Alpha movie review: Alia Bhatt and Sharvari’s action thriller delivers ‘Arcane’-inspired bond plus epic cameo by Hrithik Roshan

Screenplay by: Sridhar Raghavan and Soumil Shukla

Dialogues by: Ishita Moitra

Language: Hindi

Runtime: 140 minutes (2 hours and 20 minutes)

Lead Cast: Alia Bhatt, Sharvari, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor and more

Rating: 3/5

Alpha movie review: Ever since the announcement of Yash Raj Films’ expansion into female-led action, all eyes have been on Alia Bhatt. For her gritty action-thriller, Alpha, the pressure of the delivering the best, was no different.

Stepping into the massive YRF Spy Universe, the film marks a historic shift as the franchise’s first female-led instalment. Yet, the road to the theatres wasn’t entirely smooth. When the initial teasers and trailers dropped, public reaction was visibly divided; many felt the glimpses were underwhelming or disappointing compared to the standards set by previous blockbusters like Pathaan or Tiger.

Despite those rocky first impressions, anticipation remained incredibly high, fueled by Alia’s proven track record of elevating stories.

The hype, however, isn’t resting solely on Alia’s shoulders. The film is equally anticipated because of rising star Sharvari, who stands shoulder-to-shoulder as a fierce co-lead agent, alongside a powerhouse supporting cast featuring Bobby Deol as the ruthless antagonist and Anil Kapoor. Bolstered by heavy expectations and a surprise cameo by Hrithik Roshan’s Major Kabir, the film tests whether a strong, female-fronted “main character energy” can completely redefine the boundaries of Indian spy cinema.

Here’s our review of the film.

Alpha Storyline

In Alpha, Alia Bhatt plays Sita, a lone assassin who was practically raised from childhood by her father (Bobby Deol) to be a lethal weapon. On her 18th birthday, he officially puts her to the test with her very first hit. But things quickly spiral out of control, throwing her deep into the world of global espionage. To survive and stop a massive threat, she’s forced to team up with another operative (Sharvari) to take down a ruthless villain.

Alpha movie first half review

The teaser and trailer really did a disservice to the film, and honestly, they felt like a massive disappointment. YRF could have showcased much better action sequences featuring Alia Bhatt, which would have naturally dialled the hype up to eleven. Instead, the marketing left a lot to be desired, failing to capture the true intensity of what the movie was trying to pull off.

Story-wise, it’s honestly impossible to ignore the heavy Arcane vibes here. The second you see Alia Bhatt and Sharvari on screen together, it instantly triggers memories of Jinx and Powder. It’s got that exact same sisterhood vibe where things are totally messy and emotionally charged.

But honestly, it’s different in its own way. While Arcane did that amazing job of building up the tragedy between Vi and Jinx in a fantasy world, Alpha takes that same kind of fractured sisterly energy and throws it into a real-world setting. You can definitely see bits of Jinx’s chaotic, weaponised trauma and Powder’s vulnerability in how Alia and Sharvari play off each other, but the movie still does its own thing with the spy-thriller angle.

Alia Bhatt is totally the main focus of the first half. She completely owns the screen, and everything in the story pretty much revolves around her from the very start.

At the same time, Bobby Deol does an absolutely amazing job. He brings this heavy, menacing energy to the plot, and his action scenes are just incredible whenever he’s on screen.

Alpha movie second half review

The second half of the movie is much better and way more action-driven than the first half. The pacing picks up, and the stunt sequences are on a whole different level.

Sharvari looks absolutely amazing, and those action skills are incredibly good. The same goes for Alia Bhatt, both actors completely crushed it, looking stunning and proving to be great at absolutely everything on screen.

Seeing Anil Kapoor in the middle of all that action is absolutely amazing. The actor looks incredibly cool handling the stunts and brings a massive sense of pride to the screen.

But never mind all that, because Hrithik Roshan is just on a whole different level of cool. The show was completely stolen the second that appearance happened.

Alpha movie review: What doesn’t work

The movie completely drags the whole “Sita and Durga” name thing into the ground. The names literally define everything the characters go through, which is a cool concept on paper, but the film talks about it so much that it feels totally excessive at times. It’s like the script keeps hitting you over the head with the mythic symbolism instead of just letting the story play out naturally.

On top of that, Alia’s lines feel a little bit flat for a character. She definitely has the screen presence to pull off an ultra-cool, badass assassin, but the weak writing and lack of punchy dialogues keep her from having that ultimate swagger.

The relationship between Alia and Sharvari also suffers from being rushed. While you can see the bond and the sisterly connection is there, it feels like it’s lacking real depth. They really needed one or two more scenes together just to build their dynamic and let the relationship breathe. It’s a shame because you can instantly see those gritty, high-stakes Arcane vibes, with Jinx and Powder reflected in Alia and Sharvari and it’s actually different and unique in its own way. These cool ideas don’t hit nearly as hard as they should have.

Even with the final conclusion, the story somehow still feels a little bit incomplete.

About Alpha movie’s music

The music is pretty middle-of-the-road, not too good, but not too bad either. The Alpha teaser song stands out as the absolute best track, being the only one that truly hits the mark throughout the entire movie.

That said, the dance steps are absolutely amazing. Sharvari does an incredible job with the choreography, killing every single move and bringing a ton of energy to the screen.