Saaho Review with explanation (Spoiler Alert)

.Okay this post is for all those people who have come out of theatre and have posted / are posting / intend to post a bad review for the movie saaho. Its your right and we have no problem with you voicing your opinion. Frankly, the movie was not made for everybody. The only mistake that Saaho's makers did is that they actually thought that all kinds of movie goers of India are mature and will like complex stories. So a few things to put into perspective. Saaho is an action based thriller flick, so many people thought they could leave their brains at home for this one, like you would do for Hobbs and Shaw (i forgot to leave my brain at home for Hobbs and Shaw, I will not forget the horror of trying to make sense of it till my dying day). Anyways if you believe that, the movie is not for you. People have said only action is good in Saaho. I disagree, the strongest point of the movie is the story. The story is not chronologically arranged. Because its not a documentary. You have to arrange the pieces like a jig saw puzzle. If you are a couple who intends to sit and flirt while Saaho is playing, you won't understand it, if you are a family man taking care of your 2 year old and the many paranoia of your wife, the movie is definitely not for you. You might just end up being a nuisance for the guy sitting next to you who is perfectly enjoying and understanding the plot. The plot is specifically very convoluted in the first half.

Spoiler alert, if you have not seen the movie, please don't proceed further.

Okay, you have seen the movie and wish to proceed? Lets get some things out of the way, the villian is going to win. This is not your everyday, morally, ethically, legally correct flick. Second, there is no 2 lakh crore anywhere. The black box, on which the whole premise is based....is worthless. If I have to arrange the movie chronologically, I would start with the fact that, Saaho is aided and abetted by Vishwank (proxy kid of Roy), that old white beard dude who claimed to have hidden the black box in Mumbai and 2-3 more people in the inner circle. Kalki (Mandira) is not in the inner circle. If I have to guess, I would say, Vishwank and Saaho suspected her of being a mole, and to confirm and use this fact, they created a fake narrative.
To begin now, Roy died. and the money on the ship got robbed by Devraj. Devraj wanted to discredit dead Roy and Vishwank. But Vishwank and Saaho, concocted a story of a fake locker, containing 2 lakh crore which would compensate the money lost on the ship. Then Saaho who was in Mumbai, got his hacker friend David to help him. David hacked the police database and got out details of a far away police hacker, he could impersonate. Maybe Saaho got the real guy killed or he was just sent to vacation is anybody's guess. David then reported to Shinde with a fake transfer order. In 2 or 3 or 6 months (take your pick), David got privy with the likes of Goswami who had connect with higher ups of Mumbai police. Meanwhile Saaho himself began robbing Roy's corporation's money (All those robberies, they were Roy's property). This got Mumbai police into action. It is then that the plan was put to work. The fake story of locker, 2 lakh crore and black box was given to Vishwank's inner circle and Kalki. Vishwank himself gave it. Kalki heard it from Vishwank and told Devraj. Devraj then thought of getting this money on his side. because the world works on money, he was hoping to get the board on his side with this money and become the leader of Roy industries. Therefore Devraj got his deep asset in Mumbai, Shinde activated. Shinde got a famous undercover cop, whom he had neither met nor worked with, Ashok Chakravarthy on the case. This is where David steps in. He hacked the database again, and replaced Ashok's face with Saaho's face. That's how he got Saaho in as the team leader. This was easy and now the tricky part. David had to additionally manage the real Ashok. I am guessing he gave fake identities to other people (the ones who stood around them in their own control room while planning the bank heist). He faked Shinde, Goswami and created a whole control room for the real Ashok. He was relaying info between both control rooms. So we have 2 control rooms, the real control room with real shinde and Goswamy and fake Ashok (Saaho) and the fake control room with fake Shinde and Goswamy and real Ashok. To be honest, real Ashok is a chump to have gotten fooled by David. But he did. It was David who identified our real cop as the robber. Amrita said that this robber likes coffee from only one place (seen in cctv) and he will come there again, then David messaged the real cop to come to coffee shop. Later when Saaho and Ashok actually met, Saaho actually gave the details of black box to Ashok in that bar. Ashok understood the case from Saaho himself. Saaho wanted Shinde also to know that the robber (real cop Ashok) is looking for the black box. Shinde alerted Devraj who sent a team to secure the black box from Kalki. Devraj's team failed and Kalki deposited the box in bank (Kalki couldn't run away with the box there, because that would amount to betrayal to Vishwank and would result in her death). So Devraj's backup plan was activated. To get Ashok (alleged robber, real cop (unaware of shinde's allegiances)) to steal the black box for Shinde and deliver to Devraj. But thanks to David and then Saaho, this plan got foiled too and Saaho escaped with David to Africa.

---Intermission---

Take a breath have some tea. Ready for the second half? Now second half although straight forward and explained in the movie, needs some help from us. So first thing. How does Devraj come to know that black box was in Africa? Kalki told him. Who told Kalki? Vishwank. That gun pointing scene? Devraj was being fed a cock and bull story about the oh so important locker and black box and its location was also fed to Devraj by Vishwank. Why? because Saaho and Vishwank (inner circle) wanted to strip Devraj of his own money, Devraj had added that money stolen from the ship to his own reserves. And Saaho and Vishwank wanted to rob Devraj. So his involvement in black box fake story and then subsequently Devraj employing Saaho to rig the bank, were all scripted. Saaho and therefore David got access to Devraj's building in this way (logistics). And instead of the bank, they rigged Devraj's personal money. David was already secure, he was given a fake family. No. The cop identity wasn't given a family, David's own identity was given a fake family. Precisely to double throw off the police. And Devraj too if he attempted the family blackmail on David. Anyhow. Vishwank tells Devraj that Saaho had double crossed him. In reality, of course Vishwank knew of the whole plan and therefore after getting to know that Amrita was being taken somewhere he might have gotten them tailed and rescued Amrita. Poor Kalki got thoroughly betrayed by the plan and blew her own cover too. Shame. Its really her fault she believed the black box story. No one took more risk for the black box than Kalki. The shock that poor soul receives in the locker is outstanding. She dies there. Saaho distracts the police and Devraj's personal goons behind himself so that money is taken later to safety (but that must have been obvious even to the non attentive folks).

All in all, the story was the cherry on top for this movie. If you didn't like the movie, it means that you were mentally involved somewhere else, kid, wife, partner or even friends. This movie is not something to be understood in one go. The maker's should not have released such an evolved thriller concept to an audience like India. We love melodramas like DDLJ, KKHH, K3G and in later times, Aashiqui 2 (OMG!) and Kabir Singh (my personal favorite). This movie was not meant for an audience like us.

Edit:
Rating:
Action is 10*
Story is 12* (out of 10) I know this is over the top, but intelligent movies like these deserve encouragement.
Music is 5* I was surfing my phone while songs were playing. Bad boy song was best out of the lot.
Acting is 9*
Tech used (cgi/vfx whatever) is 9*
Overall that adds up to 45/50
So overall rating is 9/10

Must watch with open and free mind

I will watch this movie again, only to see more details that I missed.
Till then, take care folks. In the words of the great Truman Burbank: In case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night!