Cast : Prakash Raj, Adil Hussain, Harsh Chayya, Barkha Bisht, Zain Khan Durrani, Zoya Afroz,
Director : Shivam Nair and Jayprad Desai
With 8 episodes of 40ish minutes each, Mukhbir is a compelling watch. The story of an undercover agent in the late 1960’s who, disguised as a relative to a family settled in Lahore, makes his inroads into the top brass of the Pakistani Army to figure out what they are planning in their proxy war with India.
Dated to the 60’s, the look and the feel of the frames, the styling and the cinematography fits well with the narrative.
The most interesting product of this series remains the exemplary actors. Prakash Raj, Adil Hussain, Harsh Chayya and last but not the least – the new kid on the block – Zain Khan Durrani.
Durrani in his role as Harfan, the mole sent into Pakistan by the Indian Intelligence, is a street smart con artist with a heart. He is recruited by Murthy ( Praksah Raj) after he cons him for his car tires. Impressed by his cheeky honesty even after the smart con, Murthy has faith in his abilities to charm himself into any situation for intel.
The Intelligence Officers and handlers set Harfan up as a cousin of a family in Lahore even as the Pakistani Intelligence spots him as an infiltrating suspect. He checks out with his backstory and they let him go.
So starts Harfan’s mission to get into the right circles in the elite of that society to be able to listen, collect and transmit information about the Pakistani Army plans to the Indian Intelligence officials who are blinded by lack of information about how they will be hit next.
Harfan befriends a famous singer (Barkha Bisht) who is courting the chief of Pakistani Army Major General Agha Khan (Harsh Chayya) to get close to the plans.
While he is trying to investigate the people around him to gather intel, the daughter of a local journalist and Editor of a Newspaper Jamila ( Zoya Afroz) falls in love with him.
Durrani fits the James Bond bill perfectly with his good looks, charm and a personality that fills the screen. He flits in and out of his tasks with ease and compares to the other seasoned actors at an equal footing, not missing a beat. ( He was just as brilliant as hijacker Daljeet Singh Dodi in Akshay Kumar’s Bell Bottom)
The series stretches a bit with the ghazal sequences and the unnecessary Jamila love angle and breaks the entire momentum of the espionage fun. However, it is a comprehensively engaging show that keeps you going on with the binge.
What was also missing was a Pakistani Urdu accent and a deep pronunciation of correct Urdu. If you watch Pakistani movies and shows, you know what we mean.
Is it a recommendation? You bet. It’s a breezy binge watch.
