Alpha (2026): Alia Bhatt Carries lands hard though the screenplay stays patchy
The infiltration sequence in Alpha is a masterclass in tension. Alia Bhatt’s assassin moves through Anil Kapoor’s high-tech soldier program facility with controlled breath and coiled aggression. This is the kind of nerve-wracking, high-stakes passage that should define an entire film, but what follows never quite recaptures its precision.
Alia Bhatt Carries the Weight of an Explosive Origin
This is Alia Bhatt’s most physically demanding performance to date. In the high-tech corridor confrontation with Sharvari, she snaps between contained dialogue and explosive combat with rare fluency. Her line “I was raised to kill, but I choose to survive” lands with theatrical weight because she earns it through sheer physical conviction.
The stepfather confrontation with Anil Kapoor is emotionally charged, but it’s in the infiltration scene where her agility and nerve feel genuinely dangerous. Bhatt turns the role into a declaration.
Shiv Rawail’s Direction and the Screenplay Divide
Director Shiv Rawail, coming off The Railway Men, knows how to stage a setpiece. His visual choices, sleek corridors, claustrophobic facilities, create a believable spy-world texture. The action choreography in the first act is crisp and spatially coherent.
But the screenplay, credited to Soumil Shukla, Shridhar Raghavan, and Ishita Moitra, leans too heavily on familiar espionage tropes. The second assassin’s role is left unexplained, and the plot moves on taut action rather than earned narrative progression. It is a functional script held together by production design.
The Action Core: Two Setpieces That Tell Different Stories
The infiltration sequence is the film’s high watermark. It succeeds because it trusts the audience to read tension in small gestures, a hand on a door, a shift in body weight. The choreography is precise and the geography of the facility is used deliberately to heighten danger.
The confrontation between the two assassins in the corridor is the second peak. It works as both action and character, two women trained in violence meeting in a space built for secrets. The editing here is fast but not frantic, preserving clarity amid movement.
The final showdown, however, crumbles under generic staging. The antagonist soldier (Bobby Deol) fights without emotional stakes, and the location feels interchangeable. A film that started with nerve-racking specificity ends with a vaguely-lit brawl that no amount of score can rescue.
Supporting Cast: Kapoor Stands Out While Deol and Sharvari Feel Curtained
Anil Kapoor brings quiet menace as the manipulative stepfather. His scenes with Bhatt have genuine dramatic friction, he understands that the conspiracy needs a human face, not just a scheming one. His casting signals the film’s intent to ground the spy melodrama in family pathology.
Bobby Deol’s antagonist soldier is caught between menace and anonymity. His character lacks backstory, and the script gives him no memorable lines. “You are not the only assassin in this world, ” Sharvari tells Bhatt, but that idea of rivalry never develops into real narrative weight. Sharvari’s second assassin is positioned as a foil but integrated only at the edges; her casting feels like a promise the film forgets to keep.
The critic consensus on Rotten Tomatoes (6.2/10) and an IMDb score of 6.8 from over 12, 000 votes suggest audiences respond to the spectacle but not the structure. As one review noted, “Alpha is a relentless action thriller marking India’s first female-led action spectacle”, a tag that explains both its ambition and its limitations.
Audience Reception and the YRF Franchise Math
The film holds a BookMyShow audience score of 7.5/10, with social media sentiment at 72% positive. Fans of the YRF Spy Universe appreciate the fresh lead, while general audiences complain about generic showdowns and thin antagonists. I find that Alpha works best as a franchise primer, less a complete film than a promise of what comes next.
A “Hit” verdict based on franchise appeal makes sense, though without box office figures available, the commercial story is still being written. The UA 16+ certificate acknowledges the action violence, but no political or casting controversies have emerged.
If you love Alia Bhatt in full action mode and are willing to forgive a formulaic climax, this is the rare female-led Indian action spectacle that actually delivers on physicality. Watch it in IMAX for the infiltration sequence alone, the rest is negotiable.
Alpha is a landmark for representation but a stumble for storytelling: a 6.5/10 action film that fights hard but never finds its emotional rhythm.
For more Hindi action reviews, browse our full catalogue of genre deep dives.
If you want a darker, tighter character study, explore Bhaskara Bharanam for its sharper dramatic stakes.
Alternatively, Angikaaram lands with a similar debut ambition and similarly patchy structure.
Readers looking for more hindi action reviews can explore them on HDHub.
Ankit Jaiswal is the Chief Author, covering Indian cinema and OTT releases with honest, no-filler criticism. An SEO strategist by background, he brings a research-driven approach to film writing, cutting through hype to tell you exactly what's worth your time.
