Movie Review: India’s Most Wanted

Movie: ‘India’s Most Wanted’
Rating: 2/5
Director: Raj Kumar Gupta
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma, Sudev Nair

One must recall the series of bombings that shook the core of Indian metros between 2008 and 2012. The master mind of these attacks was touted as Indias Most Wanted. The movie, directed by Raj Kumar Gupta famous for No one Killed Jessica and RAID was yet again presenting a story based on true events, however this time he fails to captivate his audience as much as he was able to with the former films.

The movie begins with the showcase of the Pune Bombing, courtesy Yusuf, the man who soon became one of India’s most wanted terrorist.  Now shifting to the Indian border of Bihar and Nepal, you witness Prabhat Kapoor (Arjun Kapoor) one of the Intelligence Bureau officers who is always successful in his missions. He makes a claim to have solid leads on the whereabouts of Yusuf in Nepal. His pleads to be allowed to embark on a weaponless secret mission with a group of men is outright rejected. It is here you witness the bureaucracy that surrounds our nation, unwilling to fund or trust the intentions of this officer who is willing to die for his country.  Nonetheless, Prabhat goes on with his mission.

The first half of the movie is a  tad engaging and you are hopeful for a series of twists and turns leading up to the capture of this man, so far untraceable. However, lack of intelligence in story telling and narrative is imminently visible in the second half, making this a dull affair by the end of it all. Lack of a reliable supporting cast puts too much onus on Arjun Kapoor who himself struggles to evoke emotions of patriotism or pride which were the strongholds the film would have been relying on for its success

At 2hr and 5 mins long this film struggles to keep the audience glued to the screen, At times you wonder if the instances shown in the film could have truly occurred in real life. What should have otherwise felt like a breeze of a watch makes you stare repeatedly at your watch hoping the boring and unintelligent saga comes to an end.

Arjun Kapoor and his supporting cast have all done a decent job but their inability to truly depict the bravado, valor and true sense of patriotism of the men they were portraying is what makes this movie a missable affair.

Sudev Nair as Yusuf has almost no screen time, perhaps exploring on the background of his character could have added more perspective to the movie.

Overall, Indias Most Wanted is Raj Kumar Guptas weakest film by far. A stronger script and better star casting could have made this story more interesting for its audience. This can be missed.