Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; May 20, 2019)

The upcoming spy thriller, India’s Most Wanted, starring Arjun Kapoor, follows five unlikely heroes, who embark on a dangerous covert operation to capture one of India’s deadliest terrorists. They carry out this Herculean task without firing a single bullet. The film, based on true events, which is an ode to unsung heroes, has been directed by Raj Kumar Gupta. The director was inspired by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers, who led the mission to catch terrorist Yasin Bhatkal. Arjun Kapoor talks about what makes this film special and more.

Your choice of cinema over the years has been interesting. You have stayed away from those typical heroic characters…
The audience has changed. I came into the industry at a time when unconventional was more interesting than conventional. I wasn’t playing a typical hero. I have enjoyed being away from what was expected from me. Be it Ishaqzaade, Aurangzeb, 2 States or Ki & Ka. None of these roles had me as a ‘hero’.

‘The audience will reject the ordinary and support a genuine story’
I also did my Tevars and Mubarakans and enjoyed those, too. I try not to repeat myself. I am at a stage in my career where I go with what I am convinced about instinctively and impulsively. It doesn’t matter if it’s a conventional project or an unconventional one. That’s where a film like India’s Most Wanted comes into the picture.

What drew you to a subject like India’s Most Wanted?
For me, it’s a conventional film, but made in an unconventional way, and that’s what I liked about it. The director told me, “I want the circumstances, choices and decisions that your character takes to make you a hero. Not every hero wears a cape. When you try to behave like a hero, you tend to lose your audience. These Intelligence Bureau officers that you are representing are normal people.” He made me meet some of the officers. They are simple people, who look like they do a 9-to-5 job. They are supposed to blend in, so they have to be as normal as possible. The director allowed me to portray the character in a realistic manner. And Prabhat (Arjun’s character in IMW) will be a hero in the audience’s eyes by the end of the movie. The film is about the victory of underdogs. It’s also about patriotism, it tells a story of a true mission and has been given a tone of reality. It isn’t jingoistic. It’s about the ground reality of what transpires in our country and how our intelligence officers actually operate. It’s the true story of a manhunt, and capturing someone without the use of a single weapon is more heroic than using guns and other ammunition.

The film is allegedly based on the capture and arrest of Yasin Bhatkal, who is still in Tihar Jail, Delhi.
Yes, it’s based on an actual despicable human being, but I don’t want to glorify him. This man (Yasin) is still alive and requesting pardon as he claims he is not guilty. This film gives a glimpse of how our intelligence agencies work to protect our people. I was emotionally stirred by this story.

The research required to recreate a real life covert operation must be immense.
Raj sir gave me the dossiers, we sat together and went through them. Plus, I was already aware of him (Bhatkal). However, this film is not about a terrorist but the people who captured him. It’s an emotional, humane story about the unknown people who put their lives on the line to protect us. For the officers, it was important to catch Bhatkal, but our story revolves around the men who went on a mission to capture him. Raj sir had done his research thoroughly, he took three years to write it, so I relied on him completely.

Today, films are more relevant to the times that we are living in. It’s no longer just about entertainment, is it?
India is evolving as a nation and the audience is changing. Stories today are much more relevant and rooted. People want honesty and truth in cinema. The audience will reject the ordinary and support what is genuine. Films that are looked upon as timepass, paisa vasool and escapist entertainers will always be there, as there is an audience for such films, too. Today, the audience wants to ask questions, seek answers, be involved and get provoked. There has to be a sense of connect. 2 States could have been anybody’s story and that is what made it so relatable. Or even Ki & Ka... It mirrored an evolving India, where women want their voice to be heard and men need to be supportive of that because that’s the right thing to do. Stories of middle-class India, common men with extraordinary spirit will always stand out because that is what our country is all about. India’s Most Wanted represents the Indian mindset. There’s a line in the film that says, ‘Pachchas lakh kharch karenge phool pe 26 January ki parade mein, par mission ke liye pachchas hazaar nahi dengey.’ That’s the reality. There is a certain bureaucracy and protocol to follow in India, which delays a lot of processes.

India’s Most Wanted, produced by Fox Star Studios, Raj Kumar Gupta and Myra Karn, releases on May 24.

Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 10, 2019)

During the trailer launch, the team of India’s Most Wanted had admitted that the upcoming film is inspired by a true story of five unlikely officers from Bihar who captured one of India’s most dreaded terrorists, without a single bullet being fired. The man dubbed ‘India’s Osama’ had, over a span of six years, from 2007 to 2013, master-minded 52 blasts across several Indian cities, including Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Pune. Ever since, speculations have centered around the subject of director Raj Kumar Gupta’s story of an undercover stakeout. The production studio, Fox Star, director Gupta, leading man Arjun Kapoor and everyone associated with the project have however remained tight-lipped on the subject.

Now, Mirror has learnt that Yasin Bhatkal, the founder of Indian Mujahideen, is the yet-unnamed terrorist. In 2013, the Indian Government had announced a Rs 3.50 crore reward for anyone who could provide details of his location or help in his capture. At 30, Bhatkal is believed to be responsible for more than 220 deaths across India and figures on the ‘Most Wanted’ list of 12 states, including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The mission kicked off when an IB official received information from one of his ‘key human assets’ that Bhatkal, in the guise of a doctor, was stationed in Nepal. Soon after, the officer got clearance from the joint director of the Intelligence Bureau in Patna to go after the ‘Ghost Who Bombs’. Arjun’s character, Prabhat Kumar, is based on a real-life IB officer who led the mission with other members of the Patna police, played by Prashanth Alexander, Asif Khan, Devendra Mishra and Praveen Sisodiya. Rajesh Sharma enacts the role of the Arjun’s superior. The joint mission of the Special Operations Group, Intelligence Bureau and the Bihar police which led to the arrest of Bhatkal on August 29, 2013, is described as a ‘victory of human intelligence’ as it was accomplished without any gunfire or turbulence to normal civilians. Bhatkal is currently serving out his lifetime imprisonment sentence at prison no. 2 of Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

“The officers of the mission didn’t get their due acknowledgement back then and the film is a tribute to the unsung heroes of our country. The characters have been fictionalised but the genesis of the idea came from this historic mission that led to the capture of the terrorist,” the source concluded.