"Romeo Akbar Walter" Movie Review: John Abraham Starrer Subtle And Realistic Spy Flick

Romeo Akbar Walter

Director: Robbie Grewal
Cast: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Sikander Kher, Alka Amin, and Jackie Shroff
Rating: 3/5

John Abraham seems to have a big passion for national matters since he was engaged in moves relating to the similar topic such as Parmanu and Madras Café. And his latest release, Romeo Akbar Walter, is also an Indian espionage action thriller film written and directed by Robbie Grewal. However, in comparison with last year's hit Raazi with the same genre, Romeo Akbar Walter is not as emotion-filled as Raazi.

The film set in 1971 is reportedly an adaption of RAW agent Ravindra Kaushik’s real-life story. However, the filmmakers claim that the film is about unknown heroes who work independently and make silent contributions to the country. Stars featuring in Romeo Akbar Walter are John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Sikander Kher, Alka Amin, and Jackie Shroff.

Main storyline:

The story occurred in 1971 when East Pakistan's rebellion took place against the Pakistani army for their dictatorial laws. The Indians predict that Pakistan can attack by surprise whenever so they wanted to collect the secret information as much as possible. They entrusted the task of penetrating Pakistan to gather information to Rahamatullah Ali (Romeo Ali), a soldier son, a bank worker as well as a theatre enthusiast.

To do that, he pretended to be another person named Akbar Malik living in Pakistan and Srikanth (Jackie Shroff), the chief of RAW equipped him with a new identity paper. He was responsible for transferring vital documents to his homeland and preventing enormous loss caused by a prepared Pakistan's air raid on India’s citadel based in Bangladesh.

Strengths:

First, Romeo Akbar Walter is a script-driven movie with clear and compelling storytelling. The writer Robbie Grewal poured all his enthusiasm and in-depth research into the story. We can feel his great work when watching the film as every detail has no flaw.

Second, Swapnil Bhalerao and Madhur Madhavan nailed everything beautifully. The filmmaking team also did a great job in selecting the right shooting location to reproduce the old atmosphere of 1971 accurately.

Third, John Abraham, Sikander Kher, and Jackie Shroff’s acting is the spotlight in the movie. Although Mouni Roy only played a supporting role and didn't appear much in the film, everyone was surprised every time she appears on the screen.

Fourth, the sound effect is badass.

Finally, the point is that the climax of the film couldn’t be more perfect than this.

Weakness:

However, nothing is entirely flawless. Romeo Akbar Walter still has regrettable drawbacks. The development of the film in the first half is slightly sluggish with the focus on the close-ups scenes of character, which may make the audience feel impatient. More, except the climax, the scenes that should have caused strong feelings did not work well.

Verdict:

With all saying, Romeo Akbar Walter has every detail done thoroughly. If you are interested in spy movies, this will be a perfect choice for you. Note that this movie will not be too much like Hollywood movies of the same genre which often combine with dramatic and stunning action scenes; this film focuses on reality.