Alpha Opens to Mixed Reviews as YRF Bets on Female Spies

Alpha arrived in theatres on July 3 carrying an unusual amount of freight. It bears the weight of Yash Raj Films' sprawling spy franchise, marks Alia Bhatt's return to the big screen after a two-year gap, and carries the novelty of building a spy universe entry around two women in a space long dominated by male action stars. The combination made it one of the most searched Bollywood topics of the day, and with good reason: few Hindi tentpoles arrive with this particular convergence of franchise stakes, star comeback narrative, and a genuine attempt to shift who gets to headline blockbuster action.

That convergence is precisely what makes the film's reception worth dwelling on beyond the usual release-week churn. Yash Raj Films has spent years constructing its spy universe as a disciplined, interlinked enterprise, and each new entry is judged not only on its own merits but on what it signals for the franchise's future direction. Alpha was always going to be read as a statement of intent, not merely another instalment.

Critics are not convinced

The early verdict is divided at best. Indian Express's review called the film dull and argued that even Alia Bhatt, Sharvari and a Hrithik Roshan cameo could not rescue the material. Moneycontrol reached a similar conclusion, noting scale, stars and polished action, but a story that never matches the assets on display. India Today was more generous in its framing, treating the film as a new chapter for the franchise built around two female spies attempting to blend spectacle with an emotional core.

What is notable is the consistency of the underlying complaint across outlets that otherwise differ in tone. None of the three reviews cited disputes that the film looks the part: the production values, the star wattage and the action choreography all appear to have landed as intended. The recurring objection is narrower and more specific — the screenplay itself. That is a meaningful distinction. A film can fail on spectacle, on casting, or on craft, and each of those failures points to a different problem for a studio to fix. Here, the reviews converge on writing as the weak link, which narrows the diagnosis considerably and, arguably, makes it easier to address in future instalments.

It is also worth noting the presence of a Hrithik Roshan cameo, a device studios frequently use in universe-building franchises to stitch instalments together and reward audiences already invested in the broader mythology. That such a cameo could not shift critical sentiment suggests the film's problems sit at a more fundamental level than surface-level franchise servicing.

The numbers to watch

Pre-release trade expectations pegged opening day collections in the Rs 5-8 crore range, and Indian Express reported advance bookings crossing Rs 2 crore gross, including blocked seats. For a franchise tentpole carrying this much marketing weight and star power, those are workable figures rather than spectacular ones. They are viable only if the weekend shows growth and post-release word-of-mouth pulls undecided viewers into multiplexes who might otherwise wait for a streaming release.

This is the crucial window for any big-budget release, and Alpha's case is no exception. Opening day numbers driven substantially by advance bookings reflect enthusiasm generated before reviews landed. What happens over the following two days will show whether that enthusiasm survives contact with critical consensus, or whether negative reviews suppress walk-in audiences who had not already committed via advance booking. Franchise films with strong brand recognition can sometimes weather poor reviews if the spectacle itself is deemed worth the price of a ticket; whether Alpha falls into that category is precisely the open question the next 48 hours will answer.

What is at stake for the two leads

The next 48 hours will reveal whether audiences treat Alpha as a weak franchise entry or as a big-screen spectacle worth sampling despite the reviews. The answer matters differently for each of its two leads. For Alia Bhatt, the film represents a deliberate action pivot away from the performance-led dramas where she has been strongest and most critically decorated. A film of this scale succeeding, even amid mixed reviews, would validate that pivot and open a new lane in her career. A weak commercial outcome, on the other hand, could reinforce the idea that her strengths lie elsewhere, complicating any future move into action-led material.

For Sharvari, the stakes run in the opposite direction. The film offers the profile boost of a tentpole property and a central place in the conversation about women-led action cinema in Hindi film, regardless of how the reviews ultimately shake out. Being positioned at the centre of a marquee franchise release is, in itself, a career milestone that carries forward even if this particular film underperforms. How the industry and audiences respond to her presence in the role may shape whether studios continue to build major action vehicles around her.

The wider industry implications

Beyond the fortunes of its two stars, Alpha's reception carries implications for how studios approach franchise development going forward. Yash Raj Films has invested heavily in the idea of an interconnected spy universe, and each entry functions as both a standalone commercial proposition and a data point on the viability of the format itself. A film that under-delivers critically, even if it performs adequately at the box office, will prompt internal scrutiny of the writing process behind these instalments — scrutiny that matters more for a franchise designed to run for years than it would for a standalone release.

There is also a broader industry conversation at stake around who is allowed to lead action cinema. Hindi film has historically treated the action tentpole as the domain of male stars, with women largely confined to supporting or romantic-interest roles within that genre. Alpha's attempt to invert that structure, by placing two women at the centre of the franchise's biggest annual release, is being watched closely by an industry trying to gauge audience appetite for that shift. The commercial and critical fate of this single film risks being read as a referendum on a much larger question, whether or not that reading is entirely fair to the film itself.

The NE Times View

Alpha deserves credit for the bet it represents: putting two women at the centre of India's biggest action franchise is a genuine structural shift, not a token gesture. But the mixed reviews underline an uncomfortable truth about franchise filmmaking — representation cannot carry a film that the script does not. If Alpha stumbles, the risk is that studios draw the wrong lesson and retreat from female-led action rather than investing in better writing for it. Audiences did not reject women in action; critics rejected a thin story. The distinction matters, and Hindi cinema's next generation of tentpoles depends on studios understanding it.

The temptation, when a female-led action film underperforms critically, is to treat the casting choice itself as the variable that failed. That temptation should be resisted here. The reviews cited are specific about where Alpha falls short, and none of them locate the failure in Alia Bhatt or Sharvari's performances or in the premise of a female-led spy universe entry. They locate it in the screenplay. That is an ordinary, fixable production problem, the kind every franchise encounters at some point in its run, not evidence that the underlying experiment was misconceived.

How Yash Raj Films and the wider industry interpret this moment will matter more than the film's opening weekend numbers themselves. A studio that responds by sharpening its writing for the next instalment treats this as a normal course correction. A studio that responds by quietly reverting to male-led leads treats representation as the scapegoat for a problem that was never about representation at all. The next franchise entry, whenever it arrives, will be the real test of which lesson was learned.

Key takeaways

• Alpha opened on July 3 to mixed reviews, with Indian Express and Moneycontrol both citing weak writing despite strong production values and star power, while India Today offered a more generous reading of the film's attempt at spectacle with emotional core.
• Trade estimates placed opening day collections at Rs 5-8 crore, with Indian Express reporting advance bookings crossing Rs 2 crore gross including blocked seats, figures described as workable rather than spectacular for a tentpole.
• The film marks Alia Bhatt's return after a two-year gap and a deliberate pivot toward action, while Sharvari gains a career-defining tentpole profile regardless of the film's ultimate performance.
• Critics converge on a specific diagnosis, that the screenplay is the weak link, not the casting or the female-led premise, a distinction with real consequences for how studios read this outcome.
• The film's fate is being watched as a wider signal for whether studios continue investing in women-led action franchises or retreat toward more conventional casting for future tentpoles.