Bureau (IB). Excessive secrecy surrounding activities and rare declassification of the information is considered to be the major reasons behind this. Nevertheless, there were films which refer to 'agents' and 'espionage', like Aankhen (1968, Ramanand Sagar Production, starring Dharmendra, Mala Sinha), Prem Pujari starring Dev Anand in 1970, Hindustan Ki Kasam (starring Raaj Kumar, Priya Rajvansh in 1973) and Highway (starring Suresh Gopi, Bhanupriya) including some modern films such as Romeo Akbar Walter in 2019. However, since the late 1990s and early 2000 the following Bollywood and other regional films have openly mentioned R&AW and its allied units, with the intelligence agencies at the centre of the plot. The thriving entertainment channels in India have started to tap into the theme of Intelligence agencies. 2612 which used to air on Life OK, featured Cabir Maira as a R&AW agent Anand Swami who helps an STF officer Randeep Rathore to save the country from a terrorist attack. Time Bomb 9/11, a series aired on Zee TV, featured Rajeev Khandelwal in the role of a R&AW field officer who attempts to defuse a nuclear bomb set in India, as well as saving the life of the Indian prime minister. Zee Bangla featured a serial named Mohona where the chief protagonist is a R&AW officer. Sajda Tere Pyar Mein a series on Star Plus, features Shaleen Bhanot in the role of a R&AW officer who asks a young woman named Aliya for help in catching a spy named Mahendra Pratap. The Indian version of 24 has a host of characters affiliated with R&AW. The 2018 web series Sacred Games has a R&AW agent played by Radhika Apte. Foreign films which have actors playing R&AW agents include Pakistan-based-films such as Waar (2013). Some academic commentators have linked the increasing surfeit of Indian films and TV series on espionage thriller genre, where an Indian hero staves off impending global catastrophe, as a marker of an aspirational Pax Indica not based on 'older paradigms of internationalism based on universal brotherhood and non-violent pacifism associated with Gandhi and Nehru' but on the motif of an increasingly assertive potential superpower. See also Intelligence Bureau (India) Central Bureau of Investigation Mass surveillance in India List of Indian intelligence agencies Notes References Further reading Inside RAW, Ashok Raina, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1981 Smash and grab: Annexation of Sikkim, Sunanda K Datta-Ray, Tranquebar, 1984 Open Secrets: India's Intelligence Unveiled