Mukhbiir
Encyclopedia
Mukhbiir (Translation
: Informer) is a 2008
India
n thriller film
directed by the Mani Shankar
. Filmed in Hindi, the film revolves around the life and events surrounding an Indian spy
. The film stars actor Sameer Dattani
as the spy, and Om Puri
, Sunil Shetty, Sushant Singh
, Rahul Dev
, Jackie Shroff
and Raima Sen
play the supporting roles.
Director Mani Shankar
had a story in mind in 1996 itself when he was shooting an anti-militancy music video
for the Intelligence Bureau
. It was during this time that he met a young Intelligence Bureau recruit who was badly tortured in militant
captivity. The young man was left unaided by the Indian government
thereafter as he offered them no utility. This rendezvous with the stark reality of their lives inspired Shankar into the story for this film. Shankar was once asked in an interview on why his previous films such as Rudraksh spent too much on research and very little on character emotions. He replied in affirmative and said that he strived to blend both of them well in this film. Since the subject of the film revolved around espionage
, Shankar resorted to intense research to avoid any unverifiable instances in his film. He worked closely with the Indian espionage service and utilised information for the film. Producer Sudhish Rambottla selected Shankar's script after reviewing 40 of them.
Director Shankar felt that actor Sameer Dattani
will not comprehend fear and hence not emote well while filming. To overcome this, Shankar insisted that Dattani spent a night in a prison
. Only the local inspector knew him to be an actor. Besides conducting several training workshops for Dattani to prepare for his character, Shankar also organized a visit to the underworld
. Though he had a harrowing experience during the night, he was happy that his efforts brought him from the critics.
, home video
rights along with the soundtrack
is usually more than the cost of the production. Since Shankar claimed "pre-release profit" for this film due to intelligent budgeting, he was confident even before the film's release.
The film released on 29 August 2008 across India. The film's release coincided with the release of six other movies - Hijack, Chamku
, C Kkompany
, Rock On!!
, Wanted and Wall E. Usually Indian film distributor
s don't expect much from the films which are released during the Ramadan season. Citing them as "gap fillers" and average films, the distributors didn't foresee much revenue for this film and for those released during this season. On the contrary, Shankar said that they tried for the film to release during the holy month of Ramadan
. This was because it had relevance to film's story that had the protagonist getting converted to Islam
. Actor Dattani was not quite worried about the audience' expectations, but instead he was worried about his expectations from the film.
In the first week of its release, the film garnered . Producer Rambottla was so impressed with the efforts of actor Dattani and director Shankar, that he declared a unique money-back offer to audiences. As per this, he was prepared to offer a ticket refund to 5,000 viewers across India if they did not like the film.
Though film critic
Taran Adarsh
liked the idea of the film, he found it similar to Ram Gopal Varma
's Contract
. Despite various cinematic sequences which he found to be well written and enacted, Adarsh found the climax to be totally completely unnatural. Terming it as a film that "could've been a riveting experience, but it fails to register an impact."
Indian English
Indian English is an umbrella term used to describe dialects of the English language spoken primarily in the Republic of India.As a result of British colonial rule until Indian independence in 1947 English is an official language of India and is widely used in both spoken and literary contexts...
: Informer) is a 2008
Bollywood films of 2008
A list of films produced by the Bollywood film industry based in Mumbai in 2008:-Top grossing films:The top fifteen grossing films at the Indian box office in 2008, as estimated by Boxofficeindia.com.-2008 releases:- External links :...
India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n thriller film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by the Mani Shankar
Mani Shankar
Mani Shankar is a Bollywood director, best known for his direction of Hindi films such as 16 December, Rudraksh, and, Tango Charlie Mukhbir and Knockout....
. Filmed in Hindi, the film revolves around the life and events surrounding an Indian spy
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
. The film stars actor Sameer Dattani
Sameer Dattani
Sammir Dattani also known as Dhyan is an Indian film actor who acts in Bollywood and Kannada films.-Early life:Sammir belongs to a industrialist business family and was born and brought up in Mumbai...
as the spy, and Om Puri
Om Puri
Om Puri is an Indian actor who has appeared in both mainstream Indian films and art films. His credits also include appearances in British and American films. He has received an honorary OBE.-Early life:...
, Sunil Shetty, Sushant Singh
Sushant Singh
Sushant Singh is an Indian actor, born in 1971.-Biography:He hails from Bijnor District in Uttar Pradesh. He did his schooling from a residential public school in Nainital - Birla Vidya Mandir. He did his post graduation in English Literature from Kirori Mal College and was involved with the fine...
, Rahul Dev
Rahul Dev
Rahul Dev is an Indian film actor and former model. Dev is known for his unconventional rugged looks and chiselled features and appearances in action films. He was meant to make his acting debut as the main villain in Mukul S. Anand's 1997 film Dus but the director's death while the film was still...
, Jackie Shroff
Jackie Shroff
Jackie Shroff is an Indian actor. He has been in the industry for more than 28 years and has appeared in over 150 films.-Personal life:...
and Raima Sen
Raima Sen
-Early life:She is the daughter of Moon Moon Sen and the granddaughter of legendary actress Suchitra Sen. Her sister, Riya Sen, is also in the Bollywood industry. Their father Bharat Dev Varma is a member of the royal family of Tripura. Her paternal grandmother, Ila Devi, was the princess of Cooch...
play the supporting roles.
Production
| "I wanted to make a film about a boy standing in the last line in the game of politics, who never gets the credit but finally gets the bullet." — Director Mani Shankar Mani Shankar Mani Shankar is a Bollywood director, best known for his direction of Hindi films such as 16 December, Rudraksh, and, Tango Charlie Mukhbir and Knockout.... |
Director Mani Shankar
Mani Shankar
Mani Shankar is a Bollywood director, best known for his direction of Hindi films such as 16 December, Rudraksh, and, Tango Charlie Mukhbir and Knockout....
had a story in mind in 1996 itself when he was shooting an anti-militancy music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for the Intelligence Bureau
Intelligence Bureau (India)
The Intelligence Bureau also known as IB is India's internal intelligence agency and reputedly the world's oldest intelligence agency. It was recast as the Central Intelligence Bureau in 1947 under the Ministry of Home Affairs...
. It was during this time that he met a young Intelligence Bureau recruit who was badly tortured in militant
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
captivity. The young man was left unaided by the Indian government
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
thereafter as he offered them no utility. This rendezvous with the stark reality of their lives inspired Shankar into the story for this film. Shankar was once asked in an interview on why his previous films such as Rudraksh spent too much on research and very little on character emotions. He replied in affirmative and said that he strived to blend both of them well in this film. Since the subject of the film revolved around espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, Shankar resorted to intense research to avoid any unverifiable instances in his film. He worked closely with the Indian espionage service and utilised information for the film. Producer Sudhish Rambottla selected Shankar's script after reviewing 40 of them.
Director Shankar felt that actor Sameer Dattani
Sameer Dattani
Sammir Dattani also known as Dhyan is an Indian film actor who acts in Bollywood and Kannada films.-Early life:Sammir belongs to a industrialist business family and was born and brought up in Mumbai...
will not comprehend fear and hence not emote well while filming. To overcome this, Shankar insisted that Dattani spent a night in a prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. Only the local inspector knew him to be an actor. Besides conducting several training workshops for Dattani to prepare for his character, Shankar also organized a visit to the underworld
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
. Though he had a harrowing experience during the night, he was happy that his efforts brought him from the critics.
Release and reception
Prior to its release, director Shankar claimed that he was able to help the producer recover the budget costs. He hypothesized that the revenue from televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
rights along with the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
is usually more than the cost of the production. Since Shankar claimed "pre-release profit" for this film due to intelligent budgeting, he was confident even before the film's release.
The film released on 29 August 2008 across India. The film's release coincided with the release of six other movies - Hijack, Chamku
Chamku (film)
Chamku is a 2008 Indian crime drama film written and directed by Kabeer Kaushik. It stars Bobby Deol in the eponymous role. It also co-stars Priyanka Chopra, Danny Denzongpa and Irrfan Khan...
, C Kkompany
C Kkompany
C Kkompany is a 2008 Hindi comedy film directed by debutant Sachin Yardi, and starring Tusshar Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Rajpal Yadav and Raima Sen. It also features Mithun Chakraborty, Mahesh Bhatt, Sakshi Tanwar, producer Ekta Kapoor and Karan Johar in special appearances. Sanjay Dutt has an extended...
, Rock On!!
Rock On!! (2008 film)
Rock On !! is a 2008 Bollywood rock musical film written and directed by Abhishek Kapoor, produced by Farhan Akhtar, and with music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy...
, Wanted and Wall E. Usually Indian film distributor
Film distributor
A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing...
s don't expect much from the films which are released during the Ramadan season. Citing them as "gap fillers" and average films, the distributors didn't foresee much revenue for this film and for those released during this season. On the contrary, Shankar said that they tried for the film to release during the holy month of Ramadan
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
. This was because it had relevance to film's story that had the protagonist getting converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. Actor Dattani was not quite worried about the audience' expectations, but instead he was worried about his expectations from the film.
In the first week of its release, the film garnered . Producer Rambottla was so impressed with the efforts of actor Dattani and director Shankar, that he declared a unique money-back offer to audiences. As per this, he was prepared to offer a ticket refund to 5,000 viewers across India if they did not like the film.
Though film critic
Film criticism
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films, individually and collectively. In general, this can be divided into journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, and other popular, mass-media outlets and academic criticism by film scholars that is informed by film theory and...
Taran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh is an Indian film critic, journalist, editor and film trade analyst. He is also a former producer and screenwriter. He is the son of film director and producer, B.K. Adarsh....
liked the idea of the film, he found it similar to Ram Gopal Varma
Ram Gopal Varma
Ram Gopal Varma is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer...
's Contract
Contract (2008 film)
Contract is a Hindi film by Ram Gopal Verma, where the story revolves around an ex-commando man, Aman, whose wife and daughter are killed in a terrorist attack. A top undercover cop then approaches Aman to collaborate with him to hunt the mastermind of these terrorist attacks Sultan, who is...
. Despite various cinematic sequences which he found to be well written and enacted, Adarsh found the climax to be totally completely unnatural. Terming it as a film that "could've been a riveting experience, but it fails to register an impact."