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Franchise guide · October 2026

The YRF Spy Universe in order: every film from Ek Tha Tiger to Alpha

Hindi cinema's biggest action franchise did not start as a franchise at all. Yash Raj Films, the Mumbai studio run by producer Aditya Chopra, released three separate spy thrillers between 2012 and 2019, and only then decided to tie their heroes together. Today the YRF Spy Universe has seven films, three main agents and a fan base that stretches well beyond India. Here is every film in the order it came out, what each one adds, and where the series stands now.

The short version

There are three central agents. Tiger, played by Salman Khan, is the hero of the Tiger films. Kabir, played by Hrithik Roshan, leads the War films. Pathaan, played by Shah Rukh Khan, has one film of his own so far. Aditya Chopra has produced every film, while the directors change from film to film. Watching in release order works best, because the cameos and end scenes only make sense if you know who is turning up.

  1. 1. Ek Tha Tiger

    Released 15 August 2012 · Directed by Kabir Khan

    Starring: Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif

    The agent: Tiger (Avinash Singh Rathore), an Indian RAW agent

    Tiger is sent to Dublin on what looks like a routine watch job and falls for Zoya, a woman who turns out to be an agent for Pakistan's ISI. It is a spy film, but at heart it is a forbidden love story between two people whose countries expect them to be enemies.

    It came out on India's Independence Day as a standalone film. Nobody called it a universe yet, but Tiger and Zoya became the couple the whole series would later be built around.

  2. 2. Tiger Zinda Hai

    Released 22 December 2017 · Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar

    Starring: Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif

    The agent: Tiger and Zoya, now married

    Years after going into hiding, Tiger and Zoya are pulled back to rescue a group of Indian and Pakistani nurses held hostage by a terror group in Iraq. The plot was inspired by the real 2014 abduction of Indian nurses in Iraq.

    The idea of an Indian agent and a Pakistani agent working side by side became the series' signature. It was one of the biggest Hindi hits of its year and turned a one-off romance into a series.

  3. 3. War

    Released 2 October 2019 · Directed by Siddharth Anand

    Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff and Vaani Kapoor

    The agent: Kabir Dhaliwal, a RAW agent who appears to go rogue

    Khalid, a young soldier, is ordered to hunt down his own mentor, Kabir, after Kabir starts killing his own side. The chase crosses several countries, and the truth about Kabir's mission is held back until late in the film.

    War had no link to the Tiger films when it opened, but it was the biggest Hindi film of 2019 at the box office, grossing about ₹475 crore worldwide. Its success is what pushed Yash Raj Films to connect its spy heroes into one shared world.

  4. 4. Pathaan

    Released 25 January 2023 · Directed by Siddharth Anand

    Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham

    The agent: Pathaan, a RAW agent with no surname and a unit of second-chance agents

    Pathaan races to stop Jim, a former Indian agent turned mercenary, from releasing a lab-made virus. Rubai, a Pakistani ISI agent, keeps changing sides along the way. Midway through, Salman Khan's Tiger turns up to help.

    This is the film that made the universe official. Tiger's cameo was the first time characters crossed between films, and Pathaan went on to gross about ₹1,050 crore worldwide, the biggest result in the series so far.

  5. 5. Tiger 3

    Released 12 November 2023 · Directed by Maneesh Sharma

    Starring: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and Emraan Hashmi

    The agent: Tiger and Zoya

    Aatish Rehman, a former ISI officer with a personal grudge, takes Tiger and Zoya's son and forces them into a plot that brands them traitors. They have to clear their names while stopping a coup in Pakistan.

    Released on Diwali, it returned the favour from Pathaan: Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan arrives to rescue Tiger in a big action set piece, and a post-credits scene shows Hrithik Roshan's Kabir taking a new job, setting up War 2. It grossed roughly ₹466 to ₹470 crore worldwide.

  6. 6. War 2

    Released 14 August 2025 · Directed by Ayan Mukerji

    Starring: Hrithik Roshan, N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Kiara Advani

    The agent: Kabir Dhaliwal, now facing Vikram, a fellow agent sent to stop him

    Kabir is treated as a threat to national security, and Vikram is assigned to bring him down. The two men share a past that the film slowly reveals.

    It was reported to be the most expensive film in the series and opened big over the Independence Day holiday, but weak word of mouth and a same-day clash with Rajinikanth's Coolie hurt it. It ended at roughly ₹361 to ₹369 crore worldwide, and trade reports called it a flop. Its ending introduced the next film, Alpha.

  7. 7. Alpha

    Released 3 July 2026 · Directed by Shiv Rawail

    Starring: Alia Bhatt, Sharvari, Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol

    The agent: A young woman raised and trained as an assassin

    Yash Raj Films sold it as the origin story of a girl "raised and built to kill". Bobby Deol plays the man who raised her, and Sharvari plays the second lead.

    It is the first female-led film in the universe and the feature debut of Shiv Rawail, who made the series The Railway Men. Its release moved twice, from Christmas 2025 to April 2026 and then to July 2026. Hrithik Roshan's Kabir appears in a cameo. Critics praised the scale and the action but mostly found the script weak.

How the films connect

For its first seven years the series was really two unrelated stories: the Tiger films and War. The link came with Pathaan in 2023, when Tiger arrives in the middle of the film to help Pathaan out of a tight spot. Tiger 3 returned the favour later that year, with Pathaan rescuing Tiger, and a scene after the credits brought Kabir back to set up War 2. War 2 in turn ended by introducing Alpha, and Kabir also appears in Alpha. The thread running through several films is Colonel Sunil Luthra, the officer played by Ashutosh Rana, who hands out missions in War, Tiger 3 and War 2.

Another idea runs through the series too. Zoya in the Tiger films and Rubai in Pathaan are both Pakistani ISI agents who end up fighting alongside Indian heroes. The films are big, loud action movies, but they often come back to the same hope: that people on opposite sides can still trust each other.

The box office story

The numbers explain why the universe exists and why it is now being rethought. War was the highest-grossing Hindi film of 2019. Pathaan, about ₹1,050 crore worldwide, is one of the biggest Hindi films ever. After that, returns fell. Tiger 3 earned less than either, War 2 was widely reported as a flop despite its huge budget, and critics were lukewarm about Alpha. All figures are approximate trade estimates, and different trackers report slightly different totals.

What comes next

Two follow-ups have been talked about for years. Tiger vs Pathaan, which would put Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan at the centre of one film, was announced as a plan after Pathaan's success. In February 2026 several outlets reported that it had been put on hold over its cost, though neither Yash Raj Films nor the actors made an official statement. A Pathaan sequel has also been widely reported, but as of late October 2026 no release date has been announced. We will update this guide when there is firm news.

Where to start

If you only have time for one, start with Pathaan, which works on its own and shows the crossover idea at its best. If you want the full story, go in release order from Ek Tha Tiger. Streaming availability differs by country, so check the services in your region. For more Hindi cinema, see our top 20 Bollywood movies or the all-time blockbusters.

Sources