The idea of a female spy who is out to kill evil men is not a bad one and almost unprecedented in Bollywood, and Pannu’s one stand-out scene in 2015’s “Baby” set her up nicely for the role. But on watching “Naam Shabana”, you realise that not all stories need two hours of run time. Sometimes, a well-executed five-minute scene is more than enough.

It barely works in this case largely due to the script, but in part because of Pannu’s deadpan expressions and in part because of director Nair overtelling it. Much more effort has gone into creating an authentic milieu than crafting an engaging character study in the foreground.

Tapsee Pannu gets a couple of emotional scenes right but her straight-suppress-my-feelings-face gets too monotonous. The film makes unnecessary judgments on civilians and their choices in order to glorify the defense. Err. Not cool! The film has a few beautiful shots of Mumbai, especially the ones shot in an Iranian café, but the overall plot, the execution, the slow pace and the lazy editing make it a rather dull watch.