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Raazi

Raazi (transl. Agreement/Secretive) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language spy thriller film directed by Meghna Gulzar and produced by Vineet Jain, Karan Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar and Apoorva Mehta under the banners of Junglee Pictures and Dharma Productions. It stars Alia Bhatt, alongside Vicky Kaushal, Rajit Kapur, Shishir Sharma, and Jaideep Ahlawat. The film is an adaptation of Harinder Sikka's 2008 novel Calling Sehmat, a true account of an Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent who, upon her father's request, is married into a family of military officers in Pakistan to relay information to India, prior to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

Principal photography began in July 2017 in Mumbai and concluded on 27 October 2017. It was shot across several locations including Patiala, Nabha, Malerkotla and Doodhpathri.

Raazi was released on 11 May 2018. Made on a budget of 350 million (US$4.1 million), Raazi went on to gross 195.75 crore (US$23 million) worldwide, emerging as one of the highest-grossing Indian films featuring a female lead. It was also a critical success, with Meghna's direction and Bhatt's performance receiving praise. At the 64th Filmfare Awards, Raazi received 15 nominations and won a leading 5 awards (tying with Andhadhun), including Best Film, Best Director (Gulzar) and Best Actress (Bhatt).

Preceding the Bangladeshi War of Independence, 1971, Hidayat Khan is an Indian intelligence agent posing as an informant for the Pakistani military. Presenting as an Indian traitor trading secrets to Pakistan, he cultivates a friendship with Brigadier Parvez Syed of the Pakistan Army and is alerted of an operation planned against India. Fearing he will not live long enough to uncover further details due to his lung cancer, he asks his 20-year-old daughter Sehmat, a student at Delhi University, to become an undercover agent of the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency, in Pakistan through an arranged marriage with Syed's younger son, Major Iqbal, a Pakistani military officer. Sehmat joins the RAW and is trained by senior RAW officer Khalid Mir and his assistant, Nikhil Bakshi. Despite her youth and inexperience, Sehmat is a quick study, surprising her superiors with her acumen for intelligence work. After her marriage, she moves to their home with Iqbal in Rawalpindi, the Pakistan Army's headquarters. Sehmat wins the trust of the entire family except Abdul, Syed's trusted servant. A kind man, Iqbal is patient with Sehmat, frequently apologising to her for his father's denigration of India. Feelings develop between them leading to consummation of their marriage, and they start falling in love. Despite her feelings, Sehmat remains true to her mission and establishes communication channels with her handlers back in India, relaying information.

Brigadier Syed is promoted to Major General, resulting in crucial documents and members of their defense forces passing through his house. Sehmat relays information on the planning of an offensive against India, which points to a planned attack by a Pakistani submarine on the Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, then deployed in the Bay of Bengal. Abdul discovers Sehmat's communication tools in her bathroom and realises she is an Indian spy. He rushes off to tell Syed, forcing Sehmat to run him down with an army jeep, causing a heavy emotional toll on her. Abdul tries to reveal Sehmat's name in the hospital before he dies, and Iqbal's older brother, Mehboob, starts an investigation. Before he can provide his information to the ISI, Pakistan's internal security agency, Sehmat reluctantly kills him by injecting him with poison. Realising her cover is about to be blown, Mir visits her in disguise and conveys to her an escape plan from Pakistan. Later, Iqbal finds the communication tools concealed in Abdul's room alongside a piece of an anklet he had given Sehmat as a wedding gift, discovering her secret.

Heartbroken, he confronts Sehmat, who tearfully holds him at gunpoint and tells him her duty is to her country. Before their confrontation can escalate, Mehboob's young son, whom Sehmat had been tutoring to sing a patriotic song for his school's annual Army Day celebration, rushes in, giving her a chance to get away. Realising her duty requires her to kill both the boy and her driver to prevent them from discovering her identity, she walks away and arrives at the meeting point concealed in a burqa. Iqbal confronts her there, having notified the ISI, but when Mir spots them, he orders his undercover RAW team to shoot Sehmat and throws a grenade, killing both Sehmat and Iqbal. Mir and his team escape to a safe house, where the real Sehmat shows up, revealing the woman who died in the blast with Iqbal was another secret agent she had switched places with before Iqbal caught up to her. Traumatised by her husband's death and Mir's orders to kill her, Sehmat returns with the RAW team to her hometown. She faints shortly after arriving and later discovers she is pregnant, deciding to keep Iqbal's child.

Newsreel footage reveals the Indian Navy was able to sink the Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi before it could carry out its planned attack on the INS Vikrant with the assistance of Sehmat's findings. In the present-day, Indian Army officer Lieutenant General Nikhil Bakshi addresses a group of officers and soldiers of tri-services and also cadets of NDA, including officer Colonel Samar Syed, aboard the Indian aircraft carrier INS Viraat, off the coast of Visakhapatnam. Colonel Samar Syed is revealed to be Iqbal and Sehmat's son. Sehmat Khan's sacrifices are remembered. The movie ends with a bungalow shown in an unknown location where a now-elderly Sehmat is living under security but alone.

Since 2014, Priti Sahani, president of Junglee Pictures, was trying to acquire the film rights to Harinder S. Sikka's 2008 novel Calling Sehmat, which details the true story of an Indian woman secret agent married to a Pakistani army officer to provide the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) with confidential information prior to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. During the production of Talvar (2015), she got in touch with Meghna Gulzar and enquired if she was interested in directing a film adaptation of the novel. Meghna agreed but was informed a few months later that the film didn't materialize. In February 2016, she was approached by another producer to adapt the same novel, and she agreed again, thinking it was "a tad serendipitous" to be offered the same project twice.

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