Tehran (2025) – A+ for effort

Genre: Thriller

Time:  1 hour 55 minutes

Platform: Netflix

Language: Hindi

Director: Arun Gopalan

Cast:   John Abraham (ACP Rajiv Kumar). Manushi Chhillar (S.I. Divya Rana). Hadi Khanjanpour (Afsar).

Plot:   In 2012, a car bomb meant for the Israeli consul’s daughter in Delhi, kills a destitute girl selling flowers while the daughter escapes with minor injuries. ACP Rajiv Kumar known as RK, is livid, that some external forces have decided to bring their turf wars into India. Further investigations bring out the fact that this is an Iran versus Israel war with both sides not giving any quarter. He is cautioned by his seniors not to go off half-cocked and go slow. However, the hard charging RK and his team go the full length and soon have a suspect, the blood thirsty Afsar, who is supported by the higher ups in the IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Council since he serves as their deniable strike arm. RK’s bosses are under pressure from external affairs ministry as there is an important gas deal about to be signed between India and Iran. RK however is on the trail of Afsar and is unwilling to let go and decides to go all the way to Tehran, Afsar’s lair.….

The good side: The writers have done a decent job in the way the plot slowly builds up. Of course, we the audience, through RK, see the neatly laid clues that RK gets one after the other. To give that “international mystery thriller” feel, there are enough ingredients in the pot such as Mossad, Iran, RAW, and a good old fashioned super committed Indian Police officer, who – predictably – has a stressed-out family life. Since he is committed to his job, he is often late for family commitments and such minor events as his daughter’s birthday

Now the formulaic stuff:

• During the ops, naturally his best junior will die and, in this case, it is his female junior Divya, who is killed in Abu Dhabi. Does that stop him? Nah.
• You know there is nothing more dangerous than a wounded John Abraham who remarkably maintains the same expression throughout the film. What a piece of acting! Huh? Did I say acting?.
• His superiors are the usual bunch of nincompoops who while admiring his blunt instrument style of working, also are exasperated at having to face the results of his wild actions. Naturally they decide to abandon him once he has shown to them that he is his own man and an uncontrollable lone wolf. (aha – war, spy and police movie cliché strikes and how).
• The writing is decent and has that “meanwhile in London” kind of feel of many international thrillers. However, the writing loses its way once the trio from Delhi go international. Divya herself says that if caught with guns in Abu Dhabi, they all will be executed without question. Yet they are all involved in a firefight not only in Abu Dhabi but also in Tehran (Glasgow is a hopelessly poor substitute for Tehran as one can see the clear English signage and shops).

That is not to say everything is wrong. It done quite decently and deserves a hearty applause for the initial plotting scenes. The backroom plotting, (by now we know) is all against the hero and his team, to show how dedicated he is and how nasty all the higher ups in the ministries are.

The later descent into regular bang-bang / dishoom-dishoom Hindi fillum is what does the film in and ends with a tedious climax. This could have been good and even a great thriller but just about makes the grade at average.

A special mention of John Abraham’s stone-cold look is important. Can you maintain that kind of look throughout a film? try it. Will make a real actor out of you. And why do all these new thrillers have a washed-out dull look? just to show that it was set a thousand years ago? Does not work, especially in the interior and night scenes.

The film ends with a statement that the India-Iran gas deal still hasn’t been signed. RK is responsible for that ? or some other factor such as bowing down to “external pressures from a strategic partner”?  Fiction is always more enjoyable than fact. Didnt they say at the beginning that all the characters in this story are fictitious ?

Story – 3 out of 5

Script – 3 out of 5

Direction – 3 out of 5

Photography – 2 out of 5

Total – 2.8 out of 5