India's Most Wanted
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRaj Kumar Gupta
Written byRaj Kumar Gupta
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDudley
Edited by
  • Rakesh Yadav
  • Bodhaditya Banerjee
Music byAmit Trivedi
Production
companies
Distributed byFox Star Studios
Release date
  • 24 May 2019 (2019-05-24)[1]
Running time
123 minutes[2]
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹37 crore (US$5.25 million)[3]
Box officeest. ₹16.74 crore (US$2.38 million)[4]

India's Most Wanted is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film[5] directed by Raj Kumar Gupta, and starring Arjun Kapoor.[6] The film is about tracking a terrorist in a secret mission and arresting him without firing bullets.[7] India's Most Wanted is inspired by the arrest of proscribed organisation Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorist Yasin Bhatkal,[8] also referred to as India's Osama bin Laden, near the India-Nepal border in August 2013.[9][10]

The principal photography of the film began in May 2018 and wrapped up in November 2018. The soundtrack was composed by Amit Trivedi, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, and released under the Saregama label. The film was theatrically released in India on 24 May 2019, receiving mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office.

Plot

A man quietly leaves The Pune Kitchen hotel after discreetly leaving a bag containing a bomb. Moments later, the bomb explodes, killing several people, and injuring many more.

At the PMO, New Delhi, a heated meeting takes place where a top ranking official berates the spy agencies for the continuous failures in the intelligence causing more attacks on India in the recent times. A group, led by Prabhat Kumar, volunteers to track down the mastermind behind these attacks, Yusuf (nicknamed as GHOST), who according to an intel report, is hiding in Nepal posing as a doctor. His superior, Rajesh Singh, is soundly against this as Nepal is strategically important for India, but gives in finally but with an ultimatum of four days.

The team, which consists of Shaumik, Javed, Amit, Bittu and Ravi, enters Kathmandu under the guise of tourists. There, Prabhat meets an informant known as Laluji who tells him that he might have seen the person who they are looking for at a house in Pokhra, a it near the capital. Meanwhile, ISI gets a tip of the agents as they become suspicious of their body language and the fact that they are in Kathmandu as tourists without any kids or ladies. They activate their sources, but it is of no use. Infuriated, they increase their manpower and ammunitions, just in case. On the other hand, Prabhat decides to go to the place where Laluji had seen GHOST. While following Laluji, Prabhat identifies Yusuf as the latter passes him on a motorbike. He alerts Singh, who is forced to tell about the ongoing developments with his senior management, who derides him for this hasty decision without keeping anyone in look, but decides to help the team.

Things take a turn when Prabhat is alerted about the ISI following the team. With time running out, Prabhat decides to nab Yusuf on the same night. He requests a backup, and a three men local police team joins them, unpleasantly surprising him. As the team goes inside the house, the Indian ambassador receives a call that the person they suspected is a turbine engineer and not a doctor, creating more pressure on the team. A now visibly angry Prabhat calls the ambassador and gives him five minutes to call out the Nepal team or the team will go inside. In the meantime, the ISI realises that the Indians are there to arrest Yusuf from Pokhra, where he is hiding, and they leave to confront their Indian counterparts.

With no option left, Prabhat and his team charges inside despite warning from the cop, and discovers Yusuf along with Maachis, another wanted terrorist. They take the two with them and immediately leave for India. The ISI are hot on their heels and they nearly catch up with the Indians, but Prabhat successfully manage to cross Nepal border and the gate is closed as the ISI approaches. It is revealed that the chief security officer was convinced by Prabhat to help them in this mission.

The arrests of Yusuf and Maachis are made public, and the team celebrate it quietly.

Cast

  • Arjun Kapoor as Prabhat Kumar
  • Sudev Nair as Yusuf (based on Yasin Bhatkal)
  • Resh Lamba as Maachis
  • Rajesh Sharma as Rajesh Singh, Joint Director of Intelligence Bureau
  • Alexander Prasanth as Rudra Pillai
  • Shantilal Mukherjee as Shaumik Biswas
  • Devendra Mishra as Javed Sheikh
  • Gaurav Mishra as Amit Gupta
  • Aasif Khan as Bittu Sinha
  • Bajrangbali Singh as Ravi Bhakre
  • Pravin Singh Sisodia as Manish
  • Rajiv Kachroo as Dev Kapur
  • Jitendra Shastri as Laluji (the Informant)
  • Shakti Rawal as Fareed
  • Mihir Das as Pakistani Embassy Receptionist
  • Prashant Walde

Production

The film was announced in May 2018. After the success of Raid, Gupta confirmed that he was working on two scripts. Among them, one is a detective crime thriller. Arjun Kapoor was the only choice for the leading role.[11]

Principal photography

Principal photography of the film began in May 2018. The shooting of India's Most Wanted took place in Bihar in Gol Ghar, Kali Ghat, NIT Ghat, Kargil Chowk (near Gandhi Maidan) and Bahadurpur Housing Colony.[12] Some portions of the film were shot in Nepal (Raxaul Nepal-India border of Birganj District of Nepal, Pokhara and Kathmandu). Principal photography ended in November 2018.[13]

Soundtrack

India's Most Wanted
Soundtrack album by
Amit Trivedi
Released24 May 2019[14]
Recorded2018
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length15:07
LanguageHindi
LabelSaregama
Amit Trivedi chronology
Kedarnath
(2018)		 India's Most Wanted
(2019)		 Mission Mangal
(2019)
External audio
audio icon Official Audio Jukebox on YouTube

The film's soundtrack was composed by Amit Trivedi, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, and released under the Saregama label.

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Akela"Abhijeet Srivastava4:01
2."Vande Mataram"Papon, Altamash Faridi3:42
3."Dilbar Jani"Dev Negi, Nikhita Gandhi3:10
4."Matvaare"Jubin Nautiyal, Sanah Moidutty4:14
Total length:15:07

Marketing and release

The teaser poster of the film was released on 15 April 2019.[15] Another teaser poster of the film was released on 16 April 2019. Rajkumar Gupta confirms removal of controversial religious references in India's Most Wanted.[16]

The film has been certified with a runtime of 123 mins by British Board of Film Classification and released on 24 May 2019.[2]

Reception

Critical response

Rahul Gangwani reviewing for Filmfare rates the film with three stars out of five. He praised cinematography of the film for aerial shots, but feels that film was using more of national fervour and lacked craft. He terms the film as 'part-predictable and part-thrilling' fare.[17] Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today also praised cinematography of Dudley for Nepal shots and gave two and half stars out of five. She feels that the film suffers from a sluggish pace, but lives up to promise of telling the story of the nameless and faceless heroes.[18] Shubhra Gupta writing for The Indian Express gives two stars out of five. Terming it as 'a placid spy thriller', Gupta praised Arjun Kapoor for giving earnest performance.[19] Priyanka Sinha Jha of News18 rates the film with three stars out of five, and opines that the film has a good story, but it is not fully mined. She concludes, "It is more likely to make it to your stay-at-home-and-watch list."[20] Meena Iyer of Daily News and Analysis concurring with Jha, says "the intention can be lauded, but definitely not the execution." And, she also gives three stars out of five.[21] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in feels that the manhunt film is overheated, undercooked and doesn't have enough substance to justify its flourishes.[22] Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India rates the film with three and half stars out of five, and says, "India's Most Wanted is an earnest ode to the unsung heroes of our country – a story that deserves to be heard."[23] Raja Sen of the Hindustan Times feels that this intelligence film is not bright and says, "...well-meaning thriller too restrained to be memorable." He rates it with two stars out of five.[24] Bollywood Hungama rates the film with three out of five, and says, "On the whole, India's Most Wanted is an average fare thanks to its poor writing and direction."[25]

Box office

The film collected ₹1.75-2 crore nett on its opening day, and was the lowest-performing film among all others released in India on that day.[26] The following day, it earned ₹2.5 crore nett.[27] Collections on Sunday showed minor growth with earnings of ₹3 crore.[28] The film had a heavy drop on Monday, with earnings of ₹9 million nett.[29] On Tuesday, the film dropped further to ₹75 lakh nett.[30] It earned ₹65 lakh nett on Wednesday and ₹40 lakh nett on Thursday.[31] At the end of its theatrical run, the film's worldwide gross was ₹16.74 crore worldwide, with earnings of ₹14.17 crore in India and ₹25.7 million overseas.[4] The film declared a flop at the box office for Arjun Kapoor.

References

  1. ↑ "Arjun Kapoor begins shooting for India's Most Wanted, announces release date". Hindustan Times. 11 August 2018. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  2. 1 2 India's Most Wanted, British Board of Film Classification, archived from the original on 20 June 2019, retrieved 20 May 2019
  3. ↑ "Box Office Report: 'India's Most Wanted', 'PM Narendra Modi' receive poor opening; 'Aladdin' beats both Bollywood movies". DNA. 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  4. 1 2 "India's Most Wanted Box Office Collection till Now". Bollywood Hungama. 24 May 2019. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  5. ↑ "India's Most Wanted (2019) – Raj Kumar Gupta". AllMovie. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  6. ↑ Raman, Sruthi Ganapathy. "In 'India's Most Wanted', brain over brawn in hunt for a deadly terrorist". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  7. ↑ "All you need to know about 'India's Osama' in Arjun Kapoor's India's Most Wanted". Hindustan Times. 17 April 2019. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  8. ↑ "Arjun Kapoor takes the thrill out of India's Most Wanted". www.telegraphindia.com. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  9. ↑ "India's Most Wanted: All you need to know about Yasin Bhatkal, the subject of Arjun Kapoor's film". Firstpost. 16 May 2019. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  10. ↑ "'India's Most Wanted' review: The film is an earnest attempt to tell the tale of India's unsung heroes". The Economic Times. 27 May 2019. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  11. ↑ "Arjun Kapoor is looking for India's Most Wanted, to play intelligence officer". Hindustan Times. 11 May 2018. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  12. ↑ "Patna an ideal place for film shoot, says Arjun | Patna News – Times of India". The Times of India. 29 September 2018.
  13. ↑ "Arjun Kapoor wraps up shooting for Raj Kumar Gupta's 'India's Most Wanted'". Times of India. 12 November 2018. Archived from the original on 11 May 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  14. ↑ "India's Most Wanted – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Jio Saavn. 7 May 2019. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  15. ↑ "'India's Most Wanted': Arjun Kapoor piques curiosity of his fans with the teaser poster of his next". Times of India. 15 April 2019. Archived from the original on 11 May 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  16. ↑ "Rajkumar Gupta confirms the removal of controversial religious references in India's Most Wanted". Bollywood Hungama. 20 May 2019. Archived from the original on 20 May 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  17. ↑ Gangwani, Rahul (24 May 2019). "Movie Review:India's Most Wanted". Filmfare. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  18. ↑ Bhattacharya, Ananya (24 May 2019). "India's Most Wanted Movie Review: Arjun Kapoor leads a manhunt in tepid thriller". India Today. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  19. ↑ Gupta, Shubhra (24 May 2019). "India's Most Wanted movie review: A placid spy thriller". Indian Express. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  20. ↑ Sinha Jha, Priyanka (24 May 2019). "India's Most Wanted Review: Arjun Kapoor's Film Cuts to the Chase Minus Thrills". News18. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  21. ↑ Iyer, Meena (24 May 2019). "'India's Most Wanted' Review: Arjun Kapoor's film is more drab than deadly!". Daily News and Analysis. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  22. ↑ "'India's Most Wanted' movie review: This terrorist manhunt is overheated and undercooked". Scroll.in. 24 May 2019. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  23. ↑ Vyavahare, Renuka (24 May 2019). "INDIA'S MOST WANTED MOVIE REVIEW". Times of India. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  24. ↑ Sen, Raja (24 May 2019). "India's Most Wanted movie review: This Arjun Kapoor film about intelligence isn't particularly bright". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  25. ↑ "India's Most Wanted Movie Review". Bollywood Hungama. 24 May 2019. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  26. ↑ Singh, Harminder (25 May 2019). "Aladin Takes Out Indias Most Wanted And Modi". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  27. ↑ Singh, Harminder (26 May 2019). "Aladdin Decent Second Day – Modi And Indias Most Wanted Dull". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 7 July 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  28. ↑ Singh, Harminder (27 May 2019). "Aladdin Dominates Indias Most Wanted And PM Narendra Modi". Box Office India. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  29. ↑ Singh, Harminder (28 May 2019). "Alladdin Decent – Indias Most Wanted And PM Narendra Modi Update". Box Office India. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  30. ↑ Singh, Harminder (29 May 2019). "Aladdin PM Narendra Modi Indias Most Wanted Tuesday Numbers". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  31. ↑ Singh, Harminder (31 May 2019). "Indias Most Wanted Very Poor – PM Narendra Modi Poor". Box Office India. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
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