'SPY' Movie Review

Cast: Nikhil Siddharth, Iswarya Menon, Sanya Thakur, Nithin Mehra, Rana
Daggubati, Abhinav Gomatham, Makarand Deshpande, Jisshusen Gupta, Sachin
Khedkar, Aryan Rajesh, Tanikella Bharani, Ravi Varma and others.

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.