Key facts
- 'Alpha' stars Alia Bhatt in an action-led role
- Review argues the film panders to a 'post-Dhurandhar' action-film trend
- 'Dhurandhar' is directed by Aditya Dhar and stars Ranveer Singh
Alia Bhatt's 'Alpha' has arrived in the crosshairs of a pointed critical review, with The Indian Express arguing that the film deliberately recalibrates itself to exploit what it calls the 'post-Dhurandhar landscape' of big-budget Bollywood action cinema. The suggestion is that 'Alpha' has sacrificed a degree of originality to position itself within a commercially lucrative genre trend.
The review's framing is significant: 'Dhurandhar', the forthcoming collaboration between director Aditya Dhar and Ranveer Singh, has apparently already cast a shadow over Bollywood's production choices even before its release. That a film not yet in theatres can be cited as a defining aesthetic reference point underlines the extraordinary anticipation surrounding the Dhar-Singh project.
For Alia Bhatt, 'Alpha' represents a major genre shift — away from the character-driven dramas that made her reputation and towards the kind of muscular, high-stakes action that has dominated the Indian box office in recent years. Whether that is a savvy career move or a concession to formula is precisely the debate the review appears designed to provoke.
The broader question raised by the piece is whether Bollywood is cycling into a new phase of genre consolidation, where patriotic action films set the commercial agenda and other films reconfigure themselves accordingly. For audiences deciding whether to watch 'Alpha', the review's central claim — that the film is reacting to a trend rather than setting one — will be a meaningful consideration.