Khufiya

Story:

Based on Amar Bhushan’s espionage novel Escape to Nowhere, Vishal Bhardwaj wrote, produced, composed, and directed the 2023 Indian Hindi-language spy thriller film Khufiya (translated as “Secret”). Tabu, Ali Fazal, Wamiqa Gabbi, and Azmeri Haque Badhon—making her Hindi cinema debut—all appear in the movie. In the movie, a member of the Research and Analysis Wing is tasked with finding a mole who is selling defense secrets while also juggling her dual identities as a lover and a spy.

Bhardwaj developed the screenplay with Irrfan Khan in mind after purchasing the novel’s rights in 2016. But after Khan passed away in 2020 and other male actors turned down the script, he reworked it with a female lead and told it to Tabu, who agreed to play the part. Principal photography began the month after the film’s September 2021 announcement and continued until April 2022, primarily in Canada and Delhi. It was filmed by Farhad Ahmed Delhvi and edited by A. Sreekar Prasad. Khufiya launched on Netflix on October 5, 2023, to positive reviews from critics who complimented the story, directing, and performances of the main cast.

Plot

After receiving some information over the phone, Bangladeshi defense minister Mirza kills Heena Rehman, a Bangladeshi woman who is believed to be employed by ISI, at a party hosted at his home during the post-Kargil War era. Krishna “KM” Mehra, an operator of the Research & Analysis Wing in India, is devastated to learn of Heena’s passing because, for a little period, Heena was her sweetheart. Heena was actually employed by RAW, which included killing Mirza. Jeev, the boss of KM, informs her that Heena’s death was caused by information supplied by a mole in the RAW office. KM is tasked with locating the mole who is selling India’s defense secrets.

She determines that Ravi, a RAW employee whose extravagant lifestyle belies his salary, must be the mole and believes his wife Charu is his accomplice in disclosing secrets. KM and Jeev get authorization to electronically bug Ravi’s home. Following some surveillance, they learn that Charu is innocent and that Ravi is working for the CIA at the behest of his avaricious mother. Meanwhile, Jeev learns that Heena’s death was caused not just by Ravi giving information to the CIA, which then gave it to Mirza, but also because the Minister of Home Affairs had to give the information to the CIA in order to keep the US from terminating its nuclear agreement with India.  Jeev chooses to keep this a secret in order to prevent more issues, even though he is horrified that his boss let one of his assets to perish for maintaining the nuclear deal.

In the meantime, Ravi and his family attempt to escape after learning about the cameras in his home. When Charu learns that Ravi is a double agent, she is horrified and won’t go with him or allow him to take her son away. Charu is shot in the process by Ravi’s mother, but she lives because KM’s crew arrives on time and takes her to the hospital. When Charu gets better, she realizes that Ravi has fled to the United States with their son and his mother. Charu begs KM to return her son. After training Charu, KM ships her to the United States. When Charu finds Ravi, his mother, and her son, she begins to reintegrate into the family and convinces Ravi and his mother that she simply wants to be with them.

Flashbacks are used to simultaneously explore KM’s past with Heena. After spending time with her, Heena made romantic advances to KM, who at first rejected them because she thought she was straight. However, after learning about Heena’s affiliations with ISI, KM soon realized that she was in love with Heena, which led to her discovering and ultimately embracing her lesbian identity. Heena began working for RAW and obtaining information from ISI as part of the plan in order to demonstrate her love for KM. But when Ravi gave this knowledge to the CIA, who then told Mirza about it, her attempt to kill Mirza was thwarted. Since then, KM has been waiting to exact revenge on her.

KM offers Ravi and his family, who are currently living in poverty as refugees in South Dakota, the chance to return to India as heroes if they assassinate Brigadier Mirza. Ravi, Charu, and Ravi’s mother try to poison and kill Mirza as he is paying him a polite visit. However, he kills Ravi’s mother after spotting a ruse. Ravi becomes unconscious after slamming Mirza’s head against the wall out of rage. Mirza’s death is faked as an unintentional head injury from slipping in his hotel bathtub, and KM coerces the CIA’s covert psychiatric physician who was serving as Ravi’s handler. After being deported to India, the Mohan family starts over. KM calls her estranged adolescent son at Charu’s suggestion to tell him that she is a lesbian, which is why she divorced his father.