"It's the most dangerous profession in the world," says director Mani Shankar. MUKHBIIR closely looks into the dangerous life and times of a mukhbiir -- an interesting idea no doubt. But the story bears a striking resemblance to RGV's CONTRACT and that takes away the novelty aspect. Of course, Mani Shankar delves deeper in MUKHBIIR and the outcome is watchable at places, but fails to impress in totality.

The culprit? The writing does not hold. A couple of moments are truly noteworthy. The sequences between Om Puri and Sammir Dattani, the Alok Nath - Sushant Singh portions, the mukhbiir converting to Islam... well penned, well executed, well enacted portions all. But MUKHBIIR stumbles and fumbles midway. The romantic side of the mukhbiir [Sammir - Raima Sen] is half-baked. Also, the climax -- the lifeline of a film -- looks like a rushed job.

Let's elaborate. Sammir sends an SOS message to the boy-courier, who in turn faxes it to Om Puri's wife, who in turn speaks to the minister [Jackie Shroff], who in turn sends the commandos to eliminate the gangster [Rahul Dev] -- it looks completely fake. A better culmination was the need of the hour.

To sum up, MUKHBIIR could've been a riveting experience, but it fails to register an impact.

MUKHBIIR is about a young man [Sammir Dattani] and the many masks he wears. This is the story of the many lives he has to live, the many deaths he has to die. The job requires him to be ruthless and on one such occasion, he even shoots down his handler.

Later, he's on a mission. He converts to Islam, joins a gang to get to the root of the issue and comes face to face with the terrorist [Rahul Dev].

There's no denying that Mani Shankar has handled the subject well. A number of scenes prove that the director knows what he's talking, but the writing lets him down completely. Cinematography is alright. Dialogues are natural.

Sammir gets into the skin of the character and comes up with a fine performance. It's a difficult role to portray and given the fact that Sammir is pitted against actors of calibre like Om Puri, Sushant Singh and Alok Nath, he holds his head high. Om Puri excels yet again. Ditto for Sushant Singh, who is remarkable. Suniel Shetty does a fair job. His exit looks sudden. Jackie Shroff is wasted. Raima Sen gets no scope absolutely. What is she doing in this film? Alok Nath is first-rate. Kelly Dorjee is okay.

On the whole, MUKHBIIR is a weak product. At the box-office, it has dim chances.