Khufiya Movie Review: Just keep a tab on Tabu!

KhufiyaOn NetflixDir Vishal BhardwajCast Tabu Wamiqa Gabbi Ali FazalRating 355Khufiya didnrsquot turn out to be the film I had clicked for Which is a strange thing to say because we know the filmrsquos genre ie a spy thriller And its setting which is a national secret meaning the world of state intelligence espionage handlers agents and RampAW Indiarsquos secret service to be preciseSo why should there be disconnect between expectations and the film Because itrsquos based on Amar Bhushanrsquos true to life account Escape to Nowhere Bhushan being an ex RampAW man himself The book was the closest we could get to how Indiarsquos spy agency actually worksEssentially filled with midincome group babus heading to ldquodaftarrdquo in buses with lunchboxes fighting over foreign postings No different from any other bureaucracydepartment in and around Central Secretariat in New DelhiWell Vishal Bhardwajrsquos Khufiya obviously isnrsquot quite a Pathaan Tiger or War or any other such largerthan life spygiri as excuse for blastfests really Itrsquos a whole lot more realisticStill suitably stylised to seem the breathless thriller with bends and turns chops and chases that a mainstream movie in the genre is meant to be The 007 here is decidedly Tabu getting in and out of countriesmdashas and when whacking a fellow or twoCalling this thriller over suspensemdashbecause we know the culprit right from the beginning that the drama is set around Thatrsquos a mole Ali Fazal in RampAW photocopying passing on crucial documents from the agency to the rival campIt appears the cinema hall is the best place to exchange confidential papersmdashmore recently we watched a similar scene take place in Srinagarrsquos Paradise cinema in IB 71 2023 like itrsquos at a Paharganj theatre playing Main Hoon Na 2004 hereWhich gives you sense of the filmrsquos smartly structured timeline cleverly going back and forth from right after Kargil War 1999 onwards Itrsquos easy enough to nab the RampAW molemdashyou can see him at work So why donrsquot theyHersquos not that important Figuring out his puppeteers is The bloke is under constant surveillance The stakes are high because the mole is responsible for the death of a key handler who was particularly close to our 007 codenamed Cactus TabuAs far as possible this is equally an attempt at a personal film For regardless of genre whatrsquos a story if not about relationshipsThe mole is codenamed Brutus The operation to nab him is called Julius Casear which is obviously a Vishal Bhardwaj selfreference given the directorrsquos own fascination with Shakespeare Maqbool OmkaraIrsquom told Haider 2014 thatrsquos Bhardwajrsquos adaptation of Hamlet was originally planned as a pure spythrillermdashbefore he got further inspired by Basharat Peerrsquos book Curfewed NightThe raw material therefore if yoursquoll pardon the pun is all there Bhushanrsquos Escape to Nowhere as with all of Bhardwajrsquos literary adaptations is merely the takeoff pointAll characters have been imagined anewmdashwhether the molersquos wife Wamiqa Gabbi mother the wacky Navnindra Behl top spy Tabu her handler Azmeri Haque BadhonhellipFrankly I canrsquot recall a spy flick with that many key female characters wholly owning the show At best think of it as the reverse of Raazi 2018 Only way more a film with a twistedly funny boneAlso a softness of touch here and theremdashwhether that be the use of ambient sound at home concert car for a fullon soundtrack Or just staying put with characters and their lives rather than getting too carried away by geopolitical stuff In this case IndoUS relations or regime change in Bangladesh The big stuff is there mainly to frame the script againstAt the centre of course is Tabu being Tabumdashas in never interfering with the storytelling while carrying it forward with sufficient heft Even hitting the right note with fluent Bengali since The Namesake 2006 BhardwajTabu might well rank among the greatest directormuse combos going all the way up to VijayDev Anand or RaySoumitra for all we knowWhich is to take away nothing from Wamiqa Gabbi Jubilee Grahan Charlie Chopramdasheasily the star of the season adding to the filmrsquos charm even as you question some of the leaps of faith in it that must not be mentioned here for fear of spoilersKhufiya is Bhardwajrsquos debut on Netflix The film drops in 200 countries simultaneously A lot of Indian content you notice tops charts in several regions outside India on the platform even globally sometimesThis might be a great take off point for audiences themselves to discover more of Bhardwajrsquos worldclass previous works if this film works for them as much Itrsquos also perhaps the only spy movie where the doofus is the white guy Or as a character tells the CIA agent ldquoSeems like you guys are smart only in the moviesrdquoIrsquove watched Khufiya twice already over a gap of a week or two Speedwatched it the second time without the unnecessary burdenexpectations of a slowburn lsquoTinker Tailor Soldier Spyrsquo like espionage stuff basis Bhushanrsquos book Hence enjoyed the second time even more

Khufiya Movie Review: Just keep a tab on Tabu!

Khufiya
On: Netflix
Dir: Vishal Bhardwaj
Cast: Tabu, Wamiqa Gabbi, Ali Fazal
Rating: 3.5/5

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / Khufiya Movie Review: Just keep a tab on Tabu!

Khufiya Movie Review: Just keep a tab on Tabu!

KhufiyaOn: NetflixDir: Vishal BhardwajCast: Tabu, Wamiqa Gabbi, Ali FazalRating: 3.5/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Khufiya
On: Netflix
Dir: Vishal Bhardwaj
Cast: Tabu, Wamiqa Gabbi, Ali Fazal
Rating: 3.5/5