“When it rains, it pours” – that can well explain the recent downslide in the career graph of Emraan Hashmi. Raaz 3 was his biggest hit and after that, he has come up with one underperformer after another. Mr X didn’t seem like a winner but still there were hopes that it might turn out to be a great masala fare that his fans would enjoy and savour. Also, it’s directed by Vikram Bhatt, who has delivered massy entertainers in the past. But sadly, Mr X turns out to be a king-sized disappointment. It was a film that was meant to be doomed.

The story of the movie: Raghuram Rathore (Emraan Hashmi) works for Anti-Terrorist Department (ATD) along with his girlfriend Siya (Amyra Dastur). While Raghuram is on a mission to protect Chief Minister Dwarkanath Dutta (S M Zaheer) at all costs, he faces a huge sudden roadblock and is compelled to choose one out of two options, both of which lead to disastrous consequences. He finally choses one and his world turns upside down. He is presumed dead in an explosion in a chemical factory. Thanks to the burns and the effect of a medicine, Raghu becomes invisible and now he can be seen only in sunlight and neon light. At first, Raghu curses his power of invisibility but soon realizes that he can use this power to seek revenge from those who wronged him.

Mr X has a shaky but somewhat decent start. The romantic portions seem fake but are engaging nonetheless. And that’s a very good thing about the film – despite the absurdities, one is glued to the film and the proceedings. The film turns exciting once Raghu survives the explosion and recuperates. A brilliant scene! But after a point, the film falls. The revenge drama doesn’t have much of novelty value. Also, one fails to understand why Raghuram didn’t tell the entire truth to Siya. It would have only benefitted him in his endaevour. In fact, Raghuram-Siya’s love story track is a major disappointing factor of the film. It just doesn’t work and looks very unconvincing. Moreover, at a time when films are getting more and more realistic, Mr X boasts of scenes wherein Cape Town is passed off as Mumbai. Which era are the makers living in? The climax fight does arouse interest but it’s nothing special and looks quite unreal.

Emraan Hashmi is pretty decent but surely he is capable of a much better performance. The actor is not much known for his acting talent but it’s a fact that he’s given commendable performances in films like Awarapan, Jannat, Jannat 2, Murder 2 etc. A performance of that intensity is missing in Mr X. Thankfully, he has 2 more films and chances in the form of Hamari Adhuri Kahani and Mohammed Azharuddin biopic. I dread what would happen if God forbid, even these 2 films fail to make a mark.

Amyra Dastur looks lovely and gives a fine performance. But she looks a bit young for the role. Arunoday Singh (ACP Bharadwaj) is strictly okay. Believe it or not, Mr X stars Tanmay Bhat (Popo) and he does a fine job. Shruti Ulfat (Popo’s sister) gives a good performance. Susheel Pandey (Tiwari) raises laughs. S M Zaheer, Jignesh Joshi (Aditya Dutta), Major Bikramjeet Kanwarpal (Siya’s father) are passable.



Emraan Hashmi’s films are known for hit music but Mr X doesn’t boast of a single chartbuster or a memorable song. One might not be able to recall or a hum a single song after a few hours of watching the film. Raju Singh’s background score is exhilarating. Pravin Bhatt’s cinematography is quite nice. VFX is excellent and full marks to the team – no doubts on that. It is amazing to witness Mr X going invisible as soon he goes out of sunlight and reappearing flawlessly when he is exposed to the correct light. Shagufta Rafique’s dialogues are strong and sharp but at few places, they appear a bit unconvincing and out of place. Vikram Bhatt’s story itself is weak and hence the screenplay couldn’t have been riveting. And hence, the direction gets affected as well. There’s so much he could have done with the invisibility factor but he lets go of the opportunity and instead turns Mr X into a flawed, routine revenge drama. The romantic portions don’t work which is not done especially in case of Emraan Hashmi who is known for his romantic image in a way. Vikram Bhatt definitely has potential and he has proved it with films in recent times like 1920, Raaz 3, Haunted etc. At the same time however, he also came up with duds like Creature, Dangerous Isshq etc. If only he remains consistent and comes up with different and interesting entertainers, Vikram Bhatt can get back in the top league.

On the whole, Mr X is a major disappointment mainly because the basic storyline is so weak and full of holes. Emraan doesn’t give his 100% and it’s sad and shocking to see that his film boasts of a bad music score and amateur romantic track. The film is promoted as a ‘family entertainer’ which is anything but true. Just because there isn’t much of sex and violence doesn’t make it a ‘film for all ages’. The VFX is superb and if the writing and execution was as good, Mr X would have been in a different league and there would have perhaps been a Mr X 2 as well. Which is surely not going to happen now. Avoid, even if you are an Emraan Hashmi fan…and I am saying this with a heavy heart.

My rating - ** out of 5!