Prahaar Movie Review: Rajkummar Rao Shines In A Powerful Retelling Of Ujjwal Nikam’s Fight For Justice!
Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam Movie Review Rating:
Star Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Wamiqa Gabbi, Jaideep Ahlawat, Lalit Prabhakar, Sikandar Kher, Ashish Vidhyarthi, Ritvik Rathore
Director: Avinash Arun
What’s Good: The construction of the screenplay and its emotional layers, along with the direction, performances, and more
What’s Bad: At 140 minutes, the film still feels too short!
Loo Break: Never!
Watch or Not?: silly question! Of course, a must-watch!
Language: Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 140 Minutes
User Rating:
The story opens with Ujjwal Nikam (Rajkummar Rao), a simple Maharashtrian from Jalgaon, who becomes known after he triumphs as a public prosecutor in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. Later, after 26/11 happens, he is again appointed as public prosecutor in the case against the only terrorist captured alive—Ajmal Amir Kasab (Lalit Prabhakar). The trial lasts long, but the tough lawyer does not relent. After all, his mission is not just the harshest punishment for a man he describes as an enemy of the nation but also a dedicated mission to prove—to the world! —that it was Pakistan’s leaders and the ISI, as well as the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, that were behind the conspiracy.
Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam Movie Review: Script Analysis
Writer Sumit Roy (with Vishal Tiwari handling additional screenplay and story, and Dushyant Arora as additional dialogue writer and researcher) does an immaculate and fantastic job.
Within the ambit of the court case, we see Ujjwal dealing with family issues. He comes to know of his wife, Jyoti (Wamiqa Gabbi’s), illness late, and the realization that he emotionally neglected his family due to a childhood base. His US-returned son, Aniket (Ritvik Sahore), wants to assist him and later comes to scoff at his workaholism at the cost of his family.
The writing seamlessly blends this with Ujjwal’s relentless endeavor to get Kasab indicted, and only occasionally does his guard slip in court. The script enters deeper layers from the very beginning. Ujjwal argues with his Pakistani (visiting delegation) counterparts about why India will not give special preference to its own citizens over a terrorist and also predicts that a Pakistani court’s fake investigation into 26/11 will never end.
He also glorifies India’s democratic way of working, where even a terrorist whose guilt is beyond doubt is still given a fair trial rather than being just killed off. His sequences with his celebrated Pakistani counterpart, Chaudhary Zulfiqar (Jaideep Ahlawat), the ace state prosecutor, indicate the mutual respect between two dedicated professionals, even as Zulfiqar admits to his government’s “system.” Kasab himself is shown initially as a manipulator, but as Ujjwal promises him, he will soon bring out the former’s human side, which he gradually does with a proverbial flourish as Kasab’s spirit is steadily broken.
The sequence where he is surprised that Eid is “allowed” to be celebrated in India is one of the highlights of the film. Another sequence that stands out is the way Kasab’s defense lawyer, Kazmi (Sikandar Kher), is publicly humiliated on that very day when he is enjoying with his family in a restaurant by a fellow Muslim. But the highlight of this solid script is the breakdown and later the doughty evidence given by 10-year-old Komal (Dior Ranju Varghese), an eyewitness who saw Kasab on his murderous spree smiling as he shot her mother.
But it’s not just (many) individual sequences that make for Prahaar’s triumph. It is the underlayers about India and Pakistan and about justice delayed (“…is justice denied”) as well as hurried (“…is justice buried”) and due process of law that keep audiences grittily glued to the proceedings. Sumit Roy surely deserves some awards this year.
Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam Movie Review: Star Performance
Rajkummar Rao is known for exceptionally getting into the skin of his (especially real-life) characters, and to state that he dazzles here is perhaps an understatement. His accent-free Marathi, his strident tones on occasion, his soft notes with his wife and daughter, and his expressions and body language are so perfect that one cannot be blamed for thinking that they are more calculated than spontaneous. But it is that tightrope balance that makes the calculated prep here look completely natural.
Lalit Prabhakar excels in the journey of a mercenary and programmed youth into a remorseful young man who even had “Bollywood” ambitions before he was manipulated by his people into doing what he did. His facial expressions alone qualify for an award. In one word, he is stupendous.
Jaideep Ahlawat as Zulfiqar puts in yet another wry turn after Drishyam: The Conclusion. He is commanding as the lawyer in court and excels in his personal interactions with Rao.
Ritvik Rathore as Aniket and Sikandar Kher as Kazmi are also fabulous. Ashish Vidyarthi is wonderful as Judge M.L. Tahaliyani. Wamiqa Gabbi is fast emerging as a ‘complete package’ actress with both range and intensity: in the relatively short role as Jyoti, the backbone of Ujjwal’s success, she is superb. The supporting artists, especially the witnesses and the cops, all do a fine job, and it is impossible to just pick a few among them, other than little Dior Ranju Varghese, who is big in her small (length-wise only) performance.
( Photo Credit – YouTube )
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Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam Movie Review: Direction, Music
Avinash Arun, the latest Marathi director on the block in Hindi cinema, carries the classic ongoing Marathi cinema caliber into movies in the national language. His work is simply brilliant; his choice of material is astounding, and his deft, very ‘real’ handling of court scenes and his principal (real-life) characters shows a master at work. The emotional layers and sublayers he gets into in his film all show a labor of love equivalent to that of his screen protagonist here!
The background score by Alokananda Dasgupta is precisely what one should be—never intrusive but ever present at the right spots to subtly enhance the emotional voltage.
Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam Movie Review: The Last Word
There has been a glut of stories on 26/11 across platforms. But this one effortlessly towers even among the good ones. A special mention here of the 1991 masterpiece of the same name, the Nana Patekar-directed and enacted Prahaar. It is really very rare for a subsequent film to match the excellence of a brilliant predecessor (coincidentally with a patriotic theme as well) with the same title.
This one does it!
Four stars!
Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam Trailer
Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam released on 16th October, 2026.
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