Housewife And Homicide. Review on Mrs Undercover

This is the first psycho serial killer movie in which in the very first scene we come to know who the killer is. Spoiler? Not at all. You see, the audience knows who it is but the cops don't. An absolutely new angle for a Hindi film. I correct myself it is a bilingual Hindi-Bengali suspense comedy movie.

The serial killer has already killed sixteen women in different cities. His seventeenth victim happens to be in Kolkata. That means now the killer too is in Kolkata. The under cover agent who was on his trail has also been killed by him. As is his way, before inflicting the last fatal blow, he makes a video of the victim wherein they repeat what he dictates them to. He then puts it up on social media which naturally goes viral.

This time the killer himself appears in the video. of course, with a mask on and fires the field agent, who was on his trail, openly challenging the law enforcers to dare catch him. The undercovers are in a fix because the one who got killed was their last hope. No other field agent is available as it is almost more than a decade that their need has arisen. The known ones are either dead of natural cause or removed from the face of the earth.

The chief of the undercover agency(Rajesh Sharma) makes a last attempt to find out the handler of an agent whose details are not available in the databank indicating that the person may still be alive. Unfortunately, the handler is also dead. However, the chief who goes by the pseudonym Rangeela ultimately discovers the much wanted agent - a rather clumsy, overly underestimated but superbly dedicated housewife, Durga(Radhika Apte). She looks after the entire household consisting of her old parents-in-law, her school going son and her chauvinistic husband(Saheb Chatterjee) who considers her to be nothing but "just a housewife".

Rangeela chases her down, influences her in several ways to come back to her job but Durga refuses, first on various pretexts, like her son has unit test, she is now afraid of the dark, her father-in-law is acidic and has to have dinner on time and then on the real ground that after twelve years of married life, which is actually a cover for her, she is now completely out of touch with her dangerous work profile. She requests for a refresher's course which is turned down as that will give the serial killer a clue.

After a decade long sedentary life, Durga steers herself to get back to her actual job when she realizes that her husband is having an extra marital affair with her seductress neighbour whereas she has all along been loyal to him and his family. But her family is not supposed to know what she is up to.

So begins Durga's new avatar for which she has been craving for twelve long years after her initial training as a field agent but made to lead an unadventurous life of a housewife as a cover. In fact every night in her sleep she has been dreaming of James Bond Style encounters and kicking herself out of the bed. Her husband is quite tired of her antics. But interestingly her mother in law supports her in all her ventures.

In order to nab the murderer, Durga has to get enrolled in a course for women empowerment conducted by a philanthropic organization. From the type of victims, it is now clear that the killer is after educated, empowered women. The Undercover Agency has now come to know that there is some kind of connection between the killer and a course which is being organized by an NGO for empowering housewives. The faculty is a well known instructor Mr. Ajay(Sumeet Vyas) and the face of the philanthropic organization is one Mr. Aditya. Durga and her mentor are quite convinced that Aditya is their man.

The course, obviously, is just a facade. Durga has a hunch that the actual target is the Chief Minister who will be gracing the grand finale of the crash course programme. Will Durga be able to sabotage the mastermind's plan? Will the Serial Killer get caught? Will Durga be able to resume her hazardous job after the mission?

You will only be able to come to know about all the answers once you watch this laughter riot of a movie Mrs. Undercover now streaming on Zee5.

Radhika Apte as Durga is stupendous - she is comical, she is deadly and at the same time she is one of those common woman who "finds" herself - what she is able to do if thrown into the field with a little bit of familial support and encouragement. Rajesh Sharma, as the ubiquitous Rangeela, does not require any introduction. Sumeet Vyas is suave and understated. Direction by Anushree Mehta is promising. She is also one of the writers of the screenplay. Saheb Chatterjee as the narrowminded, wayward husband has performed his role with elan, more so, when he comes to know his wife's real identity.

I recommend this movie to all those who will not try to find loopholes in the script, story, direction and other technicalities and just have pure, unalloyed fun watching how a sidetracked agent, years out of practice, manages to do her first stint not only well but outstandingly with all her slips, misses, mistakes and mishaps.

I really enjoyed watching this movie after a long long time. In fact, I hardly remember any other movie, recently watched, where I have guffawed so much. Yet, it is a gripping, edge of the seat, to be seen at a stretch kind of movie. So a big thumbs up to the entire team and especially Radhika Apte and Rajesh Sharma who made the film thousand times worth watching and entertaining.