Alpha Story
Colonel Fateh Singh Lakhavat (Bobby Deol) dreams of a new generation of Indian army soldiers who are genetically equipped to fight against enemies, through a secret program named Alpha. His ambitious project gets endorsement from the top brass including R&AW Chief Vikrant Kaul (Anil Kapoor). A special serum is formulated with the help of Dr. John Verghese (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) and injected into Indian soldiers who've volunteered.
Kaul also volunteers for the program as his expecting wife Janaki (Dia Mirza in a special appearance) is experiencing weakness and he presumes the serum will help in easing any untoward complications, for both mother and baby. The serum proves to be inefficient and fatal resulting in the death of the soldiers and Janaki, but the baby survives. Fateh lies to Kaul about his child's death and steals the baby for his ambition. Following the project's failure, Fateh is demoted and gets a punishment posting in Cherrapunji, where he resumes his project away from the purview of the law.
Anil Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Bobby Deol and Sharvari in Alpha
He raises the baby as his daughter and names her Sita (Alia Bhatt). She is trained and brainwashed into believing her father is a patriot who has been wronged by those who greenlit the Alpha project. She starts hunting them all down until her quest reunites her with her real father and sister Durga (Sharvari). Sita is then forced to question her existence, upbringing and loyalty.
Alpha Review
Directed by Shiv Rawail, who marks his theatrical debut following the OTT release ‘The Railway Men’, with the story credited to Uday Chopra, ‘Alpha’ was destined for greatness from the bottom. Barring the impressive action sequences designed by Craig Macrae and Sunil Rodrigues for Alia’s introduction and the initial face-off between Alia and Sharvari, with references lifted generously from ‘Red Room’ and ‘Black Widow’, there is little to rave about the film on technical grounds.
Soumil Shukla and Shridhar Raghavan’s screenplay samples situations and conflict, not knowing how to tie up the loose ends of any. With men at the writing table, it’s not surprising that the women created to lead this film do not forget to indulge the male gaze. So, midriffs and bare backs get enough exposure leaving you wondering if you’re watching commercials for lingerie, sportswear, bathing soaps or energy drinks. Even desi Chinese gets its moment. Yes, they are that inter-changeable.
Surely, Alia gets to do much of the heavy-lifting but Sharvari is sadly cut down to size. While Alia’s Sita gets a backstory for viewers to understand why she is perpetually hot-headed and a ticking time bomb suffering from the guinea pig complex, Sharvari’s Durga gets introduced as a civilian where she is singing and dancing in Spain for virality on social media, but nobody ever understands how she has been trained or if she ever received any training in order to fight with the same ease and finesse as her sister. Yet, Sharvari manages to command her presence.
The dialogues by Ishita Moitra are laughable to say the least. In the grand cameo surprise featuring Kabir (Hrithik Roshan), Durga hilariously quotes, ‘Yeh sadhu nahi, faadu hai.’ (He isn’t a saint, he slays). Not that the Monk-meets-Wolverine cameo adds any welcome respite, but Kabir is so forcefully fit into the screenplay, you’re left wondering if it was needed in the first place.
Anil does little to add any heft to Kaul and he is mostly forcing an intimidating tone in his dialogues. Meanwhile, the Akshay Kumar fatigue might find a replacement in Bobby. The novelty of seeing more of the actor at the movies is wearing off and it is an oddity watching him stick out sorely, just a month after he delivered his career-best act in Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Bandar’. If viewers were left wondering why his Haryanvi diction is inconsistent in the trailer (frankly, it’s irritating), his character is given a hilarious, reverse-‘Dhurandhar’ justification that made the audience in my theatre put their hands up in dismay.
The past YRF spy films have been heavily criticised for fostering the love-thy-neighbour brotherhood in their narrative, but ‘Alpha’s attempts at directly naming Pakistan as the enemy is convoluted. Even our men in uniform are seen serving as props in the background while the four leads fight it out.
The music by Rohansh and Abeer offers a forgettable soundtrack. A post-credit dance track featuring the leads hardly salvages the prospects of a film, that is weighed down heavily by its demerits.
Alpha verdict
If ‘War 2’ marked the beginning of the downfall of the YRF Spy Universe, ‘Alpha’ is the final nail in the coffin. With poorly-written female spies that are bereft of any personality, you get the worst of tokenism, in the name of representation. And I frankly thought Deepika Padukone had it worse as an addition in Rohit Shetty’s cop-universe. You’re only left feeling thankful that there is nothing towards the end of the film that promises the possibility of another instalment.
