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Netflix, RSVP and Guilty By Association’s Mission Majnu (UA) is a film about a RAW agent.
Amandeep Ajitpal Singh (Sidharth Malhotra) is a RAW agent in Pakistan. He lives in the neighbouring country as Tariq. He falls in love with Nasreen (Rashmika Mandana) who is visually impaired. The two even get married. Tariq is assigned the task of finding out if Pakistan is making a nuclear bomb. This by no means is an easy assignment but how he succeeds in his mission is the crux of the story. Aiding him are RAW agents Raman Singh alias Maulvi (Kumud Mishra) and Aslam Usmaniya (Sharib Hashmi).
Parvez Shaikh and Aseem Arora have written a story about secret service agents, which is of the kind one has seen in earlier films. Therefore, the incidents are mostly predictable. The screenplay, penned by Sumit Batheja, Parvez Shaikh and Aseem Arora, is not as exciting as it should’ve been because nail-biting and edge-of-the-seat scenes are few and far between. Even the scene in which Tariq and Aslam are caught at the nuclear facility fails to have the desired impact. While watching the drama unfold, the audience get the feeling that Tariq can achieve just about anything — that too, quite easily. It is because of this that the thrill element, so necessary in a film of this kind, is lacking. The climax is, however, quite exciting although it is predictable. Sumit Batheja’s dialogues are good but not clapworthy.
Sidharth Malhotra has done well in the role of Tariq. The pain he carries because of his late father’s doing should’ve been treated by the director with more feeling. Rashmika Mandana looks beautiful but doesn’t have many substantive scenes. Kumud Mishra lends lovely support as Raman Singh alias Maulvi. Sharib Hashmi is excellent as Aslam Usmaniya. Zakir Hussain leaves an extraordinary mark as the RAW officer who is always dismissive of Tariq. Parmeet Sethi makes a fine impression as RAW chief R.N. Kao. Ashwath Bhatt makes his presence amply felt in the role of Pakistani president Gen. Zia-ul-haq. Rajit Kapur is effective as Pakistani prime minister Bhutto. Avantika Akerkar and Avijit Dutt are both natural as Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai respectively. Manoj Bakshi has his moments as Momin. Salim Fatehi (as Nasreen’s father, Rasool), Shishir Sharma (as Maqsood Alam), Mir Sarwar (as scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan), Ananth Mahadevan (as R.K.), Sanjiv Jotangia (as Mishra), Shivraj D. Walvekar (as Brigadier), Vinit Sharma (as N.F. Santosh), Manoj Dutt (as Faisal Khan), Tripta Lakhenpal (as Bibi), Mahrru Shaikh (as Momin’s wife), Rabiat Adzhikamalova (as scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan’s wife), Aditya Arya (as Gullu), Mohammed Saif (as Anwar) and the others provide able support.
Shantanu Bagchi’s direction is average. Although he has extracted good work from out of his actors, he has not been able to offer much thrill to the viewers or even inspire patriotic feelings in them. Music (Tanishk Bagchi, Rochak Kohli and Arko) is good but not extraordinary. Lyrics (Manoj Muntashir, Shabbir Ahmed and A.M. Turaz) are appealing. Song picturisations (Tushar Kalia) are alright. Ketan Sodha’s background music leaves something to be desired at places. Bijitesh De’s camerawork is nice. Dr. Ravi Varma’s action scenes should’ve been more thrilling. Rita Ghosh’s production designing, and Krishna Sharma’s art direction are okay. Editing (Nitin Baid and Siddharth S. Pande) is quite crisp.
On the whole, Mission Majnu is a very ordinary fare. It is good that it has been released directly on an OTT platform because it would not have been able to entice the audience to the cinemas.
Released on 20-1-’23 on Netflix.