From low-key to larger-than-life, the many faces of Indian spies onscreen

Indian cinema and OTT content have given us multiple characters who work anonymously to save our country from peril. Some are focused on gathering intelligence in undercover roles, others have the license to kill, and some, like the YRF spies, can dance, romance and fire a bazooka, all with equal ease. So, as we enjoy the return of super spy Kabir and the introduction of Vishnu Shankar and Rajeev Kumar, I couldn’t help but dig deep into the different types of ‘jasoos’ characters we have seen in Hindi films and content, and reminisce about who the most memorable ones have been.

Not all situations call for a highly trained operative. There are cases where a novice or a common man or woman is chosen by an intelligence officer or a member of the armed forces to spy for the nation. They are considered suitable because of their gender, social strata or an out-of-the-box approach that differs from the methods of a trained spy. In Raazi, Alia Bhatt played Sehmat, a young Indian college student who marries the son of a Pakistani Army officer. Sehmat is petite, soft-spoken and shy, and her unsuspecting in-laws have no idea that she is an Indian spy who has been deliberately planted through marriage in her husband’s home. She manages to gather vital information about an attack being planned on India, but her bravery comes at a huge personal cost. In the web series Mukhbir (streaming on ZEE5), which means spy, Zain Khan Durrani played Kamran, a handsome conman whose fearless attitude and smooth-talking skills impress S.K.S. Moorthy (Prakash Raj), an intelligence officer. Kamran goes undercover in Pakistan and is successful in finding information that is vital to the nation’s security. In the film Khufiya, Tabu played an intelligence officer, Krishna Mehra, who plants Charu (Wamiqa Gabbi) as a spy in her own home to keep an eye on her husband, an escaped CIA mole. Priety Zinta’s character Reshma from Hero: Love Story of a Spy is planted as a maid in a Pakistani home to gather intelligence for army officer Sunny Deol, who had more costumes than even the leading ladies of the film. Bell Bottom is another example where a talented civilian, Anshul Malhotra (Akshay Kumar), is emotionally blackmailed into becoming an intelligence officer with the code name Bell Bottom.

While Sehmat, Kamran, Charu, Anshul and Reshma were plucked out of their regular lives and sent into dangerous territories, there are those like Srikant Tiwari in The Family Man. Srikant is a guy next door who is also a highly trained intelligence officer and field agent. Srikant or his colleague JK Talpade (Sharib Hashmi) could be the men standing next to us at a vadapav stall. But at work, they counter terrorism or dodge bullets on the field. One can’t mention The Family Man without talking about the spy who makes Srikant look like a novice, Chellam. With only a few scenes but brilliantly written dialogues and great direction, Chellam sir inspired hundreds of memes and jokes with his paranoia and omniscient narrator-like knowledge. Himmat Singh (Kay Kay Menon) from Special Ops is another character where a regular-looking man, with a regular family, is in a job that has a direct impact on national security. Films like Baby, Mission Majnu, and even D Day are all examples where men and women who wouldn’t stand out in a crowd, or have regular day jobs as covers, but are keeping us safe from threats every day.

Kay Kay Menon as top spy Himmat Singh in Special Ops.

Quite unlike Srikant and Himmat are the larger-than-life spies of the YRF spy universe. Though the first film, Ek Tha Tiger, tried making Salman Khan seem like a guy next door in the first half of the film, the second half and the two subsequent films have turned Tiger into a larger-than-life character who drops from the sky onto a moving train and runs against the velocity of a train to escape certain death. Ditto for the newest YRF spy, Pathaan, played by Shah Rukh Khan. Unlike regular spies who perhaps have basic weapons and some spy tools, Pathaan operates planes, races bikes on the snow and even flies a jet pack to save the nation from rogue agent Jim (John Abraham). The spies of the YRF spy universe also travel to fancy European locations, dance with women dressed in designer clothing/swimwear, and indulge in plenty of dialoguebaazi and rhetoric to elicit the whistles and hoots. There is nothing relatable or low profile about Tiger, Pathaan, or Kabir. But then again, our audiences are pretty quick to suspend disbelief when it comes to Hindi film heroes.

Also Read | In Ek Tha Tiger’s opening, Kabir Khan delivers the most subversive Salman Khan entry and sets the spy universe template

Perhaps what makes this genre so successful is audience curiosity about what motivates someone to live a life where they are constantly looking over their shoulder, or respect for the patriotic fervour of common men and women who put the nation above themselves. Additionally, the thrill of outwitting the enemy, delicious close brushes with getting caught, and the permission to cross borders or blur moral lines are all factors that keep us invested in characters whose successes and failures often make news headlines. The reasons are plenty, and it will be interesting to see whether these spies, old and new, will give us something to think and talk about or merely pass by without creating any ripples.