M. M. Vetticad gave two stars out of five, opining that the film "could have been a suspenseful, eyecatching, entertaining ride. But for its politics... [it] is a painfully condescending ode to Muslim loyalty to our vatan, an ode that is particularly cynical and offensive". Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film one and a half stars out of five and stated, "Powered by two loose-limbed and resolutely stone-faced male leads, Hrithik and Tiger, War is all style and no substance".

Accolades



Future



At a launch party for War, Anand confirmed that he was working on the script of its sequel and had plans to convert the film into a franchise, depending on the audience response to the film; War sequel is expected to have a theatrical release in October 2025.

Notes



References




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