Bollywood has just discovered spy comedies, but the problem is that it ain’t Johnny English. Films such as Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos and Vibe are trying to make spies funny, but the genre is yet to take off.
Our spies can blow up Pakistan, save the country, and fight an army of villains, but making audiences laugh at them seems to be a different mission altogether.
Bollywood’s spies take themselves too seriously
The problem is that Bollywood treats its spies like superheroes. They must look cool, deliver punchlines, beat up ten men at once, and save the nation before the interval. Nobody expects them to make a fool of themselves.
But that is precisely what makes Johnny English (2003) work. Rowan Atkinson, better known as Mr Bean, plays a spy so incompetent that you wonder how he got the job in the first place. In Get Smart (2008), Steve Carell plays an eager but inexperienced agent whose clumsiness repeatedly complicates his missions.
Bollywood needs a star willing to look stupid on screen. Imagine Akshay Kumar playing a clueless spy with the same over-the-top energy he brought to Rowdy Rathore (2012). That could make for a proper entertainer. A similar film starring Vir Das or Kunal Khemu might earn critical appreciation, but getting the same audience into theatres could be a challenge. It is not necessarily about who is funnier. It is about who can bring in the crowds.
Bollywood has done comedy, but can it laugh at its spies?
Shah Rukh Khan’s Baadshah (1999) showed that Indian audiences could enjoy a mix of comedy, action and suspense. He played a private detective rather than a spy, but the film worked because it never took itself too seriously.
Of course, casting a superstar is not enough. Hollywood has spent decades building audiences for genres ranging from science fiction and crime thrillers to apocalyptic films and superhero adventures.
Bollywood, meanwhile, is still figuring out what works beyond its familiar formulas. Horror comedy, for instance, has become a commercial success through films such as Stree (2018) and Maddock Films’ horror-comedy universe. Audiences have shown they are willing to watch something different when filmmakers get it right.
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Spy thrillers are thriving. What about spy comedies?
Spy films, meanwhile, have become a major part of Bollywood’s commercial landscape. The success of Dhurandhar (2025) shows how much audiences enjoy espionage stories. But filmmakers often return to the same formula: a dangerous mission, a Pakistani villain, and a hero who can take down an entire army without messing up his hair.
This is where Ayushmann Khurrana’s upcoming film, Udta Teer could offer something different. Its premise involves a Pakistani soldier who loses his memory and starts believing he is an Indian soldier. The situation has obvious potential for comedy, mistaken identities, and absurd twists. The Pakistan connection also gives the film a familiar hook for Indian audiences. And Khurrana still has the common-man star power that could help sell such a story.
The hero has to be the joke
No one knows whether spy comedies will work in Bollywood. But filmmakers need to understand one thing: a spy comedy cannot simply be an action film with a few jokes thrown in. The spy himself has to be funny, and that means letting a superstar drop the carefully cultivated aura around his persona.
He should fail, panic, make terrible decisions, and despite all of that, save the day.
Edited by Maryam Hassan