A regular Urdu shayari-loving woman from India is sent on a dangerous mission to Pakistan. But what happens when she ends up falling in love with the very man she has to spy on? That pretty much summarises the plot of ZEE5’s latest original Lahore Confidential.
Created by S Hussain Zaidi and directed by Kunal Kohli, this 69-minute film makes for a riveting watch. It has been written by Vibha Singh.
Ananya (Richa Chadha) is an everyday woman who loves Urdu poetry and has a desk job at the R&AW headquarters in New Delhi. Her life takes a drastic turn when a senior R&AW officer RD (Khalid Siddiqui) dispatches her to Pakistan on a spying mission. There’s a reason why she’s the chosen one. She has to entrap Lahore’s renowned cultural event organiser Rauf Khazmi (Arunoday Singh) and through him help Indian Intelligence get to terror mastermind Wasim Ahmed Khan.
RD believes that Rauf and Ananya’s shared love for Urdu shayari will do the trick and shield her from any form of suspicion.
Helping Ananya in Lahore is another colleague named Yukti (Karishma Tanna), who’s also an agent. Unlike Ananya, Yukti is well-versed with the life of a secret agent and will do anything to extract key information, even if it means hooking up with her informer.
Rauf is attractive, suave and a connoisseur of Urdu. He belongs to the Lahori elite and is known to organise the best mushairas.
He and Ananya gradually start getting closer and before you know it, they’re genuinely in love with one another. This is where things interesting. Ananya’s love story jeopardises the very mission she’s sent on.
If we tell you anything more, we will have to give out spoilers. We reckon you watch the film yourself and find out.
With a run-time of just a little more than an hour, Lahore Confidential keeps you glued to your seat throughout. The end of the film will surely catch you off-guard. We hadn’t seen that coming. The film beautifully blends old-school romance with the right amount of thrill and suspense.
The film boasts of excellent performances.
As the spy caught between love and duty, Richa Chadha is brilliant as Ananya. Arunoday Singh, as the charming and mysterious Rauf, is first-rate.
Karishma Tanna turns in a great performance as Yukti. This film also showcases her in a never-before-seen avatar. Khalid Siddiqui is impressive despite his limited screen-time. Mukesh Chhabra has been credited with casting and DOP Kartik Ganesh has shot the film.
Verdict
Lahore Confidential is a gripping spy thriller with a love story at its centre. With its compelling storyline and great performances, the film is must watch. We’re giving it 4 out of 5 stars. You can catch it on ZEE5.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)