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Saif gives a taut performance and is fabulous as both, the sharp director-producer and the simmering, jealous lover.There’s also the war. She adds to the character something from her own inner world, making some scenes impossible to forget or copy. And at the centre of it all they have placed the fearless and fabulous Nadia, recast with a jaunty eye and some mischief LED 4" round tail lights as Miss Julia (Kangana Ranaut). Just as a reluctant and pouting Julia is about to settle in the first class coupe with Zulfi, her make-up man and personal assistant, Rusi tells her that he can’t accompany her.This bit, complete with their fights, romance, her talking to the Japanese soldier in Hindi and he narrating his life’s story to her in Hindi, is fun. For those who get it, it’s cute, cute, cute.

From his latest outing it looks like he’s in a blissful state of postpartum contentedness, in the mood to frolic, have some fun, be silly and, well, a bit lame. Till this point Rangoon has been an explanatory tour — setting the scenes, introducing the characters and their raison d’être one by one. Set in 1943, there’s the World War II in which the British, along with their Indian Army, are fighting the Japanese at the India-Burma border. And as it’s shown by Bhardwaj, it is not sexy, it’s not macho. It could have been, of course. She adds to Julia layers that are Kangana’s own. The Japanese oblige, with an air raid, separating the two from the rest, a desperate Zulfi floating away with the suitcase that holds Julia’s dresses and a secret. He also cheekily brings out the naivety of the Azad Hind Fauj that was big on belief, faith and passion, but really low on reality.

The film doesn’t open with a master’s stroke, sequences that tell the story and introduce characters through dramatic action. We are not. They can always Google it, but what’s the joy in that. Harding (Richard McCabe), escapes after killing some 27 Azad Hind Fauj soldiers. This sort of acting can’t be taught.The film’s climax, that requires Julia to play the toughest role of her life, is as corny and preposterous as the film endings were in the days when three annas got you a seat in the front row.. Gen. He’s around only to give looks — at times stern, always stoic, sometimes misty. But it ties up the strands and takes the character of Julia beyond the mere joy of nostalgia, making sense of why the film needed to summon Fearless Nadia.Lucky for us, Vishal Bhardwaj has a thing for politics and humour, and extracts memorable performances here, not just from Kangana Ranaut, but Saif Ali Khan.