India's Most Wanted is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Raj Kumar Gupta, and starring Arjun Kapoor. The film is about tracking a terrorist in a secret mission and arresting him without firing bullets. India's Most Wanted is inspired by the arrest of proscribed organisation Indian Mujahideen terrorist Yasin Bhatkal, also referred to as India's Osama Bin Laden, near the India-Nepal border in August 2013. 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 banner Saregama. The film was theatrically released in India on 24 May 2019, receiving mixed reviews.
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.
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 and Bahadurpur Housing Colony. Some portions of the film were shot in Nepal. Principal photography ended in November 2018.
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was composed by Amit Trivedi, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, and released under the banner Saregama.
Marketing and release
The teaser poster of the film was released on 15 April 2019. Another teaser poster of the film was released on 16 April 2019. The official teaser of the film was premiered on 16 April 2019 by Fox Star Studios on YouTube. The official trailer of the film was premiered on 2 May 2019 by Fox Star Studios on YouTube. Rajkumar Gupta confirms removal of controversial religious references in India’s Most Wanted. The film has been certified with runtime of 123 mins by British Board of Film Classification and released on 24 May 2019.
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. 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. 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. 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." 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. Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in feels that the manhunt film is overheated, undercooked and doesn't have enough substance to justify its flourishes. 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." 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. 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."
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. The following day, it earned 2.5 crore nett. Collections on Sunday showed minor growth with earnings of 3 crore. The film had a heavy drop on Monday, with earnings of 90 lakh nett. On Tuesday, the film dropped further to 75 lakh nett. It earned 65 lakh nett on Wednesday and 40 lakh nett on Thursday. 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 2.57 crore overseas.
