That relevance carries the well-produced, well-photographed film some of its distance: in the way that Samir is detained and tortured for nine months without a shred of evidence (some of the most affecting scenes in the movies), in the way that Omar’s loyalties are never swayed even when he knows which path his friend is treading on, and in the way the Indian FBI operative upholds the values of American democracy even when he knows its loopholes and weakness—these give the film a certain heft.

But where it falters is in the way its screenplay turns fluffy—yes, we know it’s Yashraj, and yes, we know that the lovely Kat needs to sing songs along with her hunky co-stars, but it takes away from the necessary tautness a thriller like this requires.

There’s also a remarkable lack of tension even when people are being shot, and bombs are being placed, with the finger a hair-trigger away: Khan’s debut feature ‘Kabul Express’ was much tighter.

Of the four actors, Irrfan’s pasta-hating, I-love-America cop is most credible; Neil’s naïve immigrant is a nice turn too. John and Katrina are their usual selves even when transplanted a whole continent away.

I came away with a couple of well articulated if not madly original speeches on the value of the kind of freedom which can take a Muslim, or a person of colour, places in America. But at no point did I grip the edge of my seat.

(The writer can be reached at shubhra.gupta@expressindia.com)