Mission Majnu movie review: Sidharth Malhotra leads a passionately thrilling and entertaining salute to India

Mission Majnu movie review

Hindustan ka Tiranga hawao se nahi, shahido ki sasso se leharata hai this dialogue just before the end credits stayed in my mind. Sidharth Malhotra has a winner in his hands.

Director Shantanu Bagchi in his debut as a feature director along with his writers - Aseem Arrora, Sumit Batheja and Parveez Shaikh give us a thrilling, entertaining spy drama starring Sidharth Malhotra in lead.

The good memories of the highly loved Shershaah flashes back. Once again it’s Sidharth Malhotra as the Indian brave heart on a mission against Pakistan but this time the threat is not open, it’s a secret operation.

Mission Majnu has an engaging plot, the writers Aseem Arrora, Sumit Batheja and Parveez Shaikh write a convincing screenplay that keeps the audience hooked and the narration by Shantanu Bagchi is flowing without much distraction. Designed in keeping the mainstream cinegoer in mind, Mission Majnu as a film may not guarantee awards but rewards from the target audience love is assured.

Mission Majnu is a crowd pleasing spy action drama, Director Shantanu Bagchi and his writers - Aseem Arrora, Sumit Batheja and Parveez Shaikh score good points in creating the aura, feel, era (to an extent) and characterizations of the pivotal characters. The use of real footages of Gen Zia adds to the authenticity.

The love story between Sidharth Malhotra and Rashmika Mandanna is charming and they share a pleasing chemistry.

The second half gets more intense and the actual business beings and the movie enters into the action thriller route prominently.

Performance

Sidharth Malhotra as Amandeep Ajitpal Singh / Tariq Ali is excellent and is set to win hearts.

Rashmika Mandanna as Nasreen is pious.

Kumud Mishra is marvelous once again.

Sharib Hashmi in that get up that reminded me of shot gun Shatrughan Sinha is outstanding.

Solid support comes from Parmeet Sethi, Mir Sarwar, Zakir Hussain and Rajit Kapur.

Technicalities

Technically finely crafted. Bijitesh De’s cinematography is outstanding. Nitin Baid’s editing is crisp. Music by Tanishk Bagchi, Rochak Kohli and Arko Pravo Mukherjee goes with the momentum and yes, "Maati Ko Maa Kehte Hain"    written by Manoj Muntashir, composed by Rochak Kohli and rendered soulfully by Sonu Nigam and Rochak Kohli is a take home. Ketan Sodha’s BGM is fantastic. Production design by Rita Ghosh is apt. Costume designed by Divvya Gambhir and Nidhi Gambhir is good.

Flaws

I don,t want to get into politics but the portrayal of ex PM’s in the movie – Indira Gandhi and Moraraji Desai was not digestible to me. Indira Gandhi’s ultra cool reaction on loosing Amethi and Morarji Desai’s reluctance to take strict action against Pakistan wasn,t convincing.  Was there any hidden agenda?!.

The personal struggles of Sidharth Malhotra is not presented properly and if this was a gimmick to gain sympathy for the protagonist then it has failed to work the way it should have.

Cinematic liberties are taken at will.

And last but not the least, why is Mission Majnu on OTT – it’s for the masses in theatres. Poor Sid – after Shershaah, the Bollywood handsome has been deprived of another hit in theatres.

Final words

All said and done, Mission Majnu is a passionately thrilling and entertaining salute to India, powered by Sidharth Malhotra’s outstanding act which is set to win hearts.

Mission Majnu is streaming on Netflix from January 20, 2023.