Khufiya review: Tabu, Ali Fazal's film is not your usual espionage thriller 

Vishal Bhardwaj peels off layers, slowly revealing plot points one by one in his latest Khufiya. I have to be honest, when I first watched the teaser of Khufiya, I had not expected it to be an espionage thriller. The makers added a note right in the beginning to make the viewers understand the years it is set in and the tensions and political manipulation that was taking place in the subcontinent post the Kargil war. Pakistan and India were both discreetly trying to influence Bangladesh's political structure to their advantage. But Khufiya is not a political film. Bhardwaj's thriller isn't just an espionage thriller focussing on the relationship of three neighbouring countries, it is also the story of intelligence agent KM aka Krishna Mehra (Tabu), and her journey of acceptance and moving on.

KM is an investigating officer of the Research and Analytics Wing who is given the daunting task of identifying and arresting a mole in the system. The agency realises that top secrets of the country were being made available to the enemy camp and led to the death of a local spy in Bangladesh. For KM, agent Octopus (Bangladeshi actress Azmeri Haque Badhon) was not just a spy but also a companion of sorts. Her death shakes up KM who now wants to nab those who have created this mess.

The prime suspect is Ravi Mohan(Ali Fazal), who, according to the agency, has been living a far more lavish life than he can afford with his income. Ravi's wife Charu (Wamiqa Gabbi), the agency suspects, is one of his main accomplices who helps him leak important information about Indian intelligence to Pakistan. To the world Ravi and Charu seem unassuming, a regular Indian couple who live with Ravi's aged mother and a child in an apartment in Delhi but that for KM itself is the biggest alibi. As KM and her team bug Ravi's office and home, revelations come out but not the sorts they would be expecting. Is Ravi the main culprit? Does the family realise they are under surveillance and more importantly does KM get to avenge Octopus' death and find the mole forms the rest of the story.

Based on Amar Bhushan's book Escape to Nowhere, Vishal Bhardwaj and co-writer Rohan Narula not only develop an intricate tale of secret service, geo politics and spy networks but also explore the female gaze on people and situations. The film's main protagonist KM is different. She is shown to lack emotions and is a tough nut to crack and very good at her work, so much so that she is careless as a mother to her teenage son who lives with her ex-husband. She wants to be there for her son but falters ever so often. But at the same time, KM is also sensitive to the people she recruits, pays them well, and develops a fondness for Agent Octopus and her plight.

The film opens with a blurry scene of a woman walking down a rain-swept alley, almost like a painting with KM's voice describing the little details of the woman. The mole on her collarbone, the way she sneezes three times in one go- intimate details that only her partner would know. In Hindi cinema, it has always been the man describing such details about a woman he loves. In Khufiya, Bhardwaj and Narula turn the narrative. Here the woman is describing another woman, she is leading a team of men in a covet operation, it is her story of finding closure, redemption, and making amends.

There could not be anyone better than Tabu to play the straight-face, slightly goofy and clumsy KM. The actress and the director have worked in many films together and each time Tabu has managed to steal the limelight in an ensemble cast. Khufiya is no different and the actress sinks her teeth in a role that almost looks like an extension of her. Slightly evasive yet sensitive, workaholic, righteous but someone who never crosses the line. Tabu's KM seems like a regular person yet she is different from the rest, for her compassion.

The women in Khufiya are all splendid. Wamiqa Gabbi, Bhardwaj's newest muse, shines on her own and despite being relatively new among the cast members, holds her own and commands attention with her stellar performance. Her Charu is a mix of naive, and vulnerable who find strength to fight for her son. Gabbi has made people sit up and notice her work in the recent past with shows like Jubilee and Charlie Chopra and Khufiya will just add more heft to her repertoire.

Actresses Azmeri Haque Badhon and  Navnindra Behl are also delightful in their characters. One plays a femme fatale, undercover spy who knows how to use her beauty to extract crucial state information while the other uses age to get things done.

The men too play a credible part. Ali Fazal as Ravi delivers a credible performance. It is not easy to play a regular guy onscreen but Fazal gives a restrained performance making Ravi the most unassuming yet the most dangerous person to be around. He shines the film most during the climax scene and scenes with Behl where the mother-son dynamics are very well enacted. Ashish Vidyarthi as the agency head delivers his part well.

The screenplay ever so often teases viewers with quirks and situational comedy - putting the much-needed lightness in the narrative. Farhad Ahmed Dehlvi shoots several of the scenes almost like a painting. The mood is grim and tense and Dehlvi's able camera work helps to maintain the tone throughout.

I do wish the film was slightly shorter. It is a slow-burner thriller and takes ample time to reveal the plot and its characters fully.  The film is nearly two hours and thirty minutes long and the narrative is not as fast-paced as an espionage thriller is expected to be. It tries to dig deeper into KM and Octopus' relationship and explain why KM is so obsessed with nabbing the mole whose actions led to Octopus' death.

Khufiya isn't your usual espionage film. Or the kind of films we are used to watching. No chest-thumping nationalism, no alpha male saving the day, and no monologues of desh-bhakti or mother's love. It has an uncanny hero who is flawed as a person but superb at her job. Sharp, patient, and compassionate. 

Vishal Bhardwaj and Tabu is a combination that never disappoints and Khufiya just adds to that list. It demands your attention and patience but it is worth your time. Khufiya is streaming on Netflix.