Spy review: Nikhil Siddhartha-starrer is an avoidable film

The film begins with interesting shots of RAW secret operations files from before independence. Soon we get routine, hero centric nonsense, with hardly any progress in the story. An episode of romance between Jay and Vaishnavi feels utterly forced and devoid of any chemistry between them. However, the action sequence in Kashmir looks excellent.

The story then is somehow connected to Netaji, his fight to free India, and his mysterious death. “India’s best kept secret” gets thrown at us frequently, with lot of beating around the bush, not really getting to the point. Rana Daggubati’s cameo trumps up the same dialoguebaazi about patriotism and Netaji’s inspirational leadership again, without really making a solid direct connection with the story. When the actual Netaji connection finally comes out, it is too lame and feels utterly contrived.

Nikhil tries hard to impress in this tough avatar. But the character and writing is so under developed, he is not even a half spy anywhere in the movie. Aryan Rajesh appears in a blink and miss character. Sadly, his photo gets more screen time than his actual scenes. Gomatham’s one liners work at few places, but mostly feel out of place for a secret agent. Iswarya Menon has to brush up her acting skills. Jisshu Sengupta was okay in his role. Nithin Varma as Khader Khan looked interesting for some time.

Spy is a failure mostly due to bad writing and lack of seriousness in presenting the story. The idea to go behind Netaji’s life and mysterious death had all the elements for a blockbuster. With Nikhil’s recent successes and the film’s big budget, Spy could have been a notable entry in the filmography of all involved. But the movie fails on all counts due to lack of clarity and seriousness.

Spy is an avoidable film.

Spy movie cast: Nikhil Siddhartha, Iswarya Menon, Jisshu Sengupta, Makrand Deshpande, Abhinav Gomatham
Spy movie director: Garry BH
Spy movie rating: 1 star