An official Hindi adaptation of the original Malayalam film Ishq, Operation Romeo follows the story of a young couple who are harassed by a couple of men on a lonely night. The story is good and what I liked about this Hindi adaptation was that they have changed the setting to Mumbai which was a good start to the show. The screenplay at 135 minutes meant that the drama was crisp and did not waste any time in getting to the point.

The screenplay opens on a good note where you are introduced to the two main protagonists much like the Malayalam version. But the tricky portion was yet to come. In the original Malayalam version, when the main event begins there is an uncomfortable atmosphere which is built up in a terrifying sequence filled with tension. But sadly here, the tension in the first half just goes missing. I wouldn’t attribute it to me knowing what was going to happen next as it is a prerogative of the writers to pen an engaging screenplay. It just lacked that kind of intimidation which was brought out so well in the Malayalam version. Although the sequence wasn’t bad and it was very watchable but it seemed a watered down version of the original.

Just when I thought things were heading South, the second half does manage to pull things back. Ishq if you remember was a revenge story spread across two halves – and both were intriguing in their own way. Operation Romeo manages to find the much needed momentum in the second hour where the tension is built-up nicely in the house. With one thing leading to another, the proceedings were interesting(although I most definitely knew what was coming my way), and it definitely added to the drama. The final act which was memorable in Ishq is also decently well done here. It was only the tricky first hour where the film falters summing up a decently well penned screenplay.