General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Code Name: Tiranga

Code Name: Tiranga is a 2022 Hindi-language espionage action thriller directed and written by Ribhu Dasgupta, starring Parineeti Chopra as an undercover RAW agent on a mission to capture a terrorist leader, with Harrdy Sandhu and Sharad Kelkar in supporting roles¹. It was released in Indian cinemas on 14 October 2022 and later streamed on Netflix¹^•². The film was a critical and commercial failure, holding a 0% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes and opening weakly at the box office³^•⁴.

Key fact	Detail
Release	14 October 2022, in cinemas; later on Netflix¹^•²
Director and writer	Ribhu Dasgupta; dialogues with Vidit Tripathi⁵
Lead cast	Parineeti Chopra (Durga Devi Singh / Ismat), Harrdy Sandhu (Dr. Mirza Ali), Sharad Kelkar (Khalid Omar)⁶
Production	T-Series Films, Reliance Entertainment, and Film Hangar; produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Ribhu Dasgupta, and Vivek B. Agrawal⁵
Runtime	134 minutes (BBFC and Australian Classification); Rotten Tomatoes lists 2h 14m⁷^•³
Critical reception	0% Tomatometer (8 reviews) and 43% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes³
Censorship	MA 15+ in Australia for strong violence; strong violence advice in the UK⁸^•⁷
Earlier title	Certified as the Hindi feature film "Agent Durga" before being retitled "Code Name Tiranga" (NOC dated 23 August 2022)⁹

Spoilers

Plot

The film follows Durga Devi Singh (Parineeti Chopra), an undercover agent of India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), operating under the alias Ismat⁶^•¹⁰. In Kabul, Afghanistan, she shares a cab with, and eventually marries, Dr. Mirza Ali (Harrdy Sandhu), a half-Indian, half-Turkish doctor, as part of a covert operation to trap the wanted terrorist Khalid Omar (Sharad Kelkar)¹⁰^•¹¹. The trap at a wedding fails and her cover is blown, forcing her to part from Ali¹⁰. A year later, when her subordinate Major Bakshi (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) is believed to have gone rogue, Durga is sent to eliminate him to protect the agency's Middle East network, an assignment that brings her face to face with her past¹⁰. A subplot involves a mole inside the Indian spy service, and Omar holds Durga responsible for the death of his wife¹².

Production

The film was presented by Gulshan Kumar and T-Series Films with Reliance Entertainment, and produced as a Film Hangar production, a joint venture between Reliance Entertainment and Ribhu Dasgupta⁵^•¹³. Its predecessor under the same banner was Dasgupta's thriller The Girl on the Train¹³.

Casting and training. Parineeti Chopra said the role marked her first opportunity to perform sustained action. She trained for about two months before the shoot; production delays from the Covid-19 lockdown compressed her preparation, and the unit left for Turkey on roughly ten days' notice, where she continued training for three to four weeks on days off¹⁴. For Harrdy Sandhu, an established Punjabi singer, the film was a further acting role after his Hindi debut in 83¹⁴.

The crew included cinematographer Tribhuvan Babu Sadineni, editor Sangeeth Varghese, music composers Jaidev Kumar and Vipin Patwa with lyrics by Kumaar, background score by Gilad Benamram, and action directors Yannick Ben and Yasin Shaikh⁵^•⁴. Filming took place in Turkey, with the story set across Afghanistan and Turkey¹⁴^•¹⁵.

Release and reception

The film was classified MA 15+ in Australia on 11 October 2022 for strong violence, with a duration of 134 minutes, and received "strong violence" advice from the British Board of Film Classification for scenes of shootings, stabbings, and interrogation threats⁸^•⁷. It opened in cinemas on 14 October 2022; the trade paper Film Information reported a very weak opening in Bombay and dull openings elsewhere⁴. It later appeared on Netflix, categorized among Hindi-language, Bollywood, action, and spy movies².

Critical response. Reception was overwhelmingly negative. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 0% Tomatometer from 8 critics and a 43% Popcornmeter from fewer than 50 audience ratings³. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave it 1 out of 5, writing that it offers "not one moment of excitement"¹⁶. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated it 1.5 out of 5, calling the gender twist at the heart of the narrative about the only facet meriting serious attention, and noting that Sandhu's character was hamstrung by sketchy writing¹⁷. India Today, also at 1.5 stars, criticized logic lapses and editing, while praising Sadineni's camerawork and Chopra's rehearsed action scenes¹⁸. Telangana Today called the depiction of RAW oversimplified and "bungling"¹⁵, and Scroll.in described the 127-minute cut it reviewed as "a deadly dull espionage thriller"¹⁹.

A later retrospective review on Girls With Guns rated it three stars as "serviceable," judging the first half stronger than a sluggish final hour, and noted an IMDb rating of 3.2 alongside largely scathing user reviews¹².

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 2020s › Hindi films of 2022

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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