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Director of 'December 13' Mani Shankar returns this time with a story based on the life of a secretive informer. He has brought in a team of talented actors like Om Puri, Suneil Shetty and Rahul Dev to play key roles, besides Sammir Dattani of the 'Uff Kya Jadoo...' fame for the lead. Debutant producer Sudheesh claims to have chosen this script out of 40-odd for his maiden Hindi production though he has a lot of experience in Kannad films. In the past we have watched such a subject in 'Aankhen', 'Mission Impossible' and 'Contract'. Hence, the concept isn't new.

'Mukhbiir' delves deep into the heroic hi-jinks of people who risk their lives for the sake of national security called espionage. So, it's the story of a young man who wears many masks. He lives many lives and dies many deaths. He becomes ruthless because of his job and even shoots down his handler. Later, 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). Though orphaned in childhood and trapped by the law during his teens, he is trained by Inspector Rathod (Om Puri) to work as an undercover agent. Rathod gets him to infiltrate among Naxalites and anti-social outfits, to reveal their secret missions.

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Thus, he penetrates into an underworld group and works for Pasha (Sushant Singh) to trace notorious gangster Mustafa who smuggles human body organs to foreign countries. While he's successful in his mission he has to terminate Rathod to save his skin. Then, Rathod's friend Rahman ( Suniel Shetty ) sets him into a terrorist group headed by Saaya (Rahul Dev). This time Sammir is asked to thwart a foreign supported terrorist attack on Mumbai city. This is significant that even after being thrown out from one ruthless organization to another, he survives by sheer instinct and guts. This shows that Mani Shankar has got into the intricacies of the spying business and also in detailing their modus operandi.

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His fascination for high-definition gadgets and gizmos as in his 'December 13' shows that the spying escapades give him enough scope to incorporate them. Mani Shankar's storytelling is fantastic. This is evident from Kailash' characterization. He is so much distanced from his original identity that he eventually forgets who he is. The final dialogue on Islam and violence between Rahul Dev lingers on even after the film. Alok Nath, Suniel Shetty, Raj Zutshi and Sushant Singh play various shades of characters, but come in and out of Kailash's life, with wonderful warmth or wickedness.

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The movie contains somewhat romance in Kailash's life; the pretty Raima Sen shows up for a while and then departs, leaving the desolate protagonist on his own. Sammir plays perfect' ; in fact, he 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 senior actors like Om Puri, Sushant Singh and Alok Nath, he holds his head high. Om Puri excels yet again. So is Sushant Singh. Suniel Shetty does a fine job. Jackie Shroff has no big deal .

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While Alok Nath acts very well, Kelly Dorjee is just okay. To sum up, we may say that 'Mukhbiir' lacks the finesse of a slick espionage thriller though it has the potential. The film needed tighter editing. Cinematography is okay though lacks technical precision. The movie suffers from lack of music. Lastly, when asked about the money back scheme, Sudheesh reveals that he will refund money to 5000 viewers, across India, who feels dissatisfied with the movie. He also claims to have got an excellent response from those involved in the job of an informer (Mukhbir).