Khufiya – a 2023 Hindi film is about the lives of the 3 heroic women spies’ of the Indian subcontinent. Its story is loosely inspired by the true incidents that happened in India.
It is worth noting that this film is based on the fiction novel ‘Escape to Nowhere‘ penned by Amar Bhushan. His novel is inspired by a true incident that took place in 2004.
At that time, a senior intelligence officer was suspected of being a spy for decades. And then he vanished from India. The author served as Special Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat in his past life as a bureaucrat. Post his retirement in 2005, he now lives in Jasidih, a small town in Deoghar, Jharkhand.
Summary (synopsis) of this 2023 Hindi movie about the spies
When a mole in an Indian intelligence agency R&AW leads to the murder of an undercover spy, a hardened agent Krishna Mehra ~ KM (Tabu) is assigned to track down the mole selling India’s defence secrets. While grappling with her dual identity as a spy and a lover, KM (Tabu) the operative at R&AW relentlessly pursues him to avenge the death.
Spoiler-free review of the Khufiya (2023) movie
We meet three strong women characters – Krishna Mehra (Tabu), Heena Rehman (Azmeri Haque Badhon) and Chaaru Mohan (Wamiqa Gabbi) in this Hindi film. They play the roles of secret agents in the highly competitive and cut-throat world of international spies. This espionage drama is set in the period somewhere between 2000 to 2010 years.
We have shared some of the details from this film. Although, we have omitted quite a few key plotlines, twists and turns in it. We wish to keep it a spoiler-free review of the film.
Spy #1 – Krishna Mehra (Tabu)
The lead protagonist KM (Tabu) is a seasoned female secret agent of India’s main international intelligence agency. Moreover, it is known simply as the Research and Analysis Wing – the R&AW (or simply RAW). So, she works as a senior spy in the RAW. She has completely dedicated her life (24/7) for the sake of India. Consequently, her family and personal lives are in constant turmoil. In addition, she lost the love of her life in one of the secret spy operations because of a mole.
Meet Krishna Mehra ~ KM {Tabu} in this video clip on the YouTube from the Khufiya film. Her close-up photo is the featured image of this article.
Spy #2 – Heena Rehman (Azmeri Haque Badhon)
Heena Rehman (Azmeri Haque Badhon) is the RAW Agent of Bangladeshi origin. So, she works closely with KM (Tabu) who also becomes her love interest in the film. In addition, she is collecting information against the Pakistani intelligence agency – ISI – the Inter-Services Intelligence in Bangladesh. But the situation became complicated for her. As the dangerous web of the espionage world threatens to devour her.
She became a spy because of her financial penury and tragic circumstances in her family, but the spying job did not end well for her.
Her emotions got the better of her and she paid with her life.
Meet Heena Rehman {Azmeri Haque Badhon} with the code name Octopus in the Khufiya film, we have shared the link from her Instagram profile.
Spy#3 – Chaaru Mohan (Wamiqa Gabbi)
The third RAW Secret Agent is Chaaru Mohan {Wamiqa Gabbi}, who is a late entrant into the deadly world of espionage. Born and brought up in a family of Indian army officials, she is patriotic to the core. Again, the tragic events in her family life forced her to become a secret agent and work for India’s intelligence agency. However, it is more of a personal mission for her as she seeks to reunite with her young son living in the USA.
Meet Chaaru Mohan {Wamiqa Gabbi} in this video clip on the YouTube from the Khufiya film. Her photo along with that of her husband Ravi Mohan {Ali Fazal} is shared below.
Spy #4 – Ravi Mohan {Ali Fazal}
Meet Ravi Mohan {Ali Fazal} in this video clip on the YouTube from the Khufiya film. His photo along with that of his wife Chaaru Mohan {Wamiqa Gabbi} is shared above.
The fourth RAW agent is Ravi Mohan {Ali Fazal}, the husband of Chaaru Mohan, who once was a devoted wife and mother of his son. The above clip raises questions about Ravi.
{Spoilers Alert} Is Ravi Mohan the mole in RAW?
Yes, Ravi Mohan is the mole and the traitor in this film. He betrayed the trust of his wife, colleagues, and other secret agents in the agency by passing on highly confidential information to the U.S. government’s CIA – Central Intelligence Agency. Then he escaped from the clutches of Indian authorities to a distant foreign land.
About its talented actors
All four of the actors – Tabu (Krishna Mehra), Azmeri Haque Badhon (Heena Rehman), Wamiqa Gabbi (Charu Mohan) and Ali Fazal (Ravi Mohan) have performed very well in this gripping spy tale. They are supported by a talented bunch of actors – Ashish Vidyarthi (Jeev), Atul Kulkarni (Shashank Mehra), Rahul Vohra (Wasan), Disney James (Kutty), Jan Graveson (Rachel McClane), etc.
We loved all three confident and courageous female characters – Krishna Mehra (Tabu), Heena Rehman (Azmeri Haque Badhon) and Chaaru Mohan (Wamiqa Gabbi) in it. Still, we liked the well-etched three characters of emotionally and physically strong women folks of the Indian subcontinent. They are a realistic and progressive lot.
More about the world of spies
This spy film rightly proclaims, that, as long as the world is divided into different religions and regions (countries), the world will remain populated by the immoral world of spies.
We liked this thrilling espionage drama from India, which has incorporated some real geo-political issues and incidents in its storyline. For instance, the Osama bin Laden, Indo-US nuclear deal, ISI’s attempt to gain remote control of the government in Bangladesh, the CIA’s pursuit of their own agenda in the Indian subcontinent, etc.
The conclusion of the review
We do not get good-quality spy dramas from India. So, we commend filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj for making a realistic movie that peeks into the highly secretive spy world.
No doubt, this film has good music, especially the Mat Aana song. However, it lacks foot-tapping musical numbers like Dhan Te Nan, much liked by the younger generation.
In addition, we think that its writers should have tightened up its screenplay. So that, we could get a faster pace thriller. Nonetheless, they have made it a good spy story.
And we enjoyed this espionage movie, genuinely.
Key details of this 2023 Hindi movie about the spies
| Genre | Action, Crime, Mystery, Thriller |
| Original language | Hindi (a bit of Bengali, English, and other languages from the Indian subcontinent) ख़ुफ़िया (Khufiya word means intelligence) |
| Released in | October, 2023 |
| Age restrictions | UA (16+) |
| Duration | 2 hours 37 minutes |
| Writers | Vishal Bhardwaj, Rohan Narula & Amar Bhushan |
| Director | Vishal Bhardwaj |
| Music | Vishal Bhardwaj |
| Cast | Tabu (Krishna Mehra), Ali Fazal (Ravi Mohan), Wamiqa Gabbi (Charu Mohan), Azmeri Haque Badhon (Heena Rehman), Ashish Vidyarthi (Jeev), Atul Kulkarni (Shashank Mehra), Rahul Vohra (Wasan), Disney James (Kutty), Jan Graveson (Rachel McClane), etc. |
| Network | Netflix |
Poster of this 2023 Hindi movie about the spies
Rating of this 2023 Hindi movie about the spies
| FM’s ratings | 3.85/5 |
| FM’s short comment | A movie about 3 Women Spies on the Indian subcontinent is indeed rare, despite its meandering pace, this is worth watching for its good effort. |
Trailer of this 2023 Hindi movie about the spies
If you like this kind of movie based on an Indian spy agency, then check out the Family Man show, too.
Featured Image, Other Images and Poster of Khufiya (2023) film are courtesy of Netflix.