When the Spy Thriller is Closer to Reality
Khufiya’s espionage elements consisting of shadow work, betrayal, betrayal, frauds, and double-lives are investigated in the film. And yet, the film was also made from shadow. Emotional, introspective rest, long breaks, sickness and undiscussed sacrifices of which they are made to observe are the atractions of the film.
Vishal Bhardwaj, based in the sub-genre of tension-poetry, has defined the film as a gadgetless espionage drama, which to him, is a humanistic discourse. The above loss of the barrier, from reality to a somewhat scripted reality, because of the bearing relics of the set, and the personal histories/traumas/injuries of Tabu, Ali Fazal, and Wamiqa Gabbi from previous encounters.
A Narrative That is a Wound: a Sluggish, Piercing, Inevitable Attack
While the film’s focus is on Mehra, one of the R&AW operatives played by Tabu, the film recounts her arduous process of trying to plug and patch a leak in the agency. The animate target of Mehra is a husband leading a double scripted pyrotechnical life. The set-piece of domesticity is a charmed facade, and the wife is but a blank portrait of the polygons of surveillance and suffocation.Given the themes of betrayal, motherhood, national duty, and guilt, the story shifts from the espionage genre, focusing on the cost of loyalty, instead. It’s not the missions and the bullets that injure the deepest. It’s the espionage and spy relationships that, in the end, become neglected and unattached.
This complex range of emotions did not result solely from writing, and it was not limited to the pages. It resided and manifested in real-time, live-action.
The Silent Burden of Tabu. When a Role is More Than an Act.
In the acting world, the years spent embodying the character of Krishna Mehra must have been the perfect lesson in patience and control for Tabu. It was not a dramatic outpouring of emotions; instead, it was a gradual and subtle disappearance of emotions. The canvas of her face bore the art of a spy, and the exhaustion of years and deep loneliness was due to the overwhelming experience of being the eternal outsider, or rather, being and ever-society. The world of her internal self must have been constructed from a copious amount of effort.
In Tabu’s case, a bereavement occurred affecting Tabu’s life during production, as she had a death of a close relative shortly before filming began. Tabu had a death of a close relative shortly before filming began, and producers considered altering the shooting schedule. However, Tabu believed filming may help alleviate some of her grief, and insisted filming take place as per schedule. Eventually, during a long discussion, Krishna Vishal Bardwaj or Bhardwaj concluded that a significant number of the character’s silences, and long wordless scenes, may be attributed to Tabu’s unresolved emotional pain.
This demonstrates how grief, of an actor in real life, often aids in the grief and suffering of the tortured character. This was the case for the character in Khufiya.
A Role Interfering With True Life – Ali Fazal: Spies are cunning, and that is a fact. But, what is a parodox to being a rogue? How does one embody the ambition of a demon, rogue, and of self-doubt? What of negative denial? This is what Ali Fazal had to do – create a self-doubting charmer, demon, and double agent all in one person: Ravi.
** And Thus, This Has, To Some, Been A Joy Kill**
When dealing with the challenges Ali Fazal has, it would be enough to experience the pain of several challenges, the international weight of prestige, the pre and post breaks of civil confinement, and the contiguous block of one’s own life. Shufiya waited for him after long flights. That implies the fatigue and the suffering.
It is stated that Ali arrived on the scene of the shooting stage with a numb body and a vacant soul. And then, he seemed to approach the haphazard outlines of a chronotope to the accompaniment of howling, tragic, and turbulent strokes of a disallowed Liszt.
At some point, he developed a throat infection so severe that shooting had to stop for him. Rather, the crew had to apply to the improvisation of him shooting inside to create a layer of more proof to the character.
Creatively enough, dis-copy discomfort and that’s ultimately what living a fractured mind in the creation of Ravi had to sole.
Wamiqa Gabbi’s transformation. This is one of the many achievements in an extremely stressful environment.
Wamiqa Gabbi is now fully aware what stress is. Getting the role of Charu in Khuifia, a film debuting with big stars like Tabu and a big shot Vishal Bharadwaj, a very demanding director, is role Gabbi never had the chance to take in.
Charu is, in a sense, a quiet woman of domination. Charu goes through a radical transformation of a housewife and timid woman, to a woman of strong defiance, stunned and ruthless to the society in which she lives in. This act is very demanding in all aspects, physically and emotionally.
Because of the exhaustive practices, Wamiqa suffered injuries almost immediately after the filming of the movie began. It’s likely that, during filming of the more vigorous scenes, Wamiqa hurt her back. This meant that Wamiqa was in more pain, hence more restricted in her movement, and even though she experienced this pain, Domination of Charu showcased a more internal battle for Charu, which was her internal struggle. Everyone was in a framework of pain management, and restricted movement of their upper body, but in the character, there was pain but not in Charu, just Charu.
Wamiqa Gabbi has also mentioned that the character Charu was someone who experienced a degree of self-reflection. Particularly self-reflection on the relationships that the people in Gabbi’s life had with her, in which she felt a presence of surveillance, judgement, and condescension. This self- reflective tone was very polished in its delivery through the character.
Budget Constraints and a Determined Production
While the final cut of the film does not appear low-quality, there are those who claim the opposite and state that Khufiya had some of the most significant budget constraints. Vishal Bhardwaj Productions had to make specific stylistic budgetary choices which included smaller set designs, minimal location scouting, and an emphasis on strategic lighting and ambiance instead of costly, action-driven scenes.
One particular outdoor chase scene was removed due to budget, and it was replaced with an interior scene driven by psychological tension. Interestingly, that change added to the film’s atmosphere, as it added to the problematic surveillance claustrophobia theme.
The Art department was able to save costs in the lakhs by having to cover the location reused props and furniture, and by resetting the rooms in a way that tricked the audience. Cinematographer Farhad Ahmed Dehlvi’s minimalist lighting choices with shadows and silhouettes for storytelling were both an aesthetic choice and a necessity.
Khufiya looks like it was made with purpose and stylistic choice, and yet a huge part of the film’s intentional moodiness was just a way to work around budget constraints.
A Crew Battling Time, Weather, and the Emotionality of the Script
Key scenes in the movie were filmed in winter months in Delhi, and time winter months in Delhi are always difficult for outdoor, overnight shoots. In the freezing cold, the actors did long takes and were prompted to pass their lines. Many crew members got sick, but we were too pressed for time to be down.
Another tough and frightening thing was the ambience of the script, which gave an unusual sort of directorial serenity, and the rest of the crew were also quieter than usual. On set, Tabu silenced and lapsed in to a pensive, albeit brief, silence that was atypical of her. It was common to have light banter to break up the silence, but given the tone of the film, it was apparent that a subdued off rhythm was to be kept.
When Reel Pain and Real Pain Meet
The end product casts a shadow of melancholy which lies embroidered in the skin of the aftermath of an experience disillusioned by the fins and graces of a surface level spy thriller. All these emotions were also felt by the heads of the film in the cast, and for good reason too, as it were also heavily lived in and voyaged through in the moments they were acting.
The challenges of shooting Khufiya were equally endured tribulations. It was the challenges that were to have a shadow on the film, and to a larger extent, the performances.
It is understandable why Khufiya is not remembered as a large scale spy story once the credits roll, but as a memory that stays in the memory as a story reflective of real human experiences of its creators.
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