IB 71 movie review: Vidyut Jammwal steps out of his comfort zone only to leave us confused

An espionage thriller, IB 71 chronicles India’s top-secret mission that is said to have aided India’s victory in the 1971 India-Pakistan war. Starring Vidyut Jammwal and Anupam Kher in pivotal roles, the film starts off on a high note, but soon goes off track. With visuals, voice over, text captions and flashbacks, there’s a lot happening for one to understand the exact timeline of the film. Until the interval, I genuinely couldn’t figure what the film was trying to show or say. Directed by Sankalp Reddy, IB 71 in the first half, seemed nothing but an attempt to take us on a ride, play some riddles and leave us all confused without any answers. But thankfully, the second half picks up, pieces of puzzles start to come together and it all made some sense. Was it too little, too late? Somewhat, yes.

IB 71 starts with Pakistan preparing for yet another war after being defeated in 1948 and 1965, and this time from the Eastern front in alliance with China. Upon receiving vital information about this impending attack, Intelligence Bureau Chief Avasti (Kher), along with his top agent Dev (Jammwal), comes up with a plan to save the nation without firing a single bullet or letting the neighbouring country get the slightest hint about it. As mobilizing the army at a short notice appears to be a tough task, they suggest blocking of the air space to prevent Pakistan and China from attacking India. Dev is assigned this task and how he accomplishes this confidential mission in the next 10 days, along with 30 other undercover agents is what the film shows in the second half.

Crisp editing makes for an easier watch

With a runtime of a little less than two hours, the film is tightly edited and that length, perhaps, is the only good part about it. The story doesn’t seem drag, stays to the point and ends before it turns into a snooze fest. Reddy, who has earlier helmed Ghazi Attack, has the intent right behind telling this untold story based on true events, but somewhere he loses focus and goes all over the place.

Aditya Shastri’s story is intriguing and holds a lot of potential to keep you hooked. What doesn’t really work is the screenplay for which six people are credited — Sankalp Reddy, Arjun Varma, E. Vasudeva Reddy, Arun Bhimavarapu, Gargee Singh and Abhimanyu Srivastava. For the longest time, they looked like disjoined and scattered pieces of a puzzle. Even when the story is picking pace, there is very little or no connect with how it unfolds for audiences to understand. The background music gets a bit too loud at places, though cinematography in certain scenes elevates the whole experience, especially the ones involving the plane.

What left me utterly surprised, and somewhat impressed, is that despite being based on such a sensitive and serious subject, there is quite a lot of subtle humour peppered across the film. I mean, it’s not common to see people laughing out loud while watching spy thrillers, but some one-liners and punches make it hard to control that laughter. Full credit goes to dialogues by Junaid Wasi and Sahar Quaze.

Vidyut Jammwal leaves you confused

Jammwal delivers a decent performance and he looks quite unlike his earlier big screen outings. You are used to seeing an actor do high-octane and gravity-defying action on screen, and suddenly he underplays all that and turns into a one-dimensional character that has nothing larger-than-life about himself, it can leave many confused. As an IB agent, his body language and mannerisms are on-point and he aces the few hand combat scenes that are there in the film. Kher delivers a restrained performance where he steps back and let the story be in forefront. As the chief of intelligence bureau, he commands authority and a strong screen presence, and that very well comes out in the scenes we see him in. Yes, it’s for very limited time Kher appears in the film, but then the story is more about the mission and less about the people behind it. Vishal Jethwa as Qasim Qureshi, a brainwashed youth, is in his element. He may not be as impressive as he was in his debut outing Mardaani 2, or as convincing as his last, Salaam Venky, yet he manages to make his presence felt, and trigger a few laughs with the way his character has been written.

Watch IB 71 in theatres to witness yet another untold story of heroes who seldom get spoken or written about in history books. It may not give you an adrenaline rush but will give some goosebumps towards the climax that is high on patriotic flavour.