Mukhbir Review: Watchable espionage thriller that works in parts only
Mukhbir Web Series Rating: 2 Stars
Just watched Mukhbir: The Story of a Spy Web Series on Zee5 Premium. So, let’s analyze the cast, release date, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this web series.
Cast: Prakash Raj, Zain Khan Durrani, Adil Hussain, Harsh Chhaya, Satyadeep Misra, Barkha Bisht, Zoya Afroz, Karan Oberoi, Bijou Thaangjam, Dilip Shankar, Atul Kumar, Sushil Pandey and Suneel Shanbag
Director: Shivam Nair & Jayprad Desai
Release Date: 11th November 2022 on Prime Video
Duration: 8 Episodes/ 30 Minutes
Story: The plot is inspired by the book Mission To Kashmir: An Intelligent Agent in Pakistan which is written by Maloy Krishna Dhar. Set in the 1960s, a few Indian agents working discreetly in Pakistan get captured and killed by Pakistani ISI. At the same time, SKS Moorthy (Prakash Raj) who is a spy agent working in Indian Intelligence Bureau comes across a thief Kamran Baksh (Zain Khan Durrani) and gets impressed by his intellect.
Moorthy convinces his higher officials Ramkishore Negi (Adil Hussain) and Joydeep Burman (Suneel Shanbag) to recruits Kamran for a secret mission. As per the plan he enters Pakistan under the false identity of Harfan Bukhari. His mission in Pakistan is to learn the military secrets there and to stop the possible war that might emerge between both nations.
In Pakistan, he meets Indian handler Alamgir (Satyadeep Misra) who is there to help him to provide every possible help in the mission. Did Kamran achieve his mission? What are the challenges he faced during this? This forms the crux of the story.
Positives
1. Excellent Performance
2. Direction
3. Cinematography
Negatives
1. Climax
2. Predictable Story
3. Screenplay
4. Unnecessary Sub-plot
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this web-series it looks interesting and planned to watch on premiere day because always loved espionage thrillers based on true incidents.
After the Sino-India war, a highly trained Indian spy enters Pakistan on a mission to gather crucial intelligence and stop Pakistan from launching an attack against India. Will he succeed?
In today’s OTT space, there are a million spy thrillers that are available at your disposal. However, to stand up and make a mark in that is a tough task. It’s an intriguing and emphasizes how spies are willing to put their lives on the line for their country. The recreation of the mid-sixties’ era, when communication was difficult, making survival in the enemy country even more difficult, is aptly depicted. The series gets pretty exciting from the mid portions with many chills and thrills. Not one, but there are a lot of instances where the character Kamran almost gets caught by the Pakistan army and ISI. These sequences create a tense atmosphere and intrigue one to see how he gets out of them. Performances are excellent as well as cinematography.
It takes much time in the initial episodes to get going. In addition, the screenplay here is a tad slow. The character introductions need better presentation. It would have been much better had the series depicted the training given to the lead actor. Generally, the training given to these spy agents plays a crucial role in their survival in the enemy country, and hence showcasing this aspect would have brought depth to the series. The filming of the action sequences is not that good, which disappoints as the series is a spy thriller. In addition, the separate romantic tracks in the series were not that great, leaving scope for improvement.
Overall, series is a watchable thriller that works in parts, but it could have been a lot more powerful. It offers nothing fresh and therein lies the issue. It has exciting moments and thrilling factors from the mid-part. The challenges a spy faces to protect his nation from an enemy country are nicely showcased. But the slow narrative in the starting portions and issues in certain aspects brings down the overall impact. My view on this web-series is Time Pass only you loved spy thrillers.
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