‘Maalik’ Movie Review: Rajkummar Rao Deserves Better Than This Exhausted Gangster Template (LatestLY Exclusive)

Maalik Movie Review: Rajkummar Rao is a fabulous actor; that’s not even up for debate. But what really needs talking about is his recent choice of roles. I understand, to some extent, why he chose to do movies like Bhool Chuk Maaf and Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video - their quirky concepts at least had some intrigue, even if the final execution faltered. But what was it about Maalik that pulled Rao in? Was it the chance to don the mantle of an action hero with mass appeal? Did no one show him what Bhaiyya Ji did to Manoj Bajpayee? Bhaiyya Ji Movie Review: Manoj Bajpayee Deserves A Better Milestone for His 100th Film Than This Dull Revenge Thriller.

Because Maalik is as by-the-numbers as a gangster drama can get. The film is written and directed by Pulkit, who previously made the well-received Bose: Dead or Alive (also starring Rao) and the hard-hitting Bhakshak. I hoped he’d inject some freshness into a genre that’s been recycled endlessly. Sadly, apart from Rao’s always-dependable performance, there’s barely a breath of originality to be found here. Did no one see Raees in this team?

'Maalik' Movie Review - The Plot

Deepak, aka Maalik (Rajkummar Rao), is a feared gangster from Allahabad with political ambitions. His aggressive grip over government contracts threatens his rival Chandrashekhar (Saurabh Sachdeva) and his political desires put him at odds with the sitting MLA Balhar Singh (Swanand Kirkire). Enter encounter specialist Prabhu Das (Prosenjit Chatterjee), hired to eliminate him, with political fixer Shankar Singh (Saurabh Shukla) quietly pulling strings from the sidelines.

Watch the Trailer of 'Maalik':

Will Maalik triumph over this lineup of enemies, or fall in the crossfire? That’s the story.

'Maalik' Movie Review - Tropes Galore

The film begins in 1990 with Maalik injured and cornered by police in a rundown hideout. It then flashes back two years to build the road that brought him here. At first, this choice feels intriguing - we’re meeting Maalik at the height of his power, not in the usual 'rags-to-ruthless' template. There’s some promise in seeing how the film will humanise (or challenge) this anti-hero already in the peak of his ruthless conquering.

Alas, the film has to then feed us his origin story in the form of a flashback to show how Deepak got into crime, then promptly skips the actual transformation that made him a fearsome gangster. This is the film’s key flaw: it teases important narrative beats, but rarely follows through.

Take Maalik’s supposedly deep bond with his mentor Shankar Singh. We're told he’s a father figure, but that dynamic is never explored beyond surface-level lip service. It’s like the film thinks name-dropping 'emotion' and 'equation' is enough to generate them.

If you’re going to jump into his backstory, then commit to that completely. If you want us to feel Maalik's anger and pain when he kills a crucial figure in his life, then lay the emotional groundwork first. Instead, the movie races ahead on autopilot - and trips over every tired trope along the way.

There’s the classic moralistic father who disapproves of his son's criminal path. The worried, one-note wife Shalini (Manushi Chhillar), whose sole job is to look pained. There is the perfunctory item song (picturised on Huma Qureshi). Every betrayal, every 'twist' follows textbook logic. And if a female character reveals she’s pregnant, you can bet good money she’s not making it to the third act.

Worse, the writing offers no surprises. Maalik’s right-hand man, Badaun (Anshumaan Pushkar), is another underdeveloped cliché. The pacing is erratic, and the momentum is limp, particularly in the second half. I’m not a huge fan of mass entertainers, but this is a film that desperately needed the masala injection to rescue it from its own dullness. ‘Maalik’: Anshumaan Pushkar Opens Up About High-Octane Action Scenes With Rajkummar Rao, Says Childhood Dreams Have Come True.

By the time we reach the final act, you expect the story to wrap up quickly, but instead, it delivers a major twist so forced and unearned, it elicits more yawns than gasps.

'Maalik' Movie Review - Rao Saves What He Can

Rajkummar Rao, however, remains magnetic. There’s a moment where Maalik hangs five men and the camera lingers on his face - grief, rage, anguish blending in a single expression. It’s a chilling, brilliant moment. He brings layers to a character that isn’t fully written - balancing brutality with warmth, like in a small scene where he asks his pregnant wife if she’s started feeling morning sickness yet, then smiles and tells her it will happen soon when she says no. It’s a cheesy line that works only because Rao makes it real.

Prosenjit Chatterjee starts strong as the corrupt, trigger-happy cop but is eventually let down by the screenplay. The rest of the cast - Swanand Kirkire, Saurabh Shukla, Saurabh Sachdeva, Manushi Chhillar, and Anshumaan Pushkar - do what they can with roles that exist mostly to serve the plot rather than the character.

'Maalik' Movie Review - Final Thoughts

Maalik aspires to be a brooding gangster epic, positioning Rajkummar Rao as a formidable action star. Yet what emerges is a muddled patchwork of tired tropes, generic plotting, and leaden pacing that completely lacks the explosive energy the genre demands. To borrow from Pushpa (a film that at least understood its audience - unlike Maalik): Rao is pure 'fire', but Maalik, in terms of impact, is barely a wilted 'flower'!

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 11, 2025 08:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).