Khufiya review: Vishal Bharadwaj delivers a classic espionage drama with a brilliant Tabu

Starring: Tabu, Ali Fazal, Wamiqa Gabbi, Ashish Vidyarthi, and Azmeri Haque Badhon.

Vishal Bharadwaj is an auteur whose signature style of filmmaking comes through in all his work. Be it Maqbool (2003), Omkara (2006), or Haider (2014), Bharadwaj presents dualism and dilemmas in his characters as they make life-changing choices. With Khufiya, he goes deeper into this, with his understated and introspective style of visual narrative. 

Bharadwaj is known for deftly adapting the written word for the screen–Shakespeare’s plays with Maqbool, Haider and Omkara, and Ruskin Bond’s story Susanna’s Seven Husbands in Saat Khoon Maaf (2011). In Khufiya, Bharadwaj has built a fresh, standalone espionage drama, based on Amar Bhushan’s novel Escape to Nowhere (2012). 

The film is about breach of faith and corruption in India’s intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing or R&AW. Barring a few novels and non-fiction books, particularly by Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark, the functioning of this agency has been shrouded in confidentiality. 

Unlike the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or Military Intelligence, Section 6 (MI6), India’s intelligence services seem to be driven by faceless, nameless, nondescript people working in a Soviet-style grey building, with little sunlight and dated computers. Director Meghna Gulzar gave its role in India’s security apparatus a personal interpretation with Raazi (2018). 

Now, Bharadwaj has made the intelligence agency the centre of Khufiya. 

A woman officer, Krishna Mehra (Tabu), copes with loss and anger over a botched operation. Her boss, the second-in-command at R&AW (Ashish Vidyarthi), assigns her the task of using a mole to lead them to his recruiters. 

The mole in focus is Ravi (Ali Fazal), an operative drawn to luxury, whose anti-agency moves are simplistic. 

As India’s geopolitical neighbourhood comes under the spotlight, local spies are created and targets are set across the borders. But the real enemy to India’s security is bigger in scope and power.

While Mehra leads the agency in a concerted effort to monitor and nab Ravi, an ugly truth awaits his wife (Wamiqa Gabbi). Mehra empathises with Ravi’s wife, leading to further entanglement with her. A complex international spying operation follows, letting Mehtra find redemption for past mistakes and repair the damage in her personal life. 

As far as complexities and sense of danger are concerned, Khufiya is thin on detail. Here espionage is about using spy techniques from the 80s playbook–with visible Soviet influence that ruled Indian spycraft till the millennium. Neither the endgame nor the consequences of betraying one’s nation are unpredictable. 

The film focuses on the human cost of espionage and is set in the spirit of a John Le Carre novel, where actions and emotions of those involved in spycraft matter more than the complexities of the plot. 

While Bhushan’s novel was inspired by a real incident from the recent history of R&AW, Bharadwaj has presented a native, interlaced drama that keeps the viewer engaged with a sense of urgency around its characters’ choices. A single character brings about a surprise but the rest, more or less, follow a pattern. 

The interesting aspect in Khufiya is the element of realism. Life overseas is not all riches and luxury. Instead, it is harsh and unrewarding. A spy isn’t always driven by patriotism, and desperate financial need can instigate someone to risk their life. 

The film is never too dramatic or over the top. It reveals that spying is intrusive, uncomfortable, and sometimes futile, and yet nations continue to invest resources and faith in it.

The film also underpins the importance of human intelligence in a world headed towards robot-controlled warfare. 

As far as performances go, everyone is convincing and natural. 

Tabu dominates with a subtle and steely performance, while Fazal carries off an unlikeable and complicated character well. Gabbi is bang on as a bored housewife swept into situations far beyond her control. She drops her inhibitions and delivers an emotionally charged performance. Vidyarthi is on solid ground. 

And there’s a pleasant surprise in the character of a spiritual guru–played by Bangladeshi actor Azmeri Haque Badhon, who delivers a brief but impactful performance. 

Khufiya has a linear script with moments of emotional heft. But its primary strength is the world of shadows and subterfuge that builds in broad daylight. This kind of filmmaking is possible only from a fine, nuanced eye, and Bharadwaj doesn’t disappoint. 

The music is moody, and the songs have poetic lyrics, as in his earlier films. With singers Rekha Bharadwaj, Arijit Singh, Jyoti Nooran, and Rahul Ram and lyrics by Bharadwaj and Gulzar (Na Hosh Chale and Tanhai), the music of Khufiya is soothing and wholesome–a rarity in films these days.

Mat Aana–sung by Rekha, with Niladri Kumar on the sitar–has lyrics penned by Vishal Bharadwaj. The song stays with the listener much after the film ends. 

With Khufiya, Bharadwaj has delivered a classic espionage film in Hindi. It is worth watching for its new material and its realistic yet dramatic story. 

Rating: 4.5/5