'SPY' Movie Review

Cast: Nikhil Siddharth, Iswarya Menon, Sanya Thakur, Nithin Mehra, Rana

Music: Vishal Chandrasekhar - Sricharan Pakala

BGM: Sri Charan Pakala

Cinematography: Vamsi Patchipulusu - Mark David

Story - Producer: Rajasekhar Reddy

Writer: Anirudh Krishnamurthy

Direction: Garry BH

Nikhil Siddharth who arrived last year with 'Karthikeya 2' and scored a pan-
Indian hit is back now with an action thriller named 'SPY'. The trailer raised the
expectations on the film massively and editor Garry BH is making his debut as a
director. It is made on a grand budget and let us see how this film turned out.

Story:

Jai (Nikhil) is a secret agent who works for RAW. Khadir (Nithin Mehta) is an
international criminal who is a danger to everyone. Jai's brother Subhash (Aryan
Rajesh) dies in an attempt to catch Khadir. When the RAW officials hear that
Khadir is still alive and is planning an attack on India, the chief hands over the
mission to Jai in order to stop Khadir's attack. A key file regarding Subhash
Chandra Bose will be missed in the RAW office. As it is very important, Jai is given
the task to find the file too. How did Khadir stay alive despite everyone thinking
that he is dead? Did Jai get revenge on Khadir for killing his brother? What
happened to the missing file? All these questions will be answered in the rest of
the movie.

Analysis:
In this movie, the hero goes to find out how the villain who is supposed to be
dead is still alive and he finds the secret behind it. After that, a video of him
going with the villain gets leaked from the petrol bunk. In that video, it looks like
the hero is smiling alongside the villain. Just after a glance at it, the RAW chief
comes to the conclusion that the hero is compromised. He declares him a rogue
agent and orders other agents to either catch him or kill him. The RAW Chief
believes that a loyal agent who worked for them for years has been
compromised just by looking at a video where he is seen laughing alongside the
villain, ordering others to kill him, not believing in the hero despite him giving
key information regarding the villain is quite unbelievable. It is not a drama that
is part of a mission too. RAW chief really misunderstands the hero and we
usually don't see such big roles designed in such a silly manner. The scenes are
also very vague and how can one seriously take such a movie if the characters
and scenes are designed in such a way?

It is not enough to fill the movie with high-octane action sequences when you
decide to make a spy thriller. There needs to be strength in the story and the
screenplay needs to be gripping. The scenes should engage you and you should
get invested in the proceedings. But it is the thrill that goes missing in 'SPY'.
Though the scenes related to Subhash Chandra Bose are good, the makers
failed to present the movie in an interesting manner. They disappointed the
audience as they couldn't maintain the intensity. The action scenes arrive one
after the other but they do not keep the audience hooked. Whenever we make a
spy movie, the chief asks for the hero as soon as the big mission comes and the
hero takes it up and solves it by doing all kinds of adventures. 'SPY' starts off in
the same way and goes on with predictable scenes throughout. The romantic
track between the hero and heroine is very poorly written.

The one thing which interested everyone when the trailer dropped was the link
with Subhash Chandra Bose. There was a curiosity about how the makers will be
linking what happened in 1945 to the current scenario. The makers dealt with
this thread in an able way and those thirty minutes were highly engaging. But
the lack of conviction in designing characters starting from villain to every other
role is a major minus. When the villain is menacing, his mission will be feared by
everyone. the audience will root for the hero more and feel the thrill of his
adventures on screen. The hero will also be elevated a lot. But it is where the
'SPY' team falters as the villain role is not effective and the intensity goes
completely missing in the narration. They couldn't utilize an interesting point
regarding the antagonist's character. The key twists were also not handled in a
proper manner. A lot of countries names will be heard and the story goes from
one place to another. The budget of the movie will be visible on the screen.
Talented actors are selected for key characters and the scale of the story is huge
too. The makers made it on a grand canvas as well. But the screenplay and
direction worked against 'SPY'. The movie falls below expectations and the loose
ends and boring sequences despite the short duration make 'SPY' an okay film
and nothing more than that.

Performances:

Nikhil was very sincere in the role of Jai. He did everything he could and suited
the role as well. His look is apt for a spy and his acting is perfect for such a role.
But the rest of the characters were not able to compliment him. Abhinav
Gomatham as another agent who stays by Nikhil's side is majorly used for
generating laughs. The role is not etched properly. Iswarya Menon is not used
properly. Her looks as an agent and her performance is not at all suitable for
that role. Sanya Thakur is decent. Makarand Deshpande's character turned out
to be silly and Nithin Mehta was showcased as a joker in the movie. Jisshusen
Gupta is okay as the main villain but his character lacked strength. Sachin
Khedkar, Tanikella Bharani and the rest are okay.

Technicians:

The songs by Vishal Chandrasekhar and Sri Charan Pakala are just average but
Sri Charan Pakala's background score is amazing. He is known for giving
splendid music for action thrillers and he stayed true to his reputation. The
cinematography is good and the visuals are fantastic. The production values are
top-notch as the richness is highly visible. Rakasekhar Reddy who bankrolled the
film has also penned the story. It had a lot of strength but the movie failed in the
screenplay and direction aspect. Editor-turned-director Garry BH could not run
the film in a gripping manner. The action sequences and scenes related to
Subhash Chandra Bose are handled well but he failed in making a compelling
action thriller.