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India Today
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- India Today
War 2 review: Hrithik Roshan, Jr NTR take a world tour, story stays home
'War 2' raises the benchmark for larger-than-life stunts in Bollywood, but not in the way you would hope. They are more unrealistic, more death-defying, skin-defying, hair-defying, and even eye-defying - all in ways nobody really needed. And that's still not the most surprising part. The Ayan Mukerji-directorial somehow manages to reduce two actors - both mass' favourites, both capable of selling romance, action, drama, and even the occasional illogical stunt - to pawns in a story that never quite decides what it wants to be. Not this time, at plot hops hopelessly between 'India First' patriotism, old friendships, new enemies, and a godforsaken cartel that never once feels dangerous enough to deserve Hrithik Roshan's time. Conceived by Aditya Chopra himself, the story ends up being the film's biggest villain. After a point, you stop tracking the actual mission and start focusing on Roshan's stylishly narrowed eyes or Jr NTR's left-sided nose twitch. Two stars trapped in a narrative that is running in circles, with action sequences that add no style - or substance - to the get fights mid-air, on the water, in ice and fire, train-tunnel collisions, bullet-dodging car chases, and chiselled bodies emerging without a scratch. Fake six-pack abs and worst-possible CGI join the party. In one sequence, NTR takes a bullet dangerously close to his heart, undergoes surgery, and emerges without a single chest hair disturbed. In another, Hrithik and Kiara leap out of a jeep unharmed while bikers continue to shoot at the vehicle - the headlights, miraculously, continue to shine the brightest. Ashutosh Rana's Colonel Luthra continues his thankless Spy Universe routine, but it's Kiara Advani who feels most wasted. No surprises there, I believe. Her ganji-wearing, bikini-flaunting Air Force officer Kavya serves mainly to make Spain look sunnier. The villains, meanwhile, threaten India and even attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister - missions so original you've never seen or heard of them then there's Ayan Mukerji, who seems convinced that if you can't fix the story, you can at least send it on a lavish world tour. So we jump from India to Spain to Russia to Switzerland, with a quick stop in Manali - all to give the film an 'expensive' gloss, not glossier than Advani's metallic bikini, though. It's like mailing a badly-written postcard from multiple countries just to prove you've travelled. The backdrops are postcard-perfect, but when the plot is flatter than the Swiss plains and the thrills are almost as believable as a snowstorm in Delhi, the scenery becomes just a bright the time the film loops back to where it started, the villains' master-plan and the heroes' bulletproof cheekbones have both stopped mattering. Anil Kapoor turns up in a role so weightless, you wonder if they just needed another name on the poster. The entire world of 'War 2' feels hurried - a film green-lit simply because the Spy Universe needed its next chapter, definitely not because anyone had a story worth telling. Honestly, the film just ends up making the whole YRF spy world look less like an event and more like a noisy, expensive bubble that is ready to be An unimpressive BGM (particularly the lion roar for NTR), and misplaced songs do not satiate your excitement about watching a larger-than-life spy drama on the big screen. When the credits roll, you are left with the faint hum of jet engines (running on a racetrack), and the feeling that the only real war here is between logic and budget. And the budget wins.- EndsTune InTrending Reel IN THIS STORY#Hrithik Roshan#Kiara Advani
India Today
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Ram Gopal Varma slammed for crass post on Kiara's War 2 bikini pic, deletes later
Actor Kiara Advani's first-look from Hrithik Roshan-Jr NTR's War 2 teaser, released on May 20, 2025, and instantly broke the internet. However, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma ended up offending a section of viewers by posting her bikini shot from the film. Internet users criticised the director over his crass post about Kiara's poolside sharing the actor's bikini picture from the Ayan Mukerji-directorial, Varma wrote on X, "Instead of our countries and societies, if the war between Hrithik and Jr NTR is on who gets her b**k, then 2 will be a b***buster." Users on Reddit strongly reacted to the post and slammed the filmmaker over his misogynistic remarks. The viral post read, "Ram Gopal Varma has lost it." Another user commented, "And this is what he is uttering publicly... Can you imagine what he is like in private?"advertisementA user also wrote, "Always Maths debate once before posting anything Ram Gopal Verma Bhai. You won't be posting anything like this." While pointing at the filmmaker's past comments, a user also noted, "He lost it many many years ago. Have you not watched his interview with Ashu Reddy and God, S*x and Truth documentary?" Following the viral reactions to War 2, Kiara tweeted about her 'lots of firsts' from the upcoming spy action-thriller and captioned, "Lots of firsts. First @yrf film. First action film. First with Hrithik Roshan, Jr NTR. First collaboration with Ayan. And of course, first bikini shot. Here's the War 2 teaser. Hope we've got you excited for the 14th of August War2 releasing in theatres in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil (sic)." Kiara Advani listed her 'lots of firsts' from Ayan Mukerji's War 2. advertisementHrithik resumes his role as RAW agent Major Kabir Dhilawal in War 2. Kiara is seen paired opposite him, while Jr NTR makes his Bollywood debut and plays an unnamed antagonist in the film. War 2 is produced by Aditya Chopra and is a part of Yash Raj Films' spy universe. Post War 2, Alia Bhatt, Sharvari Wagh's Alpha and Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan 2 will be on the 2 releases on August 14, 2025 Reel IN THIS STORY#Kiara Advani#Hrithik Roshan
