Spy (2023) Review

Nikhil Siddharth is not known for choosing safe scripts. His blockbuster series Karthikeya explored a discomforting marriage between science and religion, and established him as a star with a penchant for specialty stories about cover-ups, hidden artifacts and obscure lore. With Spy, Nikhil once again treads this familiar terrain. This time, the theme is patriotic nationalism, with a side of conspiracy theory.

Nikhil portrays RAW agent Jay whose mission revolves around retrieving a document that holds "India's best-kept secret" - the real fate of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose - from the clutches of arms dealer Abdul Khadir. Further, he wants to avenge the murder of his elder brother, also an agent, and also named Subhash.

Within the first hour, Spy spits out a volley of references to the genre's top tropes: terrorist sleeper cells, bitcoin transactions, nuclear attacks on cities - and everyone's favourite - overt insults to Pakistan. Dialing up the volume on the script's jingoistic stance is RAW's chief, Sastry (Makarand Deshpande), with his war speeches. The stakes of Jay's mission, he says, are "India's honor and the safety of every Indian". Jay and his team all but flare their nostrils and gnash their teeth.

Spy's script, seemingly aware of its overdone belligerence, tries to then punctuate the mood with light comedy and meta-references to Nikhil Siddharth's previous movies. Happy Days, one of Nikhil's early hits, gets a nod, and its song Arerey repeatedly plays in the background. Abhinav Gomatam, who plays Kamal, Jay's partner, provides the comic foil.

The movie's plot is largely filled with purposeless missions, as Jay's team find themselves entangled in multiple shootouts with terrorist gangs. These gunfights are far from thrilling, and what's worse, there is little to no intel or intrigue about Khadir's whereabouts. Jay's team simply receives coordinates and proceeds to descend upon the designated locations - Sri Lanka, Nepal, Amman and Delhi. In the midst of it all, there is even time for a feeble romance between Jay and Ishwarya Menon's heroine character. From the audible groans in the theatre during their scenes, it is clear that nobody cares about this interlude.

Perhaps Spy would have been just a bit more bearable had the actors not adopted a strained, staccato delivery for their dialogue at all times. Nikhil, in particular, sounds like a drill sergeant dispatching threats and instructions to his crew, leaving Abhinav Gomatam as the only actor that lends the film a modicum of watchability. At least he speaks, thank goodness, like a normal human being, not a drone.

As the narrative unfolds, Spy's story gets increasingly convoluted and childish. With minutes to spare, it finally delves into its core premise concerning theories of Subhash Chandra Bose's army, but it does so using inscrutable exposition that tosses around phrases like "Mukherjee Commission" and "Stalingrad of the East" without taking a minute to contextualize them for viewers. A rousing song "Tum mujhe khoon do, main tujhe aazadi doonga" (Bose's slogan) comes on, but in the fog of confusion, its throbbing rhythm barely registers.

Then not a minute too soon, the film culminates in a finale that is unbelievably contrived and, dare I say, downright silly. Amongst the tropes that appear in the last scene are a nuclear missile, a countdown clock, a hidden lever and a secret exit. No points for guessing what goes down.