File not found
latest-review

Daayra Review: Kareena Kapoor, Prithviraj Film Explained

Daayra Review: Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran lead Meghna Gulzar's crime thriller. Know the story, cast, rating and whether it is worth watching.
By
✦ AI Summary

Table of Content

What happens when the very people meant to uphold the law start believing the law itself isn't enough?

That's the uncomfortable question at the heart of Daayra, and this Daayra review is here to tell you whether Meghna Gulzar's latest crime thriller movie actually earns the weight it's carrying.

daayra review

Movie Details

Movie Name

Daayra

Release Date

18 September 2026

Lead cast

Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran

Language

Hindi

Genre

Crime Thriller

Director

Meghna Gulzar

Producer

Vineet Jain and Dhaval Gada

Writer

Yash Keswani, Sima Agarwal, and Meghna Gulzar

Music Composer

Amit Trivedi

Cinematography

Saurav Goswami

Editor

Charu Shree Roy

Budget (approx.)

N/A

Rating

3/5

What Is the Story of Daayra Movie?

Daayra opens with a crime brutal enough to shake public conscience - a young woman is assaulted and killed, and her burnt body is eventually found, sparking widespread outrage. DCP Raman Kumar, played by Prithviraj Sukumaran, tracks down four men accused of the crime. All four end up dead in what's officially recorded as a police encounter.

To a lot of people, that encounter feels like justice is finally being served. But questions start piling up almost immediately. Was this really a spontaneous shootout, or did the police cross a line they shouldn't have? That's where DCP Ajooni Kohli, played by Kareena Kapoor Khan, enters the picture. She's put in charge of a Special Investigation Team formed to look into the encounter, and as she digs deeper, the official version of events starts falling apart.

Rather than setting up a simple hero-versus-villain story, this crime thriller movie builds its entire narrative around a conflict between two officers who genuinely believe they're doing the right thing, just from opposite ends of the law. Ajooni represents procedural discipline; Raman represents swift, unforgiving justice. Neither is painted as simply right or wrong, and that refusal to pick a side is really what drives the film forward.

One exchange from the film's climax sums up the whole conflict perfectly. Ajooni tells Raman there's a boundary the law operates within, and that she works inside it. Raman's blunt reply: he doesn't. That single moment captures exactly what this crime thriller movie is trying to say about the line between law and personal conscience.

Daayra Cast

Kareena Kapoor Khan leads this movie as DCP Ajooni Kohli, playing the role with restraint rather than the usual aggressive cop energy audiences are used to seeing on screen.

Also Read: The Revolutionaries Review, Cast, Story, Rating & OTT Details

Prithviraj Sukumaran plays DCP Raman Kumar, and this marks the very first time the two actors have shared screen space together.

The supporting cast includes Achint Kaur and Kanwaljit Singh in smaller roles, along with Trupti Khamkar, who plays a tough, no-nonsense policewoman. Interestingly, this isn't the first time Khamkar and Kareena Kapoor Khan have played cops opposite each other - they previously shared screen space in the film Crew, though in a very different, lighter setting compared to this one.

Kareena Kapoor's Daayra Review: What Works and What Doesn't

Here's a quick breakdown of where this crime thriller movie hits the mark, and where it stumbles a little.

What works:

  • Prithviraj Sukumaran delivers a genuinely superb performance, especially in a pivotal interval-point scene where his character's outlook visibly begins to shift.
  • The moral conflict at the film's core, whether extrajudicial killing can ever be justified, is handled with real nuance rather than easy answers.
  • Meghna Gulzar's direction keeps the focus firmly on accountability, law, and conscience, echoing the same discomfort she built so well in Talvar.
  • The film is based on true events, which gives its themes a grounded, uncomfortably real weight rather than feeling like a distant, fictional drama.

Also Read: Haiwaan Review: Is Akshay Kumar-Saif Ali Khan’s Thriller Worth Watching?

What doesn't work:

  • Kareena Kapoor Khan's character, Ajooni, feels somewhat underwritten given how central she is to the plot, and a couple of reviews note her performance comes across as slightly restrained to the point of feeling artificial.
  • Supporting actors like Achint Kaur and Kanwaljit Singh are given very little to work with, and one scene involving Kaur feels oddly staged.
  • The pacing drags in a few stretches across its 143-minute runtime.
  • A subplot hinting that the central case might not be an isolated incident feels underexplored and could have added more depth if pushed further.

Daayra Review - Audience POV

As the movie was released in cinemas, fans are pouring in their reviews on social media. Let’s see what fans are saying:

A user wrote, “Daayra is DISAPPOINTING FILM. With films like Omkara, LaalSinghChaddha, and TheBuckinghamMurders, actress #KareenaKapoorKhan got to explore a lot more about herself.”

Another wrote, “Honestly, I have no idea what *Daayra* was trying to say. The plot is painfully slow, predictable and unnecessarily confusing, eventually building up to a climax that feels completely absurd.”

Should You Watch It?

If you enjoy a crime thriller movie that refuses to hand you easy answers and instead makes you sit with genuine moral discomfort, Daayra is absolutely worth watching. It's not a fun, popcorn kind of watch, and it's not meant to be. Meghna Gulzar has clearly built this film to unsettle its audience rather than entertain them in the traditional sense.

If you're looking for a fast-paced, purely thrilling cop drama, though, you might find some portions slower than expected. But as a Kareena Kapoor's movie built around heavy themes and strong central performances, it delivers more than enough to justify a watch.

Daayra Release Date

Daayra marks the first-ever on-screen collaboration between Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran, and it comes from director Meghna Gulzar, known for tackling similarly murky moral territory in Talvar and Raazi. The film released in theatres on September 18, running at 143 minutes, and much like Gulzar's earlier work, it draws directly from real incidents that have repeatedly made headlines in India, rather than presenting a purely fictional scenario.

For fans tracking Kareena Kapoor's movie choices over the years, this is a notable shift toward heavier, socially conscious storytelling, placing her alongside some of Bollywood's more thoughtful crime thriller movie releases in recent memory.

Daayra doesn't try to make justice look simple, and that's exactly its biggest strength - backed by Prithviraj Sukumaran's standout performance and Meghna Gulzar's unflinching direction, it's a crime thriller movie that lingers with you well after the credits roll.

You May Also Like

Latest Web Series
Shaque Chumbak Operation Safed Sagar

Bharti

Content Writer

Bharti is a skilled content writer with over 5 years of professional experience creating engaging and high-quality content for diverse audiences. She specializes in crafting informative articles, blog posts, and web content that resonates with readers and drives results.



Article You May Like