Operation Valentine

Film loosely based on true events, and fairly Owen as story. If you want to watch, watch without any expectations. Visuals are fairly good. Actors did a fair good job. And story was smoothly executed without much twists. From beginning to end the movie executed smoothly. Director didn't tried to over exaggerate the situations which would have made movie complicate. The story directly jumps into story without much delay. Which is a good one otherwise it would have made story boring. The technicals are good. So if you are bored it's a fair good try to watch movie which would not disappoint much.

Based on a true story "Operation Valentine" is a decent aerial action drama based on the 2019 Pulwama terrorist attack and the Indian Air Force's retaliatory Balakot Air Strikes. What is refreshing compared to Yodha is that Operation Valentine does not show Pakistani Air Force to be dumbos. Personally, I found the visual effects and cinematography to be fairly descent, especially the aerial dog fights. First half is a bit slow, but the second half picks up and visually exceeds expectations.

There are comparisons being drawn to Fighter and hence the average lower rating but personally I found the film to be a lighter and more realistic version of Fighter and better than Agnipankh, the film is fun to watch. Not sure about the Telegu version (there are mixed reviews) but the Hindi version had decent dialogues. Deepika no doubt is much better than Ruhani who is wooden. With a 5x times more budget the VFX is much better in Fighter, however as usual as a Bollywood blockbuster Fighter concentrates a lot on song and dance and hardly has any Airforce Training Sorties or simulations. In fact all the fighter jets used in the actual mission were portrayed wrongly in Fighter. As an Defence and AF enthusiast, I loved the Air Force training aspects of Operation Valentine. Hrithik Roshan is showing his age whereas Varun Tej looks the part. The Script was average for both.

I should start the review by mentioning that hats off to the team for making this movie in such a tight budget . Much more technicalities shown in this film as compared to Fighter. Also to add , Varun Tej and Manushi were great , along with this actor bhatt also did a great job. SAMs , AWACS , ANTI RADIATION MISSLES , BOMBER , RADAR , Sukhoi , F-16 , Mirage , Mig and much more. I am surely impressed. Well done team.

Now for those who are comparing this with Top Gun or Maverick ...just give these directors half a budget of what they get to produce a movie and then compare. The graphics shouldn't be compared at all , after all they were shot truly airborne while these are Vfx so please.

Did go to the movie without knowing the story. It started slow but the pace picked up slowly. By interval, you are in the edge of your seat. The direction, acting, music and VFX were just in enough dose. Congrats to the entire team for making this movie. Though the star cast is not well known, they have pulled it off nicely. Definitely a good watch for the weekend. I didn't expect the VFX. To be so good. It really elevated the aerial fight scenes. Almost to the Hollywood standards. Screenplay had played a very good part to keep the flow. No unnecessary songs that kept the movie going. Finally, the photography did great justice to the gorgeous locations in kashmir.

The plot meandered aimlessly, relying on tired tropes and predictable plot points. The opening scene, while attempting to be explosive, felt rushed and lacked the necessary punch to set the stage for a thrilling adventure. Attempts at humour landed flat, and the supposed emotional moments felt unearned. The "big reveal" near the end felt like a desperate attempt to inject some excitement into a narrative that had long lost its momentum. The cardboard-cutout characters felt like rejects from a discount romantic comedy bin. Come on guys, we all know the tea was fantastic. Can we please stop making propaganda movies with low budget VFX? The concept is getting old and monotonous.