The Vaccine War

Jai ho! Indian science. Must watch. Film show dedication of indian women and Indian character for science and technology. Reminder of grime time of humanity and how some people used it as opportunities and shame humanity at same time some beautiful minds were at work. Directions, story narration are wonderful. Nana and others were fabulous. High level of research is required for science film and director and his team did it in the it's required. It show reality of 4th pillar of democracy and self appointed guardians and their agenda. Its bog slap to ideological media and their agenda. Must watch! Jai Ho!

Watch with family.

It is very tough to make a coherent and engaging film on an esoteric, yet relevant topic, such as making vivid vaccination. Kudos to Vivek Agnihotri for getting it executed well, for the most part.

Based on the book Going Viral by Dr Balaram Bhargava, the head of ICMR, Vaccine War (VW) shows the challenges to culmination in a chronological manner, of the drive to produce an indigenous vaccine for the dreaded Corona.

It could have done well with better editing. This is my only sore issue with the film.

There are interweaving shots of family and professional lives, of the scientists. After a point, they feel forced and take you away from the central theme.

There are several shots, several times, which show people just nodding heads during meetings.

The politicking bit, with a journalist going after the vaccination to show the government of the day in poor light showcases Agnihotri's established political leanings. This bit is acted well by Raima Sen, who vamps impressively.

Nana Patekar is at the top of the game in most bits.

I liked it. Recommended for the intellectually curious.

The vaccine war is a drama thriller film directed by vivek agnihotri.

This film has many positive points. First being the performances, you cannot find fault in anyone's performance. Nana patekar again plays the quintessential leader of the group with thorough determination. Pallavi joshi brings a warmth into the film, so does girija oak and nivedita bhattacharya. The women cast did wonders in this film.

The film celebrates india's health workers and the medical wonders india pulled during covid-19. The medical terms and scientific learnings are not oversimplified for the sake of audience. The film treats its audience smart and knowledgeable. The dialogues are also praiseworthy.

But, the film fails to differentiate between its health officials and the government. It treats the victory of health workers as the victory of the government, papering over all cracks that were visible during the days in medical facilities, transportation and the dire situation that the people were in. It is like america making a film on atom bomb and not even mentioning the state of japan. It seems ignorant.

The background music is on tricky spaces. The parts in the drama portion work but during the trials, the use of heavy breathing sound did not serve the purpose. It seemed haphazardly engineered and sounded out of place. The cinematography is good.

The film completely villainizes the media, showing them in a negative light. I guess, it needed some good writing to go the grey line. Instead of negative, the characters could have been grey and human.

The Vaccine War review :

Based on the book 'Going Viral' by Prof. Balram Bhargava of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), The Vaccine War narrates the intriguing development of India's indigenous vaccine called Covaxin with all the internal as well as external challenges encountered during its making...

Publicised as India's first bioscience film, producer- director Vivek Agnihotri and team deserve a huge applause for putting the spotlight on our unsung heroes - the scientists at ICMR and National Institute of Virology (NIV), who toiled day and night for months to combat the formidable enemy called Corona. The fact that majority of these scientists were women also makes it a pertinent subject of women power. The film is a must see only for that...

Vivek Agnihotri's political leanings are well known and no surprises, he layers his script with an elaborate sub-plot of an almost evil journalist (Raima Sen) plotting against the desi vaccine on orders of the foreign pharma conglomerates hell bent on arm twisting India. While a particular obscure media portal has indeed been indicted of spreading fake news, there were ten other major media channels promoting the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative at that time. The Vaccine War forgets this and instead paints the whole media as anti-establishment. In the climax, they are actually equated to terrorists, which is seriously not done!!

Assuredly, the casting is perfect and Nana Patekar and Pallavi Joshi, appearing together after three decades since Trishagni (1989), are truly outstanding. Girija Oak and Sapthami Gowda pitch in sincere performances. It is interesting as well as ironic to watch the extremely pretty Raima Sen in such a vicious role and boy, does she nail it. Kudos!!

The Vaccine War soars and roars till the time it stays true to its source content of how Covaxin was developed in record time and ended up saving countless lives across the globe. The minute it switches gears to the toolkit narrative, it somehow withers and dithers...

Nevertheless, this is a relevant film of our time which leaves us with a positive message that India CAN do it. Covaxin, Chandrayaan, G20... we have seen it happen in last few years. Three cheers to that!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

Don't miss. It's not a film it's reality. It helps you get awareness on false narrative and info war. Very entertaining and keeps you connected throughout. Everyone has done a great job. It was amazing to see Nana on screen after long time. OMG..Raima Sen! She has killed it. Vivek has taken a very safe path and tried his best to stay away from controversies. Lot more political aspects could have been shown. A small glimpse of Modi ji would have added more power to the film. But still 💯 times better than nepowood masala film. Very well researched and big thank you to all medical and science fraternity for helping the world during COVID.