Operation Romeo review: Sharad Kelkar, Siddhant Gupta give their role everything but director fails them with weak execution

3/5

Story:

Adi (Siddhant Gupta) and Neha (Vedika Pinto) plan to have a romantic night in their car. That is when moral police Mangesh (Sharad Kelkar) makes their life living hell. To what extent will he go? Will Adi be able to get back at him?

Review:

Adapted from the Malayalam film Ishq - Not A Love Story, Operation Romeo is one of those movies that retain the stink of the original and try to cover it up with a new essence. Operation Romeo took all the silly/bad bits from Ishq and added a fresh essence but only after leaving a stink at the beginning. This is pretty disappointing to watch because you barely have anything to look forward to apart from the performances.

Sidhant Gupta enters the story instantly with Vedika Pinto. While they try hard, the two give out nibba and nibbi vibes, which so doesn't help the film. The cheesy song does not make it any better either. This is the complete opposite of Sachi and Vasudha from Ishq who were cheesy too but they managed to add a cute element which worked in their favour - the kiss - which hinted that the couple was ready for what was to come.

Adi (Siddhant) begs for a kiss from Neha (Vedika Pinto) and the whole scene is cringy from the word go. You literally want to scream, "Aage dekh le bhai. You are driving!"

The movie moves at a slow and weird pace. There are scenes which appear out-of-place or forced. They are not happening for the first time in this film but a lot has changed since Ishq released in 2019. This makes Operation Romeo, which released in 2022, look a little silly. The magic that the film had was of first-time viewing. People who would have seen Ishq would find nothing particularly new in Operation Romeo. Even if they think it is new, like we mentioned before, many things appear silly. The prime example of that is our hero parking in a secluded area, leaving his girlfriend alone in the car and then showing concern about her throughout the film.

Sharad Kelkar has a powerful entry as Mangesh in the film. He is so impressive in his stern persona and Marathi accent that even you wonder, what just happened?

Kishore Kadam has a great entry too and he takes Sharad's character to a new level. He, however, succumbs to having the same graph throughout the film thereon.

The harassment almost never stops. It will make your stomach churn.

While Vedika is always good, Siddhant's transformation is quite noticeable. His evil side is quite the deal.

Bhoomika Chawla appears in the second half of the film, out of the blue. While she is super cute, her character develops very slowly.

Everything in the film is dramatized with music. Thus, even the big revelation, which should have come as a shocker, is mellowed down because of the music.

Adi and Mangesh's confrontation scene is impactful too. Siddhant has the last word which makes the film a good watch. However, that isn't new since Sachi (Shane Nigam) did it in Ishq too.

Director Anuraj Manohar of Ishq had managed to put the story together well but Shashant Shah took the lead when it came to an impactful climax scene. If you are looking for the overall package though, Ishq should still be your pick.

Verdict:

Sharad Kelkar and Siddhant Gupta are great actors and they give their everything to the role. However, director Shashant Shah has failed them with a weak storyline which comes together very slowly, when the intrigue should be built from the beginning scenes itself. At least that is what the original film Ishq did. You can watch Operation Romeo but Ishq is still a classic, so you can watch the Hindi version only if you haven't seen the Malayalam version yet.