Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Anupama Chopra reviews Alpha, the seventh film in the YRF Spy Universe and the first to be led by women, for The Hollywood Reporter India. Directed by debutant Shiv Rawail and written by Soumil Shukla, Shridhar Raghavan and Uday Chopra, with dialogue by Ishita Moitra, the film stars Alia Bhatt as Sita — a robotic, rude killing machine brutalized and brainwashed since childhood, who kills to earn validation from her formidable father figure Fateh Singh Lakhawat (Bobby Deol). Anupama finds the ambition, scale and inclusivity admirable, and calls the idea of a Hindi film heroine who literally slays and laughs mid-combat genuinely fun. But as an origin story, she argues, Alpha needed to establish the mythology of its spy the way Ek Tha Tiger, War and Pathaan did — and there simply aren't enough cinematic highs or dazzling new turns to keep us hooked, with the film liberally rehashing everything from La Femme Nikita and Atomic Blonde to Baahubali: The Beginning.
Anupama praises Alia's fierce determination and the way she makes the fight scenes work despite being petite, and singles out Bobby Deol, who stands like a tank, bringing unhinged menace to every scene. But the plot twists are old school in the wrong way — judwa bacche separated at birth, a serum-concocting scientist, kidnappings as bait — the dialogue is strangely clunky, and while the film wants us to reconsider what defines the Hindi film heroine, it also insists this creature must be alluring, with Sharvari's Durga leaning on a goddess name rather than a fleshed-out character. Her THR Bottomline: at the end of her War 2 review, she had suggested that perhaps women will save the day for the YRF universe — they don't, not because they aren't good enough, but because they aren't given the right narrative ammunition. Alpha is now playing in theatres.
#Alpha #AlphaReview #THRIndia
Anupama Chopra reviews Alpha, the seventh film in the YRF Spy Universe and the first to be led by women, for The Hollywood Reporter India. Directed by debutant Shiv Rawail and written by Soumil Shukla, Shridhar Raghavan and Uday Chopra, with dialogue by Ishita Moitra, the film stars Alia Bhatt as Sita — a robotic, rude killing machine brutalized and brainwashed since childhood, who kills to earn validation from her formidable father figure Fateh Singh Lakhawat (Bobby Deol). Anupama finds the ambition, scale and inclusivity admirable, and calls the idea of a Hindi film heroine who literally slays and laughs mid-combat genuinely fun. But as an origin story, she argues, Alpha needed to establish the mythology of its spy the way Ek Tha Tiger, War and Pathaan did — and there simply aren't enough cinematic highs or dazzling new turns to keep us hooked, with the film liberally rehashing everything from La Femme Nikita and Atomic Blonde to Baahubali: The Beginning.
Anupama praises Alia's fierce determination and the way she makes the fight scenes work despite being petite, and singles out Bobby Deol, who stands like a tank, bringing unhinged menace to every scene. But the plot twists are old school in the wrong way — judwa bacche separated at birth, a serum-concocting scientist, kidnappings as bait — the dialogue is strangely clunky, and while the film wants us to reconsider what defines the Hindi film heroine, it also insists this creature must be alluring, with Sharvari's Durga leaning on a goddess name rather than a fleshed-out character. Her THR Bottomline: at the end of her War 2 review, she had suggested that perhaps women will save the day for the YRF universe — they don't, not because they aren't good enough, but because they aren't given the right narrative ammunition. Alpha is now playing in theatres.
#Alpha #AlphaReview #THRIndia
