Film: Khufiya
Cast: Ali Fazal, Tabu, Wamiqa Gabbi
Directed by: Vishal Bhardwaj
OTT: Netflix
Rating: 3 Moons
Khufiya is a suspense thriller directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. Starring Ali Fazal, Tabu and Wamiqa Gabbi in the lead, the film released on October 5 and is streaming on Netflix.
The film brings Tabu as Krishna Mehra, the Research and Analysis Wing Agent, Ali in the role of Ravi Mohan, an undercover agent and Wamiqa as Charu Mohan, who plays Ali’s wife in the film.
It further follows a story of Pakistan’s ISI and India’s R&AW who keep making attempts to undercut the other but betrayals between the two agencies run rampant. Contrary to this, there is another traitor who is pulling the strings of both the agencies and turns to be much more clever then one could think of. And Tabu keeps on tracking the movements of Ali throughout suspecting him to be the traitor.
As the film is based on the novel Escape to Nowhere by Amar Bhushan, audience already had a rough idea of what is going to be in the film and the trailer also made some revelations, following which the expectations for something new and unique were high which unfortunately weren’t met. Although the makers managed to portray the story in a precise manner, all the limelight was on just one character in the entire film which made it static at some point. Undoubtedly Wamiqa has done a fantastic job and her performance is commendable. Ali gave a good performance whereas Tabu didn't really impress this time.
Although the actors were definitely perfect choices for their respective roles.
What didn’t work is the linear narrative and predictability which followed throughout. Despite the fact that Vishal made good choices for the portrayal of the roles he should have focused more on depicting characters and their stories in the film rather then giving the limelight to a single individual. Khufiya is a decent thriller which does justice in terms of giving partial suspense but even if that’s to be ignored, one must watch it for the fantastic performances by the actors. Overall only if the makers could have added something slightly unique to the narrative it would have been a fantastic film.
