A2 hrs 23 minsReleased: 18 Sep, 2026
HindiDrama & Thriller
Daayra raises the right questions, even if its central confrontation needed sharper, more evenly matched arguments.
Cast & Crew
Daayra Movie Review: A gripping clash of morality and justice
Renuka Vyavahare
TNN, Sep 17, 2026, 12:25 PM IST
Story: A police encounter involving four accused in a young girl’s gang-rape and murder case evokes sharply divided reactions. The public celebrates it as rightful justice and closure, while the SIT (Special Investigation Team), led by DCP Ajooni Kohli (Kareena Kapoor Khan), suspects that the encounter was a planned shootout orchestrated by DCP Raman Kumar (Prithviraj Sukumaran) and his team. So, what really happened and who is right? Review: What happens when a person who is done waiting clashes with someone who keeps asking: why can’t people wait anymore? At the heart of Meghna Gulzar’s Daayra is this unsettling question, has our growing impatience, anger and obsession with urgency diminished our ability to think clearly? And when the machinery of justice moves too slowly, do ethics and morality become obstacles to efficiency? After all, life may not always be about following rules but about doing what we believe is right.Known for exploring the dualities of society and human behaviour, Meghna turns this morally fraught premise into a slow-burn police procedural that examines justice not merely through the crime itself, but through the conflicting ideas of what justice should mean.The film deliberately avoids the familiar cops-versus-criminals template. Instead, it pits two senior police officers, both convinced that they are doing the right thing, against each other.Ajooni believes the police must perform their duty within the boundaries (daayra) of the law. Raman on the other hand, is driven by a fierce sense of responsibility towards victims and their families. But where does justice end and vengeance begin? Is Raman acting out of conviction or is his anger clouding his judgment? That becomes the film’s most compelling conflict. Yet, for a debate this morally complex, the argument against Raman needed greater depth. Ajooni’s position, that the police cannot become judge, jury and executioner, however heinous the crime is fundamentally important, but the screenplay does not give her enough intellectual or emotional ammunition to match Raman’s visceral appeal. Raman’s frustration is made tangible; Ajooni’s counterargument often remains confined to the principle of procedure.The result is that the face-off between the two officers, while intriguing, could have been far more hard-hitting. The film needed to dig deeper into what happens when extrajudicial action, however satisfying or efficient, undermines the very system of justice the police are meant to uphold. What happens to accountability when the person enforcing the law decides which laws are worth following? These questions could have given Ajooni’s character greater force and made the ideological clash equal. Instead, Raman’s emotional argument occasionally overwhelms Ajooni’s legal and moral one, making the debate lopsided. What ultimately elevates the film is its moral ambiguity. Daayra does not tell you whom to root for. It presents two competing notions of justice and leaves the audience to wrestle with the uncomfortable questions themselves. Can law and order stand a chance in an age of instant gratification fueled by public outrage and media trial? Can a system that takes years to deliver a verdict expect grieving families to keep waiting? And when the law appears inadequate, does that justify taking matters into one’s own hands? The film also touches upon the contentious question of juvenile protection, particularly the debate that followed the handling of the juvenile accused in the Nirbhaya case. Should the law allow young offenders an opportunity to reform, or should the nature of the crime outweigh considerations of age and rehabilitation? Daayra does not offer easy answers. In a sea of crime thrillers, Meghna’s slow-burn police procedural is not a conventional whodunnit, but a clash of opposing perspectives. Ajooni and Raman are two officers who believe they are serving the public yet fundamentally disagree on what that service demands. That ambiguity gives Daayra its edge, even if the screenplay could have pushed the ideological confrontation further. The premise is compelling, and Meghna translates its central argument into a gripping thriller without reducing it to a simplistic moral binary.Prithviraj Sukumaran steals the show with a remarkably intense and restrained performance. He uses a polite smile to conceal the explosive anger simmering underneath, an anger seemingly triggered by the normalisation of crimes against women. It is a performance that makes Raman’s conviction believable without making his methods easy to endorse. Kareena Kapoor Khan is pleasant, however, struggles to shed her quintessential Bebo persona. After the grounded restraint of The Buckingham Murders, she appears dramatic here, particularly in some of the dialogue-heavy moments, which sit awkwardly within an otherwise gritty and realistic film. The actors playing Raman’s special squad, including Jitendra Joshi and Trupti Khamkar, are pitch perfect. Khamkar, in particular, gets a thrilling and brutal chase sequence that emerges as the film’s finest set piece. Kshitee Jog is equally effective.Ultimately, Daayra is less interested in asking who committed the crime than in asking what we are willing to accept in the name of justice. It examines the uncomfortable space between law and morality, procedure and closure, patience and rage. It raises the right questions, even if its central confrontation needed sharper, more evenly matched arguments.
Videos
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Daayra – Official Trailer
19 days ago02:20
Daayra – Official Malayalam Trailer
18 days ago
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