Heart of Stone: Alia Bhatt’s debut is a triumph.

BySSZee Media

Aug 14, 2023

Obviously, there is always speculation about having an international actress making a debut in Hollywood. But for Netflix’s Heart of Stone, Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt showcases her versatility as she is mostly known for playing glamourous lead roles. She stars alongside Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan in this spy thriller and keeps you on your toes.

The story follows international intelligence agent Rachel Stone (played by Gadot) must embark on a dangerous mission to protect the mysterious artificial intelligence system known as “The Heart” Stone is tasked by the peacekeeping operation known as Charter to keep the object safe from falling into enemy hands.

With the success of spy thrillers, like the recent summer blockbuster Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One there’s no doubt that Netflix wants to jump on the bandwagon. However, what’s interesting is that director Tom Harper subverts the tropes by having the two leads, female. Where one is good, the other is bad. They are connected by one thing that drive their motivations in the film and that’s what drives the story forward.

The relationship between Alia’s Keya Dhawan and Gal’s Rachel Stone is reminiscent of the relationships we are used to seeing in spy thrillers where the male is the lead. However as male-led spy thrillers are about who is the ‘alpha male’, Rachel and Keya’s conflict is about the safety of the government and how they want to go about it.

Heart of Stone is the perfect Netflix watch if you fancy a spy thriller with a twist.