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Opinion: How is Alia Bhatt and Sharvari’s Alpha a welcome shift in Bollywood action space?
The fact that Bollywood is willing to mount a major action entertainer with women leading the narrative is, in itself, a positive development.
For decades, Hindi cinema's biggest action spectacles and mass entertainers have revolved around male actors, while females have either been treated as eye candy or a romantic hook to the story. That said, Women in action roles are quite a rare instance in Bollywood. From larger-than-life spy action thrillers to regular mass masala, the genres have traditionally been driven by men saving the day. That's one of the major reasons why a film like Alpha feels like a welcome shift rather than just another addition to the action landscape.
What's interesting isn't that Bollywood is making a female-led action film. It's that the industry is backing one on a genuinely large scale without any compromises. Instead of treating women-led action as a niche experiment, Alpha appears to be positioning its female protagonists, Alia Bhatt and Sharvari, at the center of a mainstream entertainer.
In the recently released Alpha teaser, Alia Bhatt looked like a powerful, fierce force who is ready to take on the baddies. The teaser sparked conversations around her character and ability to pull off such an action role. The Internet is also debating the box office pull of such female-led films. But if filmmakers had waited for proven success before trying something new, many of Bollywood's most popular genres would never have evolved in the first place.
The audience's acceptance of women in action roles is also not entirely uncharted territory. Be it Katrina Kaif in the Ek Tha Tiger franchise, Deepika Padukone in Pathaan, Taapsee Pannu in Naam Shabana, or Sonakshi Sinha in Akira, the industry has seen several actresses proving themselves in the action space. Similarly, several actresses across industries have shown that audiences are more than willing to invest in female action heroes when the storytelling and execution are convincing. The issue was rarely about acceptance; it was often about opportunity and scale.
That must be somehow put in confidence in makers to mount a true-blue big-scale spy action film like Alpha. Backed by Yash Raj Films, the Shiv Rawail-directed spy actioner seems to be an honest attempt to expand the scale rather than simply repeating regular formulas. Whether the film will succeed or not is a question for release day. But the fact that Bollywood is willing to mount a major action entertainer with women leading the narrative is, in itself, a positive development.
Alpha is releasing on July 3, 2026. It will be interesting to see how the audience celebrates YRF’s first female spy universe film.
Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of Pinkvilla. No statement in this article is intended to defame, harm, or malign any individual or entity.
