Rating : ⭐️ 1/2
Genre: Spy thriller
Year: 2023
Running time: 2 hours 9 minutes
Director: Shantanu Bagchi
Cast: Siddharth Malhotra, Rashmika Mandana, Kumud Mishra, Sharib Hashmi, Parmeet Sethi, Rajit Kapoor
Kid rating: PG-15
Goodness, Mission Majnu was a dull film. Same old, same old and so very yawn-inducing!
Tariq (Siddhart Malhotra) is a poor tailor in Pakistan, subsisting on a meager salary and dear wifey’s love. But unknown to his nearest and dearest he’s a covert operative for Indian RAW. Amandeep (his real name) is tasked with finding out about the Pakistani attempt to create the nuclear bomb, following the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971.
Most of the film focusses on Tariq’s life in Pakistan as he traipses about meeting other spies and speaking to his handler in India. There are some fleeting flashbacks which hint at a tragic past, and Amandeep’s desire to rid himself of it.
Mission Majnu suffers from poor character delineation, and uneven pacing. For a spy thriller it takes a mighty long time for things to get interesting (the film does pick up post-interval). There are many logical plot-holes, which I might forgive if there were other redeeming features about the film.
Kumud Mishra and Sharif Hashmi play other Indian spies. While Mishra does well, Hashmi who was quite good in the series Family Man feels over the top here. Or maybe that’s the writing. Tariq’s handler Sharma (played by Zakir Hussain) also feels caricaturish and ridiculously unprofessional.
Siddharth Malhotra who does fine here, is still miscast in this role. With those looks and that diction, he definitely does not look like an uneducated, poor tailor. Rashmika Mandana plays his blind wife, and for all the impact her role had in this film, she might as well as well have not been in it.
All in all, Mission Manu is a desultory attempt at yet another jaded cross-border spy film/romance. Quite skippable!
Kidwise: Some violence, but no sex/sleaze.
