I’ll be honest: I came into Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam for Rajkummar Rao, and stayed because the trailer seems less interested in recreating 26/11 as spectacle and more in treating it as a legal wound that still needs to be argued. Directed by Avinash Arun and produced by Dinesh Vijan under Maddock Films, the film puts Rao in the role of the public prosecutor who took on the 26/11 terror case, with Wamiqa Gabbi, Jaideep Ahlawat and Sikandar Kher around him. It releases in theatres on 16 October.
What the trailer promises is a courtroom drama with a spine, not an action set-piece. The focus is on procedure, pressure and the burden of proving something larger than a single crime. What it holds back is just as telling: it does not hand you the full emotional arc of the victims’ families, nor does it soften the politics of the case. That withholding gives the film a slightly cold, serious charge—exactly what a story about a public prosecutor should have if it wants to be remembered beyond the opening weekend.
The one moment everyone will talk about has already arrived from the launch itself, not the edit. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stood at CSMT and said:
“Perhaps if we wanted, we could have killed Kasab. We could have shot him. But our police and our judicial system very thoughtfully showed the world that India is a state where, at least, we can take action against terrorists.”
That quote reframes the trailer’s stakes. It is not just about a conviction; it is about choosing due process and building a case that exposes state-sponsored terrorism. Fadnavis also linked Prahaar to Maddock’s Chhaava as an example of cinema carrying a message. For Rajkummar Rao, this is another real-life role in a career increasingly built on restraint and credibility. For Maddock, it is a prestige play alongside its more commercial slate—serious, political and aimed squarely at audiences who want weight with their weekend ticket.
So, honest verdict? Prahaar looks worth the ticket if you want a controlled, performance-led legal drama and if you trust Rao to hold the screen without easy heroics. The risk is that the film becomes so invested in its message that it forgets to be a film. The trailer doesn’t resolve that worry, but it does suggest enough craft and gravity to make October 16 feel like a real test.
Watch the original: Maddock Films on YouTube
Source: Hindustan Times
