The tacky nature of the drama can be determined from its very first scene involving the (slow-mo) introduction of Ashfaq (Surya Sharma) in a graveyard with a cricket bat. In another world, it could have meant the death of a cricket for a ‘neighbouring’ team who have been performing at their absolute worst in recent times, but then I digress. But what that introduction made me believe was that I was already in trouble with the content that was to follow on the show – even though I silently awaited a miracle to transpire while coming to terms with my fate. It is just the intuition that film critics face while smelling a train-wreck of a content within the first reel of the show/film. But as is the nature of our job, we have to watch through the mediocrity, even as I hoped for Ashfaq to end my torture with the cricket bat that he instead chose to smash a fringe character!

In the heart of things, the story follows the chronicles of Adhir Dayal (Purnendu Bhattacharya), a same-name-but-different-name of a real life character who is tasked with the rescue of a ‘honey-trap’ spy Agent Mariam (Mouni Roy), who is secretly tasked to pass on vital information from Ashfaq. And the dim-witted nature of the enemy cannot be discounted either – Mariam uses AI glasses to scan and transfer documents right under Ashfaq’s nose, but Ashfaq remains woefully unaware, instead falling head over heels for her and preparing to get married. It is the kind of the binary piece of writing that I had referred to in my opening paragraph.

The story is further bifurcated to a past incident from the year 1978, wherein a young Adhir (Naveen Kasturia) working as a diplomat in Islamabad, who is tasked to foil ISI’s discreet mission to build a nuclear bomb. This is such an important event in the history of the two countries, given how India was yet to be a nuclear power in that timeline. But it is here that the binary nature of the drama kicks in (by the way, did anyone notice on how the agencies had enough time to narrate an entire flashback on the show?) – you are introduced to a (slow-mo) caricaturish version of Zia Ulla (Mukesh Rishi), who is only known to flair up people with his high-pitch speeches, with an iota of stillness or restraint. And to win his trust what does Adhir do? He masterminds a fake attack at a school, only to save Zia’s grandson, to win his trust! It is the kind of loose writing that you witness in B-grade films – where there is no buildup, no drama around the incident, just directly getting done with the event.

At a point, I was really confused on whether the screenplay is indeed working like a spoof? Because if that was the case, then the events are indeed laughable like the ones in the English film The Naked Gun (2025). In two separate instances, you see Adhir donning different disguises in order to obtain information about the nuclear reactor. And….wait for it, no one thinks he is suspicious! Also, there are no rules to the drama – there is a flashback within a flashback, a clear case of such poor and lazy writing that it infuriated me to no bounds. I mean, is this even a screenplay to boast of?

The characters are so poorly sketched that it is baffling on how this written material was even approved. At a point, you see a late introduction of another important figure in Indian history who was also the ex President of India, and has enormous achievements in the field of Science. But the character itself felt like a borrowed one from say The Kapil Sharma Show, that is so ridiculous that the emotions just did not arrive (remember how beautifully Arjun Radhakrishnan played the same character in Rocket Boys (2022) ?). After a point, I had given up on the show – simply going through the motions as the young Adhir foils the plan with the help of a local sarpanch who thinks he is an NGO worker. And his reply is also cringe-worthy – ‘No, I am just a good neighbour’.

Also, these broad strokes just don’t seem to end with every character being coded as the one from the Hindi films of the 70s, given their binary traits. In a climax that is heavily inspired by Argo (2012) (and by this time you do know the character links from the past to the current timeline), it almost made me facepalm at the antics of some of the characters at the airport. There is no other way to put it – it was laughable to the core as opposed to a tense sequence leading up to a gripping finale, wherein some characters were showcased as incapable dimwits, even as the ace lay with the protagonists. But what was the eventual cherry on the cake, was a sequence from the cockpit that was so outrageous that I invariably clapped while being pumped to the core! Again, if this was a spoof, this was a five out of five, but because it did wish to take itself seriously – the results are for everyone to see! And ‘that man’ (you will all know who when you watch the show)  deserves a better story – is all I can say!