Vishal Bhardwaj, Tabu and Ali Fazal go from countryside to Canada

Tabu and Ali Fazal

Vishal Bhardwaj's Khufiya has piqued curiosity since its announcement last September. While leads Tabu and Ali Fazal shot a major chunk of the espionage thriller in Delhi and Mumbai over the past few months, one hears that the cast and crew have now headed to Canada for the final schedule of the Netflix film. From Maqbool (2003) to Haider (2014), most of Bhardwaj's stories have been rooted in or adapted to the Indian milieu, thus leaving little scope to shoot in international locales. An exception was 7 Khoon Maaf (2011), a portion of which was shot in Russia. Khufiya, based on Amar Bhushan's novel Escape to Nowhere, is among the director's few foreign shoots.

A source close to the unit reveals that the final leg is set to commence soon. "Tabu and Ali left earlier this week for Canada. Vishal sir has lined up a three-week schedule, beginning with Calgary. The foreign leg was meant to happen earlier, but had to be deferred due to the third wave of the pandemic in January. Wamiqa Gabbi, who plays a key role, will also join them," says the source. The movie, revolving around an R&AW agent who is assigned to track down a mole selling India's defence secrets, is expected to drop online by the year-end.