Mission Majnu is a period drama about an Indian spy in Pakistan. Shantanu Bagchi directed it. It is a super hero period drama about a spy who can make anyone, from strangers to experienced brigadiers, become garrulous and reveal all sorts of information.

Let me tell you why, before you laugh at me. Tariq Ali (Sidharth Malehotra) was a young man from Rawalpindi during the 1970s. He did God knows what for his living until he got a job as tailor. His charm and diligence in performing the five-times-a-day namaz helped him land the job. He falls in love with Nasreen (Rashmika Mandanna), a blind niece of his shop owner, and they wed.

After their 1974 nuclear test, Indian intelligence learns of a secret facility being built in Pakistan and activates its RAW agents to support what is called Mission Majnu. One of them is our Mohalle Ka Darzi Tariq. He is actually Amandeep Ajitpal Sing, a soldier whose father was a gaddar and sold top-secret blueprints for Pakistan. RAW chief Mr Kao says that this, along with his exceptional academic records, makes him the best man for the job. Because he is willing to do whatever it takes for his country in order to make up the difference for what his father did.

As Tariq woos Nasreen (his cover), you are stunned at how talented he is acting. Then, you realize that she is pregnant with his baby and that he might be actually in love with her. You are the only one who seems to be concerned about the implications of this development, as Amadeep Ajitpal Sing is clearly unconcerned.

Mission Majnustates it is loosely based upon true events. My heart goes out to the man who had a choice between his duty, love for his country, and his duty towards his wife and unborn baby. The film could have benefited from a break from the superhuman sleuthing techniques and instead focused on the layers of the man at the center of the film.

But we digress. Tariq, our superspy is given the task of finding the location of the nuclear plant. He uses his superpowers to gather information and some luck. He is called in to make buttons on a brigadier’s coat instead of having it sent to him; a eureka moment when his wife asks for the toilet; another eureka moment when he hears his wife waiting at the hospital.

With his charm and smile, he manages to get an army brigadier to reveal that Pakistan had indeed been building atom bombs. It also involved a foreign scientist and the facility was located around Rawalpindi. To find the scientist’s name, he goes on a hunt for a western-style toilet. He also gets the shop owner to give him the address and random information about his work for the government.

His superpowers, the smile and the affability — blind people so that they don’t find it strange that a normal guy hands over Rs 600 and not even bargaining. He is able to get past guards who don’t bother to verify madamji buga hai and get a neighboring granny to reveal details about the “pathan”, and his English wife, who lived there. Is it a compound or a road? Why were police on guard? How did neighbours’ visitors feel about being interrogated each time they entered any other houses? Never mind.

Without the technology available today, what must have been a difficult task in 1970s seems comically easy. That’s yet another problem with the film. Mission Majnuhad the potential to be a thrilling thriller with a nuanced look behind enemy lines. However, it is marred by happy coincidences and a heavy dose of anti-Pakistani sentiment mixed with an excessive amount of patriotism.

Most of the characters from Pakistan in Majnu are caricatures. These include the cake-loving Prime Minister Bhutto (Rajat Kapoor), the comic-cartoon-like portrayal General Zia-ul-Haq, and the Stormtrooper soldiers. Although they were not Stormtroopers, all seem to have the same bad aim with their guns. Indian counterparts were worse with Indira Gandhi wearing a ridiculous wig and Morarji Desai setting up an individual home-line call to discuss yoga. Also, a RAW agent handler who does more to his spies than any Pakistani could did to them.

Kumud Mishra played Raman Singh/Maulvi Shab in Tariq’s RAW team-up. Rashmika is a pretty, in-love woman who is treated as collateral damage to the mission. Sidharth is a charming young man who lives in Rawalpindi, but he lacks the acting skills to play the role of a spy. It is difficult to distinguish his Tariq from Amandeep. He is also so uncooperative when he hunts for information, it is hard to believe that anyone would suspect that he is a spy.

Mission Majnu is left hanging between a spy joke and a weak attempt at patriotism due to subpar writing and lack of nuance in performances. While there are some moments of excitement, they are really ruined by some bizarre happenstance. Mission Majnu isn’t a fitting tribute to these real-life heroes if even 30% of what’s shown in the film actually happened. They deserved better.