Maalik

Maalik (2025)

मालिक

Power was his destiny... Till power tasted blood.

Set in the rural, rusty and politically charged Allahabad of the 1980s, Maalik is a peek into the making of a dreaded gangster from a humble background with intoxication of power to rule the world.

Date of release
2025-07-11
TMDB
5.9 / 10 (17)
Runtime
2h 32m
Genres
Action, Thriller, Crime, Drama
Director
Pulkit

Casting

Interesting facts

Maalik (transl. Master) is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Pulkit and produced by Kumar Taurani and Jay Shewakramani. The film stars Rajkummar Rao in the titular role, alongside Prosenjit Chatterjee and Manushi Chhillar.

Production

On 4 July 2024, it was reported that filming would commence in September 2024, with locations set in Lucknow and Varanasi. To prepare for the physically demanding role, Rajkummar Rao worked on building a more muscular physique. The muhurat shot took place on 25 August 2024 in Pathakpur village. Vikram Dahiya was roped in to design the action sequences.

Rajkummar Rao was cast in the title role, marking his second collaboration with director Pulkit after the historical drama Bose: Dead/Alive. Manushi Chhillar was cast the female lead, replacing Medha Shankr who was initially cast opposite Rao. Prosenjit Chatterjee was cast to play a police officer, marking his return to Hindi cinema nine years after Traffic (2016). The supporting cast consists of Anshumaan Pushkar and Swanand Kirkire.

Principal photography began in August 2024. The film had a continuous three-month shooting schedule, covering Lucknow, Varanasi, and Unnao. The first schedule begun in late August on the outskirts of Lucknow, along the Lucknow-Kanpur highway, featuring Rao and Chhillar. Filming also took place at Lucknow University's Subhash Hostel on 25 September 2024. The two-month Lucknow schedule concluded in mid-November 2024.

The final schedule took place in Kanpur, concluding with the protagonist's wedding sequence on 14 November 2024. Rao also performed high-intensity action sequences, including weapon-based combat and Hand-to-hand combat.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended