War 2, Review: RAW deal, plane truth and Special Oops
War, spelt in reverse is Raw. In India, which is not at war with any country at the time of writing this review, RAW stands for Research & Analysis Wing, the official secret service of the country. Being a secret service, little info should be available about it in the public domain. However, it is common knowledge that a secret service deals with espionage, planting and exposing secret agents, exposing double agents, being on the lookout for ‘compromises’, meaning infiltration into their own cadres or operatives who crossover to the other side, evacuating its citizens from evil captors, and ‘terminating’/‘neutralising’ persons who are a threat to the country, its military, and its economy. It deals with planting and eliminating agents or ‘assets’, as required, and spends unbelievable amounts of money to achieve its goals. A Google search will tell you that RAW was probably established in 1968, its headquarters are located in the CGO Complex, New Delhi, and it operates under the Prime Minister's Office. You can contact Ms. Anindita Sinharay, Deputy Director General, at anindita@nic.in or by phone, at 23455210. I did not, because my brief is to write about War 2, and not the Real RAW.
In about 100 films made in the last 10-12 years and 500 episodes on TV and the Internet, we have seen RAW in action. Currently a rage on OTT is the series, Special Ops (a camouflage for espionage). You could blame it on a certain Ian Fleming and his iconic character, James Bond, Britain’s MI6’s spy, Agent 007, with the 00 prefix standing for a blanket license to kill, also the most ‘encashed’ and enduring film series, for the last 63 years, and still not willing to retire. The US has its CIA, Israel its Mossad, and almost every major country in the world has its own branded foreign (external) intelligence secret service, which, by definition, does not exist, and so, neither do its operatives. But many countries, led by the USA, have made films about the achievements of its espionage agency.
The current upsurge in content, in India, that has RAW as its base, should be interpreted in the context of the present political dispensation of the country, and some recent near-war events. A few of these films were said to have been inspired by real events, but most were/are on a fictional trip, as is War 2. In another 2-3 years, every Indian actor worth his/her salt, would have played either a RAW agent, official or Chief. In War 2, we have Hrithik Roshan, Anil Kapoor, Ashutosh Rana, Kiara Advani and N.T. Rama Rao Junior, essaying parts of RAW personnel. Does that make the movie Special? Yes….Oops, NO!
Kabeer, a former RAW agent, who went rogue several years ago, has since emerged as a contract killer. Charging a flat fee of USD 1.2 million for every contract, he goes so far as to kill even the RAW Chief, who had adopted him, after rescuing him from a Remand Home for young criminals. In response to his growing threat, the Indian government despatches Officer Vikram, an elite operative, known for his ruthless precision and zero failure rate, to neutralise Kabeer. Also in the equation is Kaavya, the RAW Chief’s daughter, an ace pilot with the air force, who was in love with the family’s ward (the love was mutual; the skimpiest excuse for a bikini, and two songs are evidence enough), and has now joined hands wi