Outdated Spy Tropes Persist

When the teaser for YRF ’s Alpha first dropped, the public response was overwhelmingly underwhelming. Audiences widely questioned the casting choice of Alia Bhatt and noted that Bobby Deol’s Haryanvi accent felt jarringly out of place. Now, after sitting through the final 140-minute feature, that initial hypothesis is unfortunately confirmed.

Bhatt and Deol are undeniably talented actors, but here they find themselves entirely miscast. The character of Sita demands a raw, imposing physicality that cannot simply be compensated for by Alia’s natural charisma. Sita is written as an engineered attack machine bred strictly for combat, a “lab rat” raised entirely devoid of family, affection, or any semblance of normalcy. It is a compelling premise that the film fails to meaningfully develop. For a character who has never experienced filial bonds, friendships, or basic social interaction outside of her doctor and handler, her resulting persona makes little sense.

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Instead of portraying deep-seated social awkwardness or the psychological toll of her upbringing, she emerges as a dainty, flawlessly braided, gun-toting assassin who catwalks in slow motion. The execution feels silly and disconnected from the narrative’s logic. Similarly, Deol’s character, Fateh Singh, is given a detailed backstory meant to deliver the film’s central twist and big reveal. Ultimately, however, this narrative detour serves as little more than a flimsy excuse for his poorly executed Haryanvi accent.

Both he and Anil Kapoor spend large portions of the film delivering lines with aggressively clenched jaws, which serves as a shorthand for intensity that quickly loses its impact. Great casting leaves a lasting impression; poor casting actively sabotages the mission. Dia Mirza is cast as Anil Kapoor’s wife, despite being roughly 25 years younger than him. It’s a brief cameo that leaves you wishing she actually had something substantial to do. Meanwhile, Dibyendu Bhattacharya doesn’t disappoint , delivering a dependable , ground
ed performance as scientist John Verghese.

The film does have its pleasures. The action choreography is slick , the locations are gorgeous, and the face-offs between Bhatt and Sharvari are genuinely entertaining. Sharvari, in fact, emerges with a stronger screen presence. Her physicality, demeanour, and athleticism feel organically suited to this universe, making her a far more convincing operative. It is refreshing to finally see women leading the YRF Spy Universe. But representation loses its edge when it feels performative, or worse, when it is tailored for the male gaze.

These are supposedly elite combat operatives on covert military missions, yet they routinely fight in backless tops and designer silhouettes. At one point, in the middle of a high-stakes chase towards a safe house, the narrative pauses for a glamorous song sequence where the women stroll around picturesque landscapes in bikinis. It’s a vintage YRF spectacle, obviously. But this is 2026, and such concessions feel less aspirational than hopelessly outdated. Hrithik Roshan’s heavily anticipated cameo is hardly a surprise. He arrives, radiating immense star power for all of five minutes, and then exits. Besides his effortless screen presence, the leading women often seem like they are playing dress-up in a franchise they are yet to inhabit fully.

That, however, is less an indictment of the actors than of the material they have been handed. Soumil Shukla and Sridhar Raghavan’s screenplay seldom allows its characters to breathe beyond broad archetypes, while director Shiv Rawail struggles to marry emotional conviction with blockbuster spectacle. Alpha has the makings of an exciting new chapter for the YRF Spy Universe, but it remains trapped by the very conventions it seeks to outgrow, frequently asking the audience to overlook glaring lapses in logic in favour of glossy set pieces. For a film that promises to redefine the franchise through its women, it too often falls back on outdated commercial compromises instead of trusting its protagonists to carry the narrative on their own terms.

(THE REVIEWER IS A FREELANCE CONTRIBUTOR. VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE PERSONAL)