Mission Majnu

Shantanu Bagchi's 2023 film follows an Indian agent working in Pakistan in the 1970s. Living as Amjad, Tariq has settled as a tailor, married and built an ordinary life, while his real assignment is to gather evidence about the country's secret nuclear weapons programme. The film joins espionage tension to a question of identity: the man has lived for years as someone he is not, and the family he has made rests on that lie. The narrative departs from a real historical frame but invents its events and characters to a large degree; it cannot be used as a historical source and it was received with objection in Pakistan. Sidharth Malhotra leads. The pace is high and the emotional line pushed forward. Who it's for: viewers who like Indian spy thrillers and period constructions. Who it's not for: anyone wanting an account that looks at events from both sides or holds to documentary accuracy.