Amazing Collection: Agent Vinod (2012 film)

Agent Vinod a 2012 Indian action spy film directed by Sriram Raghavan. The movie borrows its name from the 1977 film of the same name. The film stars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor in leading roles and also features Ravi Kishan, Prem Chopra, Ram Kapoor, Gulshan Grover, Maryam Zakaria and debutante Anshuman Ajai Singh. It was filmed in India, Morocco, Russia, Latvia, UK, South Africa and Pakistan. Agent Vinod was co-produced by Illuminati Films and Eros Entertainment.

Plot

This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (March 2012)

In the Dasht-E-Margoh desert in remote Afghanistan, inside a Taliban camp, an ISI official, Col. Huzefa (Shahbaz Khan), is interrogating a captured man (Saif Ali Khan) suspected to be a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent. The man offers up details about RAW's operations in Afghanistan in exchange for money and safe passage across the border. He betrays his colleague, Major Rajan (Ravi Kissen), who has also infiltrated the camp. This is only a ruse, as both overpower their captors and fight their way out of the camp. Along the way, they rescue a girl called Farah (Maryam Zakaria). The man is actually a RAW agent and his nom-de-guerre is Agent Vinod.
In New Delhi, Agent Vinod enters RAW headquarters to meet his boss Hassan Nawaz (B. P. Singh). Nawaz shows him Major Rajan's final message from Russia. Just as he completes his message, Rajan is killed by a man who has a scorpion tattoo on his forearm. Nawaz asks Vinod to find out what '242' is. Vinod travels to Moscow, and enters a nightclub owned by Abu Nazer (Ram Kapoor). He manages to capture and interrogate Nazer, who tells him a man called Freddie Khambatta is to smuggle the million to Morocco. Vinod is almost captured by Nazer's men, but manages to escape, killing Nazer in the process.
Vinod boards a flight to Marakkesh, Morocco. Freddie Khambatta turns out to be the flight steward. Vinod picks him up from the airport, only to assume his place. As Freddie, Vinod meets local mafia boss David Kazan (Prem Chopra), who is accompanied by his personal (Pakistani) doctor, Ruby Mendes (Kareena Kapoor). Kazan suspects Vinod, and gets Ruby to administer him a truth serum. Vinod blurts out that he is a RAW agent and killed Abu Nazer. Kazan confronts Vinod when he regains consciousness, but Vinod manages to convince him he is Freddie Khambatta, and explains he had to kill Abu Nazer to protect the mission. He manages to hack Kazan's phone and finds out that a MI6 agent is reaching Morocco the following day.
In the meantime, Vinod gets closer to Ruby, and tries to find out what '242' is. Ruby is actually Iram, a British-Pakistani who is working undercover for the ISI. Vinod goes to meet the MI6 agent and finds him murdered in his room with strong pointers that the murder was committed by Ruby. He gets an invitation card from the murdered agent's room for a private auction. He learns that many international terrorist groups are converging at an antiques auction in Marakkesh to purchase '242'. Vinod brings Ruby to the auction, where Kazan is also present along with Jagadishwar Metla (Dhritiman Chatterji). Vinod spots an LTTE agent he had encountered previously, and from him, learns that '242' is actually the detonator for the nuclear device, disguised as an antique volume of Omar Khayyam's 'Rubaiyyat'. A bidding war ensues, and Kazan manages to secure the detonator.
In Chaman, Baluchistan, the head of the ISI is murdered by Col. Huzefa, who is actually part of a group of rogue ISI colonels planning an attack on India. In Morocco, Kazan locks the detonator with a password, and hands it over to Colonel (Adil Hussain), who has arrived in Morocco. Iram runs into the real Freddie Khambatta, and finds out Vinod is a RAW agent. Managing to escape from men trying to kill them, both agree to work together to prevent the nuclear device from falling into the wrong hands. Ruby returns to Kazan's estate only to find it ransacked and Kazan shot dead by 'Colonel'. 'Colonel' captures Ruby and asks her to reveal the whereabouts of Agent Vinod. He plants a sniper next to the hotel where Agent Vinod is to rendezvous with Ruby. The sniper takes a shot at him but Vinod manages to escape and is admitted to a hospital. The assassin reaches the hospital in the guise of a doctor and tries to administer a venom injection to Vinod. Vinod spots the scorpion tattoo on the doctor's forearm and overpowers him, killing him. He then clears his way out of the hospital to find Iram.
'Colonel' who is now in possession of the detonator, has reached Latvia to acquire the bomb. He enlists Iram to seduce an airport security employee to get his ID card. Iram succeeds in doing so, and 'Colonel' provides the ID card to his man, who is to transport the bomb out of Latvia. Colonel also sets up a rigged bomb so that both the airport employee and Iram die in the blast. Vinod arrives and as he interrogates Iram, the blast occurs, giving Iram the realization that she was being set up by the Colonel.
Vinod and Iram join hands and try to capture the Colonel and the bomb. Iram tells Vinod that the Colonel has called for a meeting at Karachi with fugitive don Pasha who can also be in the plot. The Colonel gets the Rubaiyat and tells his men to kill Vinod and Iram. However, Vinod manages to kill them all. Iram and Vinod reach Karachi, where they meet Farah, who is a dancer. With her help, they enter the wedding attended by an Indian mafia don (Gulshan Grover). There, they learn that Col. Huzefa and the don have agreed to smuggle the nuclear device from Karachi into India via the sea route. However, they are captured by Col. Huzefa, from whom they learn the target of the bomb is New Delhi. They manage to escape, and make it to New Delhi, where they try to find the location of the bomb. They find that the Colonel is staying with an ISI/Lashkar agent, who is an old professor. Iram finds the professor's map, which is of the bus route that Jimmy is taking with the armed bomb.
Iram hurries to the exhibition where Colonel is hiding as a pilot. Iram runs into 'Colonel', and is shot, but points him out to Indian security forces, who kill him. Eventually, Vinod tracks down the bomb and takes the bomb up in a helicopter to detonate it as far away from the city as possible. Iram realizes that David Kazan had set the password to the detonator and asks Vinod to try the name of Kazan's camel. The bomb is defused but Iram dies of gunshot wounds. Later Vinod sees a recording, showing Metla planning the attack. Vinod accuses Metla and the Zeus group for murdering millions for making money at the global stock exchanges and starting a nuclear war in sub-continent for geo-political reasons. Metla mocks Vinod, telling him world affairs are too complex for 'lowly police officers' to understand. However, Vinod is wearing a wire, and London cell of the Lashkar-e-Toiba are listening in. Realizing that they have been manipulated by Metla into almost starting a war with India, with the Pakistan government violently cracking down on them, the Lashkar sends a suicide bomber (Arif Zakaria) to assassinate Metla at a function in his honor. Metla is killed, but posthumously feted as a great philanthropist.
On a beach in Cape Town, the beautiful Russian girl who first acquired the nuclear device is seen sunbathing. She looks up to find Agent Vinod smiling at her. It is apparent Vinod has moved on to his next mission.

Cast

Saif Ali Khan as Agent Vinod
Kareena Kapoor as Iram Parveen Bilal/Ruby Mendes
Ravi Kishan as Major Rajan
Prem Chopra as David Kazaan
Ram Kapoor as Abu Sayed Nazer
B. P. Singh as RAW Chief Hasan Nawaz
Shahbaz Khan as Colonel Huzefa Lokha
Gulshan Grover as Tehmur Pasha
Adil Hussain as Colonel
Maryam Zakaria as Farah Faqesh special appearance in song "Dil Mera Muft Ka"
Mallika Haydon as a special appearance in song "I'll Do the Talking" & "Pyaar Ki Pungi"
Dhritiman Chaterji as Sir Jagadishwar Metla
Rajat Kapoor as ISI Chief Iftekhar Ahmed
Anshuman Ajai Singh as Jimmy
Arif Zakaria as the Lashkar Suicide Bomber
Lee-Ann Roberts as the Moscow contact
Vasilisa Petina as the Mysterious Girl

Production

According to Raghavan, Agent Vinod is not a remake of the 1977 action film of the same name.In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, he described it as "a realistic film [...with] full of action pieces, thrills and characters." On 30 May 2010, the director reported that the film's shoot had officially begun in Mumbai. Filming later continued in Morocco and Latvia.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack has been composed by Pritam. The track "Steal the Night (I'll Do the Talking)" is a partial interpolation of the 1978 song "Rasputin", composed by German disco group Boney M. According to IBN live, Raabta is the "most beautiful song" of the film.

Release

The film released on 23 March 2012. Few days before release, the film was banned by the Central Board of Film Censors of Pakistan, for containing various controversial references to the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence.