Latest news with #ProjectKahuta
Indian Express
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Salakaar review: This Naveen Kasturia series is a cringe-fest
In 1974, Pakistan's vaulting nuclear ambitions were spiked single-handedly by an Indian spy. And now, in 2025, the chatter around nukes is back again. Will Pak succeed this time around? How will India deal with the new threat? That's the thrust of Faruk Kabir's five-part series, 'Salakaar', reportedly based on real-life agent Ajit Doval's canny moves back in the 70s, which find a fresh airing. Said spy swans into Zia's mansion, where said leader is busy torturing a suspect, even as Project Kahuta, where the weapons of mass destruction are being built, is underway. You don't know what is more cringe-worthy: the cartoonish way in which the entire edifice collapses, or in the way, in the present day, Zia's grandson, the cruel Colonel Ashfaq (Surya Sharma) is back in the saddle, using a cricket bat to bash heads in. Actually, you could be spoilt for choice, because this whole thing is a cringe-fest. We are presented with the comely Indian agent Mariam (Mouni Roy), now working under an older Adhir (Purnendu Bhattacharya), being ferried to a secret hide-out where the new plant is under construction. She has a way of transmitting information back to New Delhi which involves a pair of glasses. Don't ask. Meanwhile, in a flashback, we see the spry Adhir, trying to get into the graces of the Pakistani establishment with one of the oldest tricks in the book, a kidnap gone wrong. Told you, don't ask. Also Read | Su From So Movie Review: Raj B Shetty, JP Thuminad's satirical comedy drama is a masterclass for Bollywood and big-budget-obsessed filmmakers, studios You may remember Rishi from the 1999 'Sarfarosh', in which John Mathew Mathan and his star Aamir Khan resurrected the spy saga: the former shone in his brief role as a patriotic Muslim. Here, you can see the flash of that actor through the exaggerated scowls: the only other actor who rises above this series is Naveen Kasturia. Both deserve better. Salakaar cast: Naveen Kasturia, Mouni Roy, Mukesh Rishi, Surya Sharma, Purnendu Bhattacharya, Ashwath Bhatt Salakaar director: Faruk Kabir Salakaar rating: One star
Scroll.in
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
‘Salakaar' review: A dumbed-down show about Pakistan's nuclear programme
The run-up to Independence Day inevitably brings a slew of patriotic, Pakistan-bashing films and series. This year's batch includes Faruk Kabir's Salakaar, in which an Indian undercover agent seemingly modelled on Ajit Doval single-handedly disrupts Pakistan's nuclear programme. The Hindi series directed by Faruk Kabir is out on JioHotstar. In 1978, Adhir Dayal (Naveen Kasturia) joins the Indian Embassy in Pakistan disguised as a cultural attache. Adhir reports to a buffoonish ambassador (Asif Ali Beg) who is a disgrace to the Indian Foreign Service. Adhir's real boss is in Delhi, to whom he sends reports about Pakistani's new leader Zia Ullah (Mukesh Rishi). The dictator is building a nuclear bomb to counter India's own nuclear test in 1974. The programme, codenamed Project Kahuta, is apparently Pakistan's worst-kept secret, revealed over drinks to Adhir by a disgruntled scientist. Adhir easily collects information on Project Kahuta, even standing right in front of the nuclear plant without being detected. In 2025, undercover agent Mariam (Mouni Roy) is carrying on with the rogue Pakistani colonel Ashfaq (Surya Sharma). Ashfaq is too busy peering down Mariam's decolletage to wonder why this very glam woman prefers spectacles to contact lenses. After Miriam learns about the existence of a new bomb, Adhir (now played by Purnendu Bhattacharya) leaps back into the game. We get it. India's security is paramount. There's nothing like showing the Pakistani security establishment as thuggish clowns to get the chest to thump a bit louder. Salakaar is more Mission: Impossible via Anil Sharma's jingoistic movies than a John Le Carré novel. If an Indian spy can enter Zia's household or triumph in a gunfight and still pass himself off as a lowly embassy employee, we are supposed to go with the flow. Salakaar claims to be inspired by actual events. But the show is too dumbed-down, amateurish and contrived to be credible. The five-episode series doesn't give any real sense of how espionage is conducted or how officials and leaders in both countries behave. The show's smartest idea is to cast Naveen Kasturia as Adhir, the salakaar, or consultant, who turns out to be a genius in regulation suits and spectacles. Kasturia has the seriousness and substance to play an unassuming backroom operative. But making Adhir one up on 007 is as preposterous as showing Zia to be clueless about the goings-on under his nose. The lyrics of a song in the closing credits admiringly call Adhir 'salakaar, superstar and mere yaar' (my buddy). Many cooks have dreamed up this overspiced broth. The concept is by Mahir Khan. Sujay Bhattacharya, Srinivas Abrol and Swati Tripathi are credited as concept development writers. The story and screenplay are by Faruk Kabir and Spandan Mishra. Mukesh Rishi's Zia is modelled on his fanatical namesake. Although Rishi is over the top, he reveals shades of canniness in his dealings with Adhir. Surya Sharma as the Zia wannabe and Ashwath Bhatt as one of Zia's cruel factotums are mainly there to speak bad Urdu and fulminate about India. Only Naveen Kasturia survives the carnage, giving a fleeting indication of how brains trump brawn, even if the actual outcome was vastly different from the fiction peddled by the show. Play
