Mani Shankar's directorial debut 16 December was a curious film, a mixture of some very campy moments with genuine slickness, a surprising attention to detail and successful incorporation of high-tech elements. But far more important, it was consistently entertaining. His subsequent films, Tango Charlie (dull) and Rudraksh (abysmal), were disappointingly downhill. However, with Mukhbiir, he makes a spiffy return to form with what is arguably his best film to date.

As the title suggests, the film deals with the life of an informer/spy working for the police. He takes on assignments where he must infiltrate crime/terrorism outfits and leak out critical information. To do this he must constantly change his identity to suit the purpose. The role of the informant Kailash is played by Sammir Dattani, who with his vulnerable blend-in the-background looks fits the part, even if he is somewhat deficient in the acting chops to convincingly depict the various changes of identity. Om Puri in a mostly phoned-in performance plays his mentor in the intelligence department. Suniel Shetty makes an appearance later as another intelligence officer...now don't busy your mind with lame intelligence puns here, read on.

After an explosive start with a night-time mission played out in the North East, the film embarks on its main thread of Kailash infiltrating a criminal gang that has ties with an Islamic terrorist outfit. This is for most part exceedingly well-handled, and we see Kailash forced to do drug-running and even hits for the gang. What is most refreshing is that the informer character is not some stoic action hero, but an understandably frightened and often conflicted young man that worries about his own identity and hopes. Apart from the hokey voice-overs, Sammir conveys this part well and the script sets up some strong sequences for his conflicts and dilemmas to emerge.

The narrative moves efficiently (although the film is somewhat extended by the inclusion of one too many plot thread) and often changes location, which keeps things interesting. Even the mandatory romance angle is dealt with in a pleasingly abrupt way. Technically, the film pleases with its gritty visuals (Ajayan Vincent), and unlike the flat over-bright lighting you get with a lot of Bollywood movies, there is an excellent use of shade and contrast. I also award the film extra points for not taking the much-abused shaky-cam route

Like with 16 December there is that odd and amusing melange of some moments where you'll be “Oh cool, I didn't think they'd account for a detail like that” and others that have you thinking “That's so dumb for this movie”.But like with 16 December, there are few moments in Mukhbiir that won't entertain you, and if you really want to have a better class of Bollywood masala, you owe it to yourself to see this one before it runs out.