Spy-thrillers have taken a back seat in today’s cinema. This is true at least in Hollywood but Hindi cinema is taking big leaps in democratizing this idea. We have decent political and spy thrillers in the Hindi cinema. While the movies such as Baby and Naam Shabana had inclination towards spy thrillers, the movies such as Madras Cafe and Raazi had the elements of drama cum political thrillers too. But, then later there was a long silence in Hindi cinema. India has been a central stage for most geopolitics being a superpower in South Asia. It is therefore important for Hindi cinema to explore these ideas more. The recent movies, Berlin and Ulajh, bring back those elements in the most crude way possible. While the latter suffers a great deal of mediocre screenplay and acting, Berlin still brings a perfect blend of screenplay, acting, and direction.  

The movie Berlin depicts the power struggle between India’s intelligence and counterintelligence agencies. The entire narrative is created as a diversion to not portray any geopolitical level clash. The story stays within the confined borders of India and never budges an inch closer to what could have been a very interesting setup for a plot. The irony is that the emphasis was given more to the screenplay and acting. The casting is perfect. Apaarshakti Khurana delivers his proven skills in the best possible way, while Rahul Bose’ adaptability is beyond perfection. However, the key highlight was in fact, Ishwak Singh. You might have noticed his skills in the series Rocket Boys where he played the role of an Indian scientist, Vikram Saarabhai. His expressions and his ease to act in a mute role is fantastic. He is a versatile actor who won’t be coming short in any role given. Though I didn’t like the story very much, it’s the acting that takes the center stage in my view. 

But, when I watched the movie Ulajh, my expectations went downhill. I couldn’t help but to notice the terrible acting performance pulled up by Jahanvi Kapoor. Her dialog delivery was poor at the level of an entrant. She neither kept up pace with the storytelling nor her body language supported the character. The script made it abundantly clear that she comes from a white collar job and has been given a bump in her career for a purpose. While this is true for the script, I felt it’s more prominent to justify her dismal acting performance. The thing is that I don’t mean that she is a terrible actor but the problem I see is that she is suitable for a certain passive kind of role. To add to the agony that I had watching it, the movie went on adding unnecessary background scores. I never felt happy or engaged while watching any of the bits. The most disturbing aspect was the character of Jacob played by Meiyang Chang. I am not sure why he was hired for the role if there was nothing in the script for him. The movie felt like a half done work. 

The interesting thing is in the storyline of both the movies. Berlin never had a decent plot but managed through its acting and screenplay. Whereas, the other movie brings back the plot in the climax. The half done part of the movie was visible so much that the makers brought the idea of developing a sequel. I am not sure if that was deliberate or the entire premise was to set the theme up for a decent sequel only.  

If you look at these two movies only from the perspective of India’s intelligence and counterintelligence, you’ll feel that the counterintelligence agency is the one always in question. For example, pick the latest series developed by Anubhav Sinha – IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack where the goof-ups done by the counterintelligence agency were highlighted in a way that created an agony among the viewers. The series, of course, is a parody on real events and sadly the intention seems to be only to a level that brings sarcasm on the screen. I could never wrap my head around the series to take it up as a drama or dark humor. In both viewpoints, the screenplay is poorly written and executed.

Coming back to our subject. The two movies had better elements to showcase and quite evidently, the makers decided to focus on what’s working with the script and what can be justified with it. Indeed, there’re improvements expected, but I think the angle where both movies leave us in the climax is likable. The movie Berlin that was touted as a spy thriller turns out to be a decent emotional drama while the other movie that tried to portray an emotional drama got turned into a spy thriller in the making. That twist is definitely exhilarating in the climax. I hope more from Hindi cinema and wish to see that they make more attempts at better geopolitical thrillers in the future.