The new ZEE5 series Mukhbir The Story of a Spy is a meticulously layered story of espionage, set amidst the political backdrop of the mid-sixties. It stars Zain Khan Durrani as Kamran Bakhsh, who infiltrates Pakistan under the alias of Harfan Bukhari, to retrieve essential information for stopping a war. There are a total of eight episodes in the series with an average running time of forty minutes each.
The cast of the series includes Prakash Raj as SKS Moorthy- the recruiter of Kamran, Adil Hussain as Ramkishore Negi, Harsh Chhaya as Major General Agha Khan, Barkha Bisht as Begum Anar, Satyadeep Misra, Dilip Shankar, Atul Kumar, Sushil Pandey, Karan Oberai, Suneel Shanbag, Ujjwal Chopra, Nadeem Khan, Veena Mehta, Natasha Sinha, Bimal Oberoi, Karan Mehat, Shriram Jog, and Tanishka Vishe.
-Mukhbir The Story of a Spy Review Does Not Contain Spoilers-
The story of this spy drama starts with some important context about the war conflict between India and Pakistan, which brought the two countries near the brink of war. The pre-RAW Intelligence wing of India decides to plant their agents inside the enemy territory, to stay ahead of their malicious plans.
With a conventional charismatic style, SKS Moorthy (played by Prakash Raj) recruits a con artist Kamran Bakhsh (played by Zain Khan Durrani), to infiltrate under a different alias, and recover some vital military strategies.
The challenge includes making contact with the military heads and finding the sweet spot of retrieval. Along with dawning an element of betrayal, Kamran aka Harfan Bhukari will also need to commit some moral compromises.
The strongest part of the series is its fine attention to detail and the performance of the entire cast. It almost looks like somebody has pulled together all their favourite character actors (even though I don’t prefer that term) in one ensemble spy saga, and given them the liberty to move the pieces at their own will. Something, which should be done more often.
Another thing that excels in the show is the craft of storytelling. This includes seamless montages of war, newspapers, radio commentaries, rustic cinematography and historical mentions. Furthermore, all this is so brilliantly done that it took me some time to find out what was going wrong.
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The first four episodes of the series are weak in setting the premise. At one point it looks so artificial that I almost judged it as another commercial thriller in the name of espionage. But the latter half redeems itself with all the qualities of a slow-burn mystery, that unravels at the command of its actors.
Irrespective of their screen time, each actor leaves their mark of brilliance and strikes the right chord. For instance, the small yet notorious role of Atul Kumar just proves how lucky we are to have an artist like him. Morever, Sushil Pandey definitely deserves special mention for playing that nearly unstoppable assassin.
Mukhbir The Story of a Spy Final Thoughts
The series is an interesting watch if you have the right amount of patience for it. It also has a seasoned ensemble cast which is enough to leave an impression on you. At last, combine all this with an emotional heroic arch, and you get a decent weekend binge.
The series is available to stream on ZEE5. Let us know your thoughts about it in the comment section below.