Whacking Moles:
It’s good to note that the genre of the espionage thriller is catching on with OTT platforms, even though most of the stories belong to the past. Are spies hibernating now, when the world is more fractured than ever? Indian spy stories have not yet reached the finesse of the books by John Le Carre, Daniel Silva and Mick Herron, but then they have a wider canvas to work with. We are still stuck with Pakistan!
Vishal Bhardwaj’s Khufiya, based on the book Escape To Nowhere, by Amar Bhushan former RAW insider, who wrote a true account of a hunt for a mole in the department, is about the hard-working staff of the intelligence agency, who often have to sacrifice their personal lives because of their risky and never-ending work.
One such agent with the counter espionage unit is Krishna Mehra (Tabu), always grim and alert, she takes on the mission of exposing the traitor who caused the death of her asset and lover, Heena (Azmeri Haque Badhon), in Dhaka. Her marriage to an understanding man (Atul Kulkarni) has cracked under the pressure of her unpredictable schedules and her son resents this, especially since he is not aware of what his mother does. Her ex husband knows that if she gives up her job she will die, and supports her
The mole passing defence secrets to the CIA is Ravi (Ali Fazal), and it is shocking for the RAW agents, like Krishna’s immediate superior Jeev (Ashish Vidyarthi) to realise that their on ground work that requires back-breaking surveillance and subterfuge, is often undermined by the deal-making at top levels of power. An asset of two being sacrificed does not bother the politicians.
A grieving and angry Krishna keeps an eye on Ravi and his family, but is also humane enough to jeopardize the mission when Ravi’s wife Charu (Wamiqa Gabbi) has a fall in the house they have bugged, and needs to be taken to hospital. Ravi and his former spy mother Lalita (Navnindra Behl) are extracted to the US just before being arrested, leaving Charu dying in their home, shot by the mother-in-law.
The excitement built up so far, with chases, close shaves and surveillance footage, is dissipated from here on, as Charu recovers and goes to hunt for her husband and son in an obscure US town, following the trail of Yaaraji (Raghu Ram) a singer-godman her mother-in-law worships. Lalita overrules Ravi’s objections to bringing Charu home, because she is tired of doing the housework and could do with a free maid.
Krishna and her team want to entrap Ravi, but also reach Bangladeshi Brigadier Mirza (Shataf Figar) because of his involvement with Pakistan’s ISI and the attempt to rig elections in his country. The tension drops as Charu tries to collect intel for Charu by ingratiating herself before Ravi and her mother-in-law. The CIA more or less ignore Ravi after getting him into the US. All the back and forth leads to a very insipid climax that starts at the dining table in Ravi’s home with Mirza and the CIA handler (Alexx O’ Nell) as guests.
More than the expert and ruthless spy games, the dead drops, betrayals and complicated plots, what is more interesting about Khufiya is the empathy that develops between Krishna and Charu. The happy housewife, captured by surveillance cameras dancing to Bollywood songs in her Delhi home, is now a trained asset planting bugs in the US home to nab Ravi. Even the otherwise granite-faced Krishna softens enough to go out of her way to protect Charu’s cover.
Bhardwaj gets fine performances from both the actresses; Ali Fazal looks uncomfortable and no other actor gets too much screen time. Khufiya is worth a watch, though not as slick an espionage flick as others on streaming platforms.
(This piece first appeared in seniorstoday.in)
