Alpha

The YRF Spy Universe is running out of breathing room. What started as a focused story about one legendary agent has morphed into a crowded superhero-style playground where every major Bollywood star needs their own badge. After much delay, this week, Alia Bhatt jumps into the fray to bring some gender parity to a world ruled by men for over a decade. Traditionally, in spy movies, female characters were usually romantic interests, sidekicks, or spies who still needed the male hero to handle the big boss. Here, Alia is Alpha unto herself, not standing in anyone’s shadow. She is the central anchor of the mission, seeking to carry a massive, high-budget action franchise completely on her own shoulders. The actor doesn’t cut any corners for the physical and visual transformation required for the part of a trained, genetically altered operative.

Long before the Internet went into overdrive with spotting peak detailing in Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar franchise, Yash Raj brought us globe-trotting spy ventures, from Salman Khan-starrer Ek Tha Tiger (2012) to Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan (2023) to, most recently, Hrithik Roshan’s War 2 (2025). The films are part of a well-oiled franchise, headlined by male superstars who even show up in cameos in other spy worlds. Though there are female spies, too, from Katrina Kaif’s Zoya to Deepika Padukone’s Rubai, they’re not headlining the movies. Shiv Rawail’s Alpha, the latest Yash Raj Spy Universe film, breaks from this mold, building a world where women theoretically take the lead. It feels like a timely intervention and a natural progression. This time, the women are no longer the heroes’ sidekicks, but are granted their own individual heroism. Yet, Alpha ends up being a disservice to the leads, Alia Bhatt and Sharvari, and to its spy film predecessors. It’s a bafflingly ironic project that offsets the potential of its very premise.

सबसे पहले – ‘मैं सीत्ता पर हाथ रख कर कसम खाता हूं कि इस फिल्म को देखते समय मैं अपने दिमाग में कोई सवाल नहीं आने दूंगा, ‘धुरंधर’ को बिल्कुल याद नहीं करूंगा और इस फिल्म को देखने के बाद मैं थिएटर की दीवारों पर सिर पटक-पटक कर अपनी जान भी नहीं दूंगा।’ चलिए अब आगे बढ़ते हैं। एक सीन देखिए – सर हमने मकान को चारों तरफ से घेर लिया है। ठीक है, लेकिन सीत्ता को आंच नहीं आणी चाहिए। इसके बाद वे बंदे चारों तरफ से उस लकड़ी के मकान पर सैंकड़ों गोलियां ऐसे बरसाते हैं जैसेकि सर के आदेश के बाद कोई गोली सीत्ता को छू भी न सकेगी। अरे बावलो, कुछ तो दिमाग लगाओ, सीत्ता अगर ऐन वक्त पर नीचे न बैठी होती तो तुम सर को क्या जवाब देते? हां तो साहेबान, मेहरबान, कद्रदान, बिछ गया है यशराज फिल्म्स का चमकीला दस्तरखान। और इस पर परोस दिया गया है भव्यता, रंगीनियत, चमक-दमक और चटकीलेपन में लिपटा वही पुराना खोखला सामान। ‘बॉलीवुड’ के सभी बड़े निर्माता अब यही तो कर रहे हैं। कंटेंट की जगह अब पैकेजिंग का ज़माना आ चुका है। दर्शकों को मूर्ख बनाना इतना आसान पहले कभी न था।

First things first. Alia Bhatt is no Lara Croft and YRF is no Marvel. The studio’s latest release, Alpha, projects Alia Bhatt as a deadly assassin, treated like a lab rat since her birth, who goes rogue and turns against her mentor, played by Bobby Deol. On paper, the film may have felt like a brilliant idea. After all, YRF pitches two heroines as the lead, flexing muscles, killing bad guys without any male superstar. However, the film’s execution is shoddy and stereotypical, making Alpha a slow-paced, cleaner reverse of Dhurandhar. Confused? Let me explain. Alia Bhatt is estranged from her biological father, Colonel Luthra (Anil Kapoor) right at her birth. Kidnapped by Lt Colonel Fateh Singh Shekhawat (Bobby Deol), Sita grows up in a run-down oil refinery where she is weekly tested for Shekhawat’s secret mission called Project Alpha. Alpha was a life-changing serum developed to help soldiers heal quickly. The secret mission was carried out under Luthra’s leadership soon after the Kargil war to create a special task force. Sita, being the only human on whom the serum had worked, is trained by Shekhawat to be a deadly assassin, but at the cost of being completely isolated from her family, unaware of her father and a twin sister, Durga (Sharvari).

Let’s get two things out of the way right away. YRF has abandoned its RAW+ISI bhai-bhai theme for a change and Sharvari (as Durga) is not a Pak agent teaming with Indian Sita (Alia Bhatt). In fact, Pakistan is the baddie that’s named this time and India is the one with the valour. Jai Hind to that. With the pre-release misinformation set aside, step into the dark world of demoted army officer Fateh Singh Lakhawat (Bobby Deol) whose pet project Alpha has been officially shut down. In his punishment posting at Cherrapunji, he continues his research to create the ultimate Alpha soldier with infant Sita as his guinea pig.

Armed with the potent Alpha serum, Sita (Alia Bhatt) is trained by Colonel Fateh (Bobby Deol) to become an elite assassin and a valuable asset for India’s special forces. However, everything changes when she discovers the truth about her past and goes rogue. Along the way, Sita crosses paths with Durga (Sharvari), RAW chief Kaul (Anil Kapoor), and a tragic past that binds the trio together while reopening old wounds. Shiv Rawail’s Alpha rests on the petite shoulders of two capable female leads, neither of whom are conventional action stars — a relatively novel proposition for Bollywood. Rooted in the trauma of a stolen childhood, Alpha initially shows promise of crafting an action thriller around buried pain and emotional scars. You expect that inner conflict to shape the narrative. Even the idea of introducing two superheroic female assassins, reminiscent of Black Widow, into the YRF Spy Universe feels genuinely exciting on paper. Bollywood creating its own genetically enhanced super soldiers armed with elite combat training, think Captain America or The Winter Soldier, is an ambitious idea in itself.

Credibility is an important attribute when telling any tale, more so if it is around India’s national security. Yash Raj’s spy universe for long operated with the ability to make viewers suspend their belief and instead soak in the foreign locales, the choreographed stunt set-pieces, the songs and the swagger on display. That is until Dhurandhar entered the spy landscape. Suddenly, reality became a mainstay, the threat all too actual, to make the film an immersive experience. Alpha, YRF’s first women-centred narrative in the testosterone-heavy spy universe, arrives in that environment, wherein it will be measured not against Pathaan, Tiger, War et al but against the world Aditya Dhar created in Dhurandhar.