- Date of Release: 11 July 2025
- Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Language: Hindi
- Watch On: Theatres Only
Maalik
Introduction
You actually know that the film presented is such a snoozefest when there is a lack of creativity even in the reviews. These films are slightly different from trashy ones like Naadaniyan (2025) that atleast double up as a garbled meme fest, the humour in which is definitely reflective in the reviews. But some films are nothing bit stalemates – wherein neither is the writing interesting nor is the creativity in the reviews for it. They just remain long and meandering without offering any novelty for the viewers or reviewers (BUT AS ALWAYS, WE HAVE FOUND A WAY OUT, LOL). And the new Hindi film Maalik falls in this category. This is because the events in Maalik are so stale, that they resemble an Indian sweet kept in the open even for flies refusing to consume it. The film remains a live version of a cricket team blocking everything, and refusing to go for the kill. Ironically, there are kills in Maalik but none of them have a burning intensity like the ones you would generally witness in a film like City Of God (2002) or Gangs Of Wasseypur (2012).
In fact, the basic filmmaking is so basic that it would make the Malegaon Ke Superboys (not the film but the original folks on which the film is based) look like Spielbergs or Tarantinos, who atleast made violence terrifying or laced with humour respectively. I couldn’t help but feel like an AI version who is trained to screen through the mess, so much so that I am now immune to it, while gently floating in sleep mode every now and then. But even if I were to wake up, the simplistic proceedings of Maalik would ensure that I have missed nothing at all in the film.
Story & Screenplay
The most interesting aspect of Maalik remains its structure that just wouldn’t change, even if I were to juggle the events of the film. It wouldn’t matter if the cold open featuring an injured Maalik (Rajkummar Rao) refuses to budge by pulling out his two AK 56, in order to shoot a convoy lead by inspector Prabhu Das (Prosenjit Chatterjee), who in turn is more interested in cracking lame Bollywood jokes. It wouldn’t even matter if the movie were to follow the trail as an origin gangster story wherein a young football freak Deepak (That’s Raj’s character name too) would avenge the attack of a middleman by literally bumping him off and taking the mantle of ‘Maalik’, against the wishes of a local Minister Shankar Singh (Saurabh Shukla). The point being, there is a palindrome-quality of the screenplay that is so basic and so predictable that even changing the structure wouldn’t have saved it. But who would be willing to break that to the filmmakers who added a flashback within a flashback to add ‘layers’ to the proceedings. Oh my stomach hearts after laughing hysterically….
There are a few convenient twerks to the writing. For instance, the era of the late 80s and early 90s of UP may only be an allibi of sorts given how you cannot stage this gangster saga in a modern setup. There isn’t any rhyme or reason to this cause – Maalik isn’t a true story neither does the era in which it is set, offer anything new. But the setting itself adds to the staleness of the drama – the 90s give it an even more dated look irrespective of how anyone would want to argue on the accuracy of the gangwars back in the day. That remains besides the point anyway when you choose convenience over actually dynamics between the characters.
One of the reasons why gangster films like the Malayalam one titled Malik (2021) or even Satya (1998) worked tremendously was the willingness of the makers to create a gangster saga that heavily would focus on the character dynamics or the politics in their films. It almost made the protagonist a fulcrum of sorts while building the world and the characters around him that offer a cerebral outlook to the film. But for Maalik, it remains the opposite. The issue remains on focusing on bloodshed and a million bullets as opposed to drawing dynamics from characters around it, that just feel basic or extremely staged. None of the characters – be it Shankar Singh or his second in command Balhar Singh (Swanand Kirkire) or Maalik’s direct nemesis Chandrashekhar (Saurabh Sachdeva) have any impact, given how one-dimensional they remain with their motives. This holds true even for Prabhu Das who suddenly disappears from the fray based on the convenience of the writing.
Just to give you an outlook of the structure – there is an entire love angle featuring Maalik’s wife Shalini (Manushi Chhilar) that is incorporated in the mix, one with an intention to make him turn over a new leaf. And you do know that when a character gets this much screen time, then fate or should I say stale writing gets the better of it in the subsequent reels. In between there is also an item number that it forcefully integrated, and has no relevance to the plot whatsoever. Hell, even the chatacters that are hungry for revenge are exchanging pleasantaries in a few scenes, almost making it inexplicable on why they aren’t going for each other’s throat.
And what should I even say about the final act. The writing is so lazy that it makes the characters stupid at the end. A late twist introduces us to a new dynamic between two characters, but the fate of one of the two characters isn’t even met with. Even the cops are shown to be these middle-aged dimwits with pot-belly that just don’t wish to check if Maalik has died or not in an encounter, almost leaving it to fate. It was laughable how the makers had a fetish about its second part while refusing to close down the threads here. And that laziness defined the screenplay here that is so lame that you wouldn’t mind napping during the film that forces you to hit the snooze button!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are sketchy, and immediately forgettable. There aren’t lines like ‘UP ka King Kaun’ while sneakily wanting to gain popularity points when a random character repeats the word ‘Dabangg’ on loop. The music is poor and has no relevance in the screenplay, even from a emotional perspective that the film never dwells in. The BGM is artificially pulsating, meaning it tries hard to create moments of intrigue but woefully fails. It makes you admire guys like Anirudh and Sushin Shyam even more who had understood their individual assignments in films like Jailer (2023) and Bheeshma Parvam (2022) respectively, while delivering bangers!
The cinematography is basic and while the 90s era is represented decently, the display of gore and action leaves a lot to be desired. Remember Marco (2024) and how it went all in with the gore and violence? Here all you get is a million bullets being fired that resembles an ej*culation more than a f*replay. The editing uses the pattern of individual segments to assimilate the drama, and as I had said, the structure is hardly a matter of relevance here. Director Pulkit is usually a safe director with films like Bhakshak (2024) and Dedh Bigha Zameen (2024) to his credit, but I couldn’t help but feel that this remained a case of lazy filmmaking too. His skills were basic, something that never elevated the drama beyond its written material, and that is what was lacking here. There was no fizz to the filmmaking that seemed a stalemate too, and it further impacted the drama while pushing it towards being a snoozefest.
Performances
The performances are good but none of the actors holistically standout due to such poor arcs that are presented to each of them. Saurabh Shukla as Minister Shankar Singh is pretty solid but hardly makes a mark in the screenplay that refuses to give his character much importance. Manushi Chhilar as Shalini is sincere and earnest while atleast leaving a mark in a male-dominated universe. Swanand Kirkire as Balhar Singh is a character that directly seems like an extension of his other character from Panchayat (2025), and he does a competent job. Saurabh Sachdeva as Chandrashekhar hams his way through the role, while also being repetitive with the characterization of films that he is a part of. It is time to reflect and reinvent himself now!Prosenjit Chatterjee as Prabhu is hardly there in the film (all the more because of the marketing material pitting him against the protagonist is never really explored). His character almost felt like a caricature on the lines of Bhairon Singh (Fahadh Faasil) from Pushpa 2 (2024) that never really finds ground in the narrative. Anshumaan Pushkar as Badaun is sincere and hits all the right notes with his expressions and body language.
I feel sorry for Rajkummar Rao who is such a fine actor but woefully boxed with a certain kind of a character in his filmography. It is usually the small-town protagonists that he has been essaying for a while, and Maalik remains no difference. No doubt he is pretty solid here, and does a good job but this character required an even more energy from within (reflecting in his eyes or body language) to tear out of its lacklustre writing and make an impact. The understated approach was never going to make a resounding impact here because the writing was poor. And that remained the overall issue with his performance that still was good (but not great).
Conclusion
Maalik boasts of a stale screenplay and lazy filmmaking packaged in a drama that successfully hits the snooze button. But on the other hand, this drama can be a cure for your insomnia too! There is always a brighter side to a bad film, afterall! Available in a theatre near you.