Mukhbir: The Story of a Spy review: Zain Khan Durrani and Dilip Shankar steal the show in this slow-burning espionage

3/5

Story:

Mukhbir is based on both real events and the 2011 book Mission to Kashmir: An Intelligent Agent in Pakistan by Maloy Krishna Dhar, but with a twist. The story is about a spy who gets recruited to land in Pakistan to help India and provide valuable and critical information to win the 1965 war.

Review:

The story begins with a simple thief, Kamran Bakhsh (Zain Khan Durrani), who meets two secret agents of the Indian Intelligence Bureau and steals a tyre from their car to make some money. However, he was unable to sell it to anyone, so he decided to return it to its owner.

After taking a close look at his quirks and uncanny intelligence, one of the agents of the IB, SKS Moorthy (Prakash Raj), decides to recruit him as their spy.

In the beginning, the series takes time to get a grip; however, being an espionage thriller, it certainly gets the recipe right. With a good amount of action, a little romance, and most of all the thrills and excitement that make you like a spy-drama, Mukhbir gets interesting with each episode.

Mukhbir displays multiple of those scenes, where it seems that Kamran as Harfan in the enemy country is going to get caught; however, he gets away every time from under the noses of Pakistan's officers and authorities.

With each major scene, Zain, the lead of this espionage thriller, grows on you and makes you feel like he is the only ideal actor to play this part. Based on his character and the way he talks and delivers his lines, his charm just makes you fall in love with him.

The series starts getting a little monotonous in the middle; however, a few more characters get introduced to fill up the space. Barkha Bisht, as Begum Anar, a famous singer, starts falling in love with Harfan, but little did she know that she would be used by this new, young, and charming man for some valuable information that she could get from one of her influential male friends in the Pakistan authorities.

Apart from Zain, Dilip Shankar has nailed his ruthless and strict officer of the ISI, Colonel Zaidi. He is one of those people who creates multiple hurdles for this Indian spy and makes plenty of sequences quite nail-biting. Adil Hussain, who plays another IB official named Ramkishore Negi, is also in the series, but there is nothing new to say about the actor's character.

Towards the end, Harfan, aka Kamran, gets tired of killing people and running away from the multiple dangerous situations he faces due to his job. At one point, the way he breaks down reminds you of Alia Bhatt's Sehmat from Raazi and how she gets completely shattered as a human.

Although Mukhbir doesn't end like Meghna Gulzar's films, Kamran continues to work as an Indian spy with multiple personalities.

Jayprad Desai and Shivam Nair's direction, along with Vaibhav Modi, Karan Oberoi, and Arshad Syed's story, make the show appear to be watchable except for the scenes, which seem to drag in between the episodes.

Verdict:

With a good plot and some great performances, especially by Zain and Dilip, the espionage thriller show makes for a gripping and entertaining watch.

Stream Mukhbir: The Story of a Spy on ZEE5.