Daayra Movie Review | Anupama Chopra | THR India

Anupama Chopra reviews Daayra, directed by Meghna Gulzar and starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran. The crime drama follows two police officers with opposing ideas of justice: DCP Raman Kumar investigates a brutal crime, while DCP Ajooni Kohli leads an inquiry into the police killing of the accused.

Through parallel timelines, Meghna examines the uneasy boundaries between law, morality and violence, and a system that repeatedly fails women. Anupama finds the first hour gripping and disturbing, with sharp editing and moments of devastating emotion. But the film becomes increasingly weighed down by its arguments:

Kareena and Prithviraj are excellent actors playing characters who often feel more like positions in a debate than fully realised people. The heroic framing of vigilante justice also complicates its claim to moral ambiguity. The THR Bottomline: Daayra raises pertinent, troubling questions, but is in equal parts powerful, heavy-handed and dry. Daayra releases in theatres on September 18.