Bollywood seems to be running out of ideas, and Maalik is its latest proof. With a trailer that screams desperation rather than innovation, this Rajkummar Rao-starrer lands with a loud thud — and it’s not the kind of noise you’d want from a gangster thriller. Directed by Pulkit, Maalik appears to be a failed concoction of everything audiences have already seen — and are now tired of.
From the very first frame, Maalik looks like a rejected script of KGF, Pushpa, Raees, and Vaastav, stitched together with no real vision. The trailer attempts to pass off recycled sequences as action-packed drama, but all it offers is déjà vu and boredom. Guns, goons, blood, over-the-top dialogue — we’ve seen it all, and done better. At this point, it feels like the gangster genre has been flogged beyond death, and Maalik is just the final nail in the coffin.
Rajkummar Rao, although a talented actor, seems painfully miscast. He lacks the physicality and raw charisma that a role like this demands. His final slow-mo shot where he takes on four villains is unintentionally laughable — more spoof than spectacle. Rao shines in relatable, middle-class roles — that’s how he earned his fan base. Trying to make him a massy action hero, especially in a film that lacks any solid foundation, is just not convincing.
And then there’s Manushi Chhillar. She once again proves that she may belong more on fashion runways than in front of a camera. Her performance, or the lack thereof, looks as pale and forced as in her previous flops — Prithviraj, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, and The Great Indian Family which confirmed and tagged Manushi as a "bad luck" for the industry. The trailer does nothing to mask her weak expressions, robotic delivery, and general lack of presence.
To make things worse, Maalik throws in a desperate item number featuring Huma Qureshi, which fails to add any appeal. Pulkit needs to understand that guns, blood, one item song, a story with a poor guy conquering everything is done and dusted. The film’s music too, judging from the background score and trailer cuts, is forgettable and outdated.
With a high budget, expensive action sequences, VFX-heavy scenes, and a star cast that includes Saurabh Shukla, Prosenjit Chatterjee, and Saurabh Sachdeva, the film might have hoped to build buzz. But the trailer offers nothing new — not even a hook. With this disaster now created with such a high budget where Rajkumar Rao bagged 10 Crs, it seems impossible to cover the budget up. The storyline feels done to death, the dialogues fall flat, and there’s no emotional grip. It seems that the trailer actually narrated the whole as usual story of the movie.
At a time when audiences are demanding novelty and depth, Maalik delivers noise, dust, and déjà vu. With zero excitement, low star power, and a genre that’s gasping for fresh air, Maalik seems destined to bomb — and unfortunately, it might just take Rajkummar Rao’s reputation a notch down with it.