Alpha is a new Bollywood film with a rather elongated backstory to get through, but then these films always go on for 2-3 hours, albeit being champions for retaining the intermission… Christopher Nolan take note!
Back in 1999, the titular serum is made to give to all the men in the army, making them as strong as Universal Soldiers, to the point where they can repair their own organs, but still can’t survive a bullet to the head.
One of the two men at the top of the program, Lieutenant Colonel Vikrant Kaul (Anil Kapoor – Crew), is siring a child, but his wife, Janaki (Dia Mirza), is not having a good pregnancy. If only there was a drug out there that could help her in some form? Yes, you’re ahead of them already… but we’re told the baby didn’t survive. Roll end credits, no intermission, everyone can leave the room and… nah.
Once everything kicks off about how Alpha has been used, Vikrant’s up the creek, and his co-conspirator, Fateh Singh Lakhawat (Bobby Deol), the latter of whom is sent to a military camp in the back of the beyond while the Alpha program is shut down… only for him to continue it, anyway.
As such, after a long training program for the baby who survived and grew into a young woman, 2026 rolls round, Sita (Alia Bhatt – Heart Of Stone) is the super-soldier who kicks ass, and she’s out to kill everyone involved. Can Daddy and his dodgy friend survive?
There’s a hint of The Last Of Us, when a subplot briefly surfaces then disappears about considering extracting the resultant effects of the Alpha serum from Sita once she’s a full-grown adult, while in her facility, the modern-day computers have a dial-up modem noise from the ’90s, for no apparent reason.
Still, for all the improbability in the storyline, Alpha does have plenty of great action – including as once Sita discovers she has a twin sister, Durga (Sharvari Wagh) – albeit like Brandon and Brenda from Beverly Hills 90210 because they look nothing alike – the girls get to one safehouse, only for it to soon be ambushed by baddies… from which they escape to go tombstoning and climbing mountains for a 70-hour hike to ANOTHER safehouse… where – from another film in Yash Raj Films’ YRF Spy Universe – War 2‘s Kabir (Hrithik Roshan) is posing as a calm Sage, even though he soon joints in on the action when THIS safehouse also turns out to be anything BUT safe!
Yes, a crossover! Stick that in yer Marvel!
I’ve seen quite a few Bollywood and similar films, and while a lot of them DO test my patience, Alpha was largely great entertainment, and I can’t understand why it’s bombing faster than many of the buildings when they get destroyed. My only beef with it, was when Kabir’s turned up for his cameo, he heads off in his own direction, only to get approached by yet MORE baddies…. and it just fades to black, as we rejoin Sita and Durga? Why? Is that scene going to lead into the start of War 3? We should be told!
NOTE: There is a mid-credits scene. Check out the video below.
Alpha is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 141 minutes (plus interval)
Release date: July 3rd 2026
Studio: Yash Raj Films
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 7.5/10
Director: Shiv Rawail
Producer: Aditya Chopr
Screenplay: Shridhar Raghavan, Soumil Shukla
Music: Abeer Pandit, Rohansh Pandit
Cast:
Sita: Alia Bhatt
Durga: Sharvari Wagh (as Sharvari)
Vikrant Kaul: Anil Kapoor
Fateh Singh Lakhawat: Bobby Deol
Kabir: Hrithik Roshan
Janaki: Dia Mirza
Dr. John Varghese: Dibyendu Bhattacharya
Young Sita: Khushi Hajare
Madhur Kulkarni: Vishal Kathpal
Captain Bhupen: Sangay Tsheltrim
Dr. Preeti: Pavleen Gujral
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.