Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW) Review: A Slow and Sluggishly Paced Espionage Thriller.

Director: Robbie Grewal

Cast: John Abraham, Jackie Shroff, Mouni Roy, Raghubir Yadav

RAW begins with an extreme close-up of the protagonist, Rehmatullah Ali a.k.a Romeo Akbar Walter played by John Abraham.

He is soaked in blood with bruises on his face, the entire opening sequences raised the bar of the movie.

But all that glitters is not gold. Soon, the film becomes predictable and screenplay turns out to be sluggish.

The film is a salute to the unnamed martyrs who risk their lives to protect India in intelligence agencies like RAW or Research and Analysis Wing.

Rehmatullah Ali, known as Romeo, is a bank cashier who also happens to be skilled at drama and disguises.

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This is why, Shrikant Rai (Jackie Shroff), the head of RAW, enlist him and sent him to Indo-Pak border for a mission.

Everything seems to be convenient and simple. A person going to the border of the country and tracks down information of the enemy country made to look like a layman’s job.

This film is filled with these kinds of bewildering scenarios.

Highly sensitive information is conveyed in public places and the protagonist who is a spy agent is romancing with the Indian diplomat (Mouni Roy) on a Karachi Street.

John Abraham is such an actor whom if you tickle on his muscular body, he won’t give a wink of expression.

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And this inability to lack of expression helped him to portray the character as an Indian spy digging for information in Karachi. 

Sikander Kher does a commendable job but sometimes his accent fluctuates from one dialect to another.

The one standout performance was done by Raghubir Yadav who helps John to collect information. Though it was a brief role Raghubir gives life to the character.

Jackie Shroff has the RAW chief creates a sense of style and swag to his role which is fun to watch.

Despite, an interesting plot, director Robbie Grewal doesn’t create an edge of the seat spy thriller which makes this film a one time watch.