Mission Majnu movie review: Sidharth Malhotra, Rashmika Mandanna film is a sedate, by-the-numbers drone
In 1974, India’s first nuclear blast at Pokharan, codenamed The Smiling Buddha, created ripples world wide. It triggered Pakistan to frown, and instantly start its personal covert N-programme in retaliation. This information, sussed out by Indian brokers, led to widespread consternation. A unclean bomb within the possession of an unstable democracy might be deadly. The way it was stopped in its tracks is the story of Mission Majnu, which begins by saying that it’s ‘impressed by true occasions’.
The movie begins documentary-style by giving us glimpses of how World Struggle 2 ended with the Nagasaki and Hiroshima explosions. After which cuts to Rawalpindi, the place RAW officer Tariq Ali (Sidharth Malhotra) is setting the scene for the principle act, which is able to in the end contain fighter jets from Israel, super-smart spymeisters from India, and spectacular footwork from the deep undercover Indian brokers in Pakistan. In voice-over, we hear the voice of a personality who performed a vital position in these occasions, RAW chief R N Kao, and that’s one more nudge to us, the viewers, to take the proceedings significantly.
The query then arises of how a lot, within the pursuit of authenticity, can occasions be dramatised. Given our lengthy expertise in Bollywood spy sagas replete with song-and-dance and romance, we don’t blink an eyelid after we witness the double lifetime of the good-looking Tariq. His day job as a tailoring apprentice is crammed with the stunning Nasreen (Rashmika Mandanna), who could also be sightless, however is adept at seeing the reality. She isn’t just a part of his cowl, to be discarded when the time is correct; she is the love of his life.
When not mooning over Nasreen, Tariq is sort of the crafty spy. In an inadvertently hilarious sequence, he engages a senior Pakistani army officer and digs out top-secret data. In 10 minutes flat. An outdated girl spills some extra beans, and presto, all of the dots are joined. However Tariq has a darkish previous, which retains popping up in flashbacks. His foul-mouthed handler (Hussain) again dwelling retains asking, is he actually loyal to his nation? His collaborators, a vibrant mustachioed dhaba proprietor (Hashmi) and a bearded mullah, whose identification we be taught later, flip up as and when required.
What’s good is that the movie steers away from jingoism. A Pakistani character says that the Partition was ‘executed’ by the ‘angrez’. Tariq, who is clearly Indian, is himself a product of a secular, outdated India: his childhood concerned a gurdwara the place nobody went hungry, and a ‘Father Joseph’ who noticed to his education. The road, ‘deshbhakti rooh mein hoti hai’ is sort of a balm in these riven, polarised instances. However Mission Majnu doesn’t make sufficient of its potential, and of its handsome leads. It’s a sedate, by-the-numbers, drone.
Mission Majnu film overview: Sidharth Malhotra, Rashmika Mandanna, Kumud Mishra, Sharib Hashmi, Parmeet Sethi, Zakir Hussain, Rajit Kapur
Mission Majnu film overview: Shantanu Bagchi
Mission Majnu film overview: 2 stars
