Secret Soldier

Secret Soldier is a 2026 Telugu spy thriller written, directed and produced by debutant Akki Viswanath Reddy (also credited as Akki Vishwanadha Reddy) under his Moonlight Dreams banner, with Nihal Kodhaty and Surya Srinivas in the lead roles. It was made under the title China Piece and renamed Secret Soldier after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) objected to the old title. It opened in theatres on 18 September 2026.

What the story is about

Meera Vali and Prudhvi are close friends from Nellore. Vali wants to serve the country and, after trying to join the Army, gets a chance to work as a secret agent. When a secret code goes missing during a rocket launch, suspicion falls on him, and the two friends are pulled into a conspiracy around a defence leak that they have to untangle to clear his name.

Cast

• Nihal Kodhaty as Meera Vali
• Surya Srinivas as Prudhvi
• Kamal Kamaraju as Param
• Harshitha Bandlamuri as Sarah
• Sreesha Nulu as Sheethal
• Deeksha Panth as Kanika Kapoor
• Vamsi Nekkanti as Bhakthal
• Raghu Babu, Srikanth Iyengar, Mahesh Achanta and Vadlamani Srinivas

Music and crew

Karthik Rodriguez composed the music and background score, and Suresh Ragutu is the cinematographer. Nihal Kodhaty told Cinema Express that the teaser was released in July of the previous year and that the film took many months to reach theatres.

What critics said

Cinema Express found the premise interesting but the spy set-up unconvincing, with a first half spent mostly on the friendship; it liked Surya Srinivas’s Nellore-accented humour, Suresh Ragutu’s visuals and Karthik Rodriguez’s score. The Times of India gave it 2 stars, calling it an uneven espionage drama driven by friendship and identity. Hindustan Times Telugu was warmer, describing a realistic patriotic thriller without routine commercial elements, with a slow first half and a gripping second half.

Where to watch Secret Soldier

No streaming platform or OTT date is on our records for Secret Soldier yet. The OTT box on this page shows the current status and updates when a platform lists the film.

Sources: the Wikipedia article; reviews in Cinema Express, The Times of India and Hindustan Times Telugu; the title change as reported by Cinema Express (30 August 2026); our own release records.