YRF’s ‘Alpha’ Opens To Mixed Reviews As The Spy Universe Bets On Its First Female-Led Chapter

Yash Raj Films has spent over a decade building one of Indian cinema’s most ambitious franchises, and its latest chapter has arrived with far more scrutiny than celebration. Alpha is a 2026 Indian Hindi-language action thriller directed by Shiv Rawail in his feature film debut, produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films, and stands as the seventh installment in the YRF Spy Universe. The film stars Alia Bhatt and Sharvari as its first female leads, a shift that was meant to signal a new direction for the franchise.

The story follows a highly trained assassin raised in isolation as a super soldier by a rogue commander, who teams up with her long lost sister after discovering the dark truth about her family and her stolen childhood. That premise arrived in theaters on July 3, 2026, but early response suggests the film has struggled to match the expectations built around it.

The Plot Behind YRF’s First Female-Led Spy Thriller

Sita, played by Alia Bhatt, has been snatched from her family as an infant and injected with a regenerative serum called Alpha by rogue Army officer Fateh, played by Bobby Deol, who wants to raise a race of super soldiers who heal quickly and do not die easily. With the help of scientist Verghese, played by Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Fateh makes Sita his first and most prized lab rat, and twenty years later she swears to destroy the man she considers her foster father.

Sita teams up with Durga, played by Sharvari, and spy chief Vikram, played by Anil Kapoor, to take down Fateh, tying the film directly into the broader continuity of the franchise. The screenplay was written by Soumil Shukla, Shridhar Raghavan, Ishita Moitra and Uday Chopra, with principal photography taking place in Mumbai, Kashmir and Valladolid.

Alia Bhatt and Sharvari were cast in July 2023, Bobby Deol joined the project in March 2024 as the antagonist, and Anil Kapoor was brought on in July 2024 to reprise his role from the 2025 film War 2. Hrithik Roshan was confirmed for an extended cameo appearance as Kabir Dhaliwal in August 2024, while Dibyendu Bhattacharya joined the cast in March 2025 and Dia Mirza took on a guest appearance.

The path to release was not smooth either. Alpha was originally slated for a Christmas release on December 25, 2025, before being pushed to April 17, 2026 due to extensive post production work and reshoots, and it shifted again to its eventual July date partly to avoid clashing with other major releases.

How Alia Bhatt And Sharvari’s Performances Landed With Critics

Reviews of ‘Alpha’ have been largely unkind to the film as a whole, even when they single out individual performers. One review noted that Alia Bhatt’s screen presence and performance were described as the only saving graces in an otherwise forgettable film, with the actor praised for looking convincing during the action sequences. Sharvari was said to have improved her acting skills, though the same review found little else to highlight about her performance.

The rest of the cast fared worse in critical assessments. Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol and Dibyendu Bhattacharya were all described as delivering weak performances, with the review stating that almost every actor in the film looked out of place and uninterested. A separate review argued that Vikram, despite being designated the Research and Analysis Wing boss, comes across as alarmingly slow on the uptake, and noted that the more genial version of that character played by Ashutosh Rana in earlier films was sorely missed.

Hrithik Roshan’s cameo drew particular attention for the wrong reasons. One critique called it the worst cameo execution in the franchise’s history, questioning why a Research and Analysis Wing chief capable of taking down a large group of attackers alone would still send his self reliant daughters to a safe house by road. Another outlet framed the film as squandering both of its leads, arguing that a project positioned as ushering in a new era of heroines instead trapped its stars in a story that felt oddly unfeminist.

Alpha’s Box Office Collection And Early Audience Reception

Despite the mixed critical reaction, the film has not struggled commercially in its opening stretch. Alpha posted a strong opening at the India domestic box office, collecting Rs. 30.18 crore net over its first three days. That early number suggests audience curiosity around the franchise’s first attempt at female led leads remains high, even as reviews diverge sharply on quality.

Audience sentiment itself appears split rather than uniformly negative. Early reactions to the film have been described as divided, with some viewers calling it the weakest entry yet in the YRF Spy Universe. That divide mirrors the pattern seen in professional reviews, where praise for individual performers sits alongside broader complaints about writing and direction.

Some critics have also placed the film in direct comparison with recent entries in the same genre. One review argued that it is almost impossible for any Indian filmmaker attempting a spy thriller to match the standard set by the Dhurandhar franchise, and that the least audiences expect going forward is an honest effort rather than style without substance.

The Casting Controversy Surrounding Alpha

Beyond the reviews, ‘Alpha’ has also become a flashpoint for a separate conversation about how the film was marketed. Yash Raj Films’ ambitious spy thriller found itself at the center of an unexpected controversy even before its release, with online criticism arguing that its women empowerment framing amounted to lazy marketing rather than genuine substance.

Part of that criticism has centered on how the film handles its central family drama against the backdrop of espionage. One reviewer highlighted a late line from Anil Kapoor’s character telling Alia Bhatt’s character to act for her family, for herself and for the nation, arguing that the moment effectively summarizes a film that plays more like a family drama than a spy thriller.

That tension between the franchise’s action credentials and its more melodramatic instincts appears to be at the heart of why audiences and critics have not landed in the same place on this installment. Whether ‘Alpha’ ultimately reshapes how the YRF Spy Universe treats its lead characters going forward, or gets remembered mainly for its rocky rollout, may depend on how the conversation around Sita and Durga develops in the weeks ahead. What do you make of YRF’s decision to build its first female-led spy thriller around this particular family story, and does it change how you see the franchise moving forward.