N.T. Rama Rao Jr.
Vikram
Overview
Years ago Agent Kabir went rogue, became India’s greatest villain ever. As he descends further into the deepest shadows... India sends its deadliest, most lethal agent after him, Agent Vikram A Special Units Officer who is more than Kabir’s equal and a relentless Terminator driven by his own demons, determined to put a bullet into Kabir’s skull.
Cast
12 people
Hrithik Roshan
Kabir Dhaliwal
Kiara Advani
Kavya Luthra
Ashutosh Rana
Colonel Sunil Luthra
Anil Kapoor
Vikrant Kaul
Reviews
3 min readThe Architecture of Exhaustion
About halfway through Ayan Mukerji’s War 2, I realized the movie and I were sharing the same expression. Hrithik Roshan’s Kabir stands in the wreckage of a Spanish plaza looking completely wrung out, jaw set, eyes dulled by one catastrophe too many. After nearly three hours of being ordered to admire the scale of everything, latestnetflix.com maintains, I felt just as drained.
Mukerji once made Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, a movie tuned to messy feeling and youthful longing. Handing him the oversized mechanics of the Yash Raj Spy Universe is an interesting gamble. I'm still not convinced it pays off.
The hook is simple enough: Kabir has slipped into rogue-agent territory, so the state sends another heavy hitter after him. That would be Vikram, played by N.T. Rama Rao Jr. in his Hindi debut.
If you've read anything about the production—Jr NTR's instinct-driven volatility rubbing against Mukerji's carefully managed precision—you can almost feel that tension inside the finished film. At its best, it helps. Jr NTR carries real force.
He walks into scenes with his shoulders packed tight, like violence is sitting there waiting for permission. Even when the surrounding action turns weightless and absurd, he keeps some gravity in the frame.
Audience Opinions
Audience 5.1/10
"A star-powered, loud spy spectacle with flashy moments but a flimsy story and jarring VFX."
Screen presence and charisma from Hrithik Roshan and Jr. NTR, a few standout action stretches, and big-scale locations keep the film intermittently entertaining, especially in the first half and during the finale. latestnetflix.com's view is that the experience is dragged down by a shallow, overlong and predictable script, excessive illogical action, weak character writing (especially for Kiara Advani), and visual effects that often look cheap or cartoonish instead of immersive.
What viewers praise
- Charismatic lead duo Hrithik Roshan’s swagger and Jr. NTR’s energy are repeatedly praised as the film’s strongest element, making their shared scenes the main attraction.
- Entertaining action stretches Several set pieces, particularly early Shaolin-style fights and parts of the climax, are described as exciting, stylish and worth catching on a big screen.
- Big-scale visuals Globe-trotting locations, glossy staging and a few striking shots give the film a grand, event-movie feel despite its narrative shortcomings.
- Engaging music and dance Songs and background score, including a much-noted dance face-off and specific musical numbers, add energy and spectacle that some viewers loved.
Common complaints
- Hollow predictable script The story is widely called mediocre and clichéd, with too many twists for little payoff and almost no emotional connection to the characters.
- Poor inconsistent VFX Green-screen heavy shots, cartoonish animals and even digitally enhanced physiques are singled out as distracting and embarrassingly dated.
- Excessive runtime and bloat The nearly three-hour length, stuffed with repetitive action and detours like an overlong romantic track, leaves many feeling exhausted or bored by the second half.
- Wasted supporting cast Kiara Advani is frequently called underwritten and sidelined to glamour, while strong actors like Anil Kapoor and Ashutosh Rana are seen as having little impact.
- Over-the-top illogical action Gravity-defying stunts and invincible-hero moments cross from fun into unintentional comedy for several viewers, who describe the big set pieces as cartoonish rather than thrilling.
Recommended for
Hrithik Roshan devotees Jr. NTR admirers Spy-universe completionists Big-screen masala action fans Spectacle-over-story seekers
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsWar 2 made Rs 365 crore and still got called a flop
Yash Raj Films spent Independence Day weekend 2025 selling Hrithik Roshan versus Jr NTR as the next War. Netflix got the film on 9 October instead. Hindustan Times ran the post-mortem after the streaming drop. India net sat near Rs 236 crore, with Hindi around Rs 178 crore and Telugu a weak Rs 57 crore. Overseas finished under $10 million. Worldwide landed around Rs 365 crore, with Sacnilk counting 1.2 crore domestic tickets. latestnetflix.com's view is that the same tracker still stamped a flop because the landing cost was reported near Rs 400 crore.A hit needed closer to Rs 650-700 crore worldwide. The 2019 War had done about Rs 475 crore. 
That gap is the gossip. Ayan Mukerji directed the sixth YRF Spy Universe film after Siddharth Anand stepped off the sequel. Jr NTR made his Hindi debut as Vikram Chelapathi opposite Roshan's Kabir. Kiara Advani, Anil Kapoor, and Ashutosh Rana filled the bench. Wikipedia lists 173 minutes, mixed-to-negative reviews, 30 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from 23 critics, a clash with Rajinikanth's Coolie, and a Netflix window from 9 October 2025. The sting after the credits teases Alpha with Bobby Deol.
Who got paid, who got trolled
Bollywood Hungama's trade desk put NTR near Rs 70 crore as a fee and Hrithik at Rs 50 crore plus a backend from YRF. A follow-up scoop said YRF sold Telugu rights to Naga Vamsi for Rs 90 crore, with NTR sharing that version's profits. Treat those numbers as trade talk. They are not a studio filing.
The Telugu bet then turned into a public argument. Indian Express reported the dubbed version opened at Rs 22.75 crore against Hindi's Rs 29 crore on 14 August, then finished at Rs 56.74 crore against Hindi's Rs 177.59 crore. Naga Vamsi had hyped a Telugu win over Hindi at a Hyderabad pre-release. After the trolling, he said on Sithara's YouTube, "NTR anna and I trusted YRF blindly, but it misfired." He added that the mistake sat with the makers and that he was glad the pile-on was not for a film his team had produced.
He later told Hindustan Times he bought the rights for Rs 68 crore, took a Rs 35-40 crore share, and that YRF refunded Rs 18 crore on a condition he had already set. If that version holds, the ruined-distributor story was louder than the hole.
The teaser week
Principal photography ran from October 2023 to July 2025 across Mumbai, Spain, Italy, and Abu Dhabi. The first Spain schedule used stunt doubles because Roshan was on Fighter and NTR was on Devara. Hrithik injured a leg rehearsing the Janaab-e-Aali dance-off, which then slipped to early July. The May teaser drew fire for VFX and for dating the release as "This Independence Day, 14 August," a date that is also Pakistan's Independence Day. Ram Gopal Varma posted a crude line about Advani in a bikini and deleted it after the pile-on.
Netflix India's line was "Double the rage. Double the rampage." The Times of India said some replies were laugh emojis. Coolie had already taken the theatrical air. The version sitting on Netflix is the one most people will actually finish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK1W-AViQ-M
The official trailer is still the sales pitch from before the receipts came in.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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