YRF’s first female-led Spy Universe movie, Alpha, starring Alia Bhatt and Sharvari Wagh, was released on Friday. The film also stars Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol in lead roles and has Hrithik Roshan’s cameo.
The movie has been bashed left, right and centre by critics as well as avid movie lovers. Taran Adarsh, a renowned trade expert, has slammed the movie miserably, calling it weak and giving it only 1 star.
From beachwear scenes to Alia and Sharvari flaunting their curves and giving tough competition to Disha Patani, netizens have slammed the makers for objectifying Alia and Sharvari in the Spy Universe. Many even said that Hrithik Roshan was wasted in the film, and to top it all, most of the scenes have been leaked online.
People are comparing it to Dhurandhar and are also criticising Alia’s performance in the movie.
Amid mounting trolling and criticism, on Saturday, Karan Johar took to Instagram to praise Alpha and also defend it.
He posted on his Instagram Story, “When footfalls are a challenge, ALPHA takes a solid start! It emphasises many things… the audience is way above online negativity and they are the true warriors… the stardom and theatrical pull and unquestionable talent of Alia Bhatt and the impact of a big screen spectacle is undebatable and that YRF has a continued franchise and an endeavour to create theatrical tentpole experiences that need our applause and not any toxicity! So please relax and celebrate that the cinemas are breathing!!! Go watch ALPHA and stop doom scrolling!!”
After his post, Karan faced massive backlash as he only mentioned Alia Bhatt and didn’t name Sharvari or the other cast members. This fuelled the nepotism debate further.
A user wrote, “Sharvari is also part of the film and he is only talking abt Alia she receives the hate for KJo only..”
Another wrote, “All Alia fans are also only talking about her. Completely ignoring Sharvari, so much for female-led. They can’t even support the female co-actor.”
Box office report
Alpha saw a steep fall in momentum. Early estimates from trade tracker Sacnilk reveal collections stand at ₹5 crore. This collection is from the 5,288 shows recorded.
On Day 1, Alpha opened to ₹9.25 crore net in India. While this is a decent start on paper, given the scale of the release, it did not meet the usual expectations for a YRF Spy Universe film. The movie was released across 7,534 screens nationwide. The total net collection now stands at ₹14.25 crore.
In comparison to other films in the YRF Spy Universe, Alpha has clearly started at the lower end. War 2, starring Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR, collected ₹57.85 crore on Day 2 across 18,228 shows. Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan earned ₹70.50 crore India net on its second day in 2023, while Tiger 3, starring Salman Khan, brought in ₹59.25 crore across 19,646 shows on Day 2. Against these numbers, Alpha has registered the weakest second-day collection in the franchise so far.
When compared with other recent releases, Rani Mukerji’s cop drama Mardaani 3, released earlier this year, collected ₹6.25 crore on Day 2 across 4,830 shows. Alia’s last film, Jigra (2024), also performed better on Day 2, collecting ₹6.55 crore across 5,859 shows.
