Umair Mushtaq

Maalik (2025) is a gritty gangster drama that rests almost entirely on a fiery and committed performance by Rajkummar Rao. He stars as a man from a humble background who rises to become a brutal underworld boss in 1980s Allahabad. While Rao is convincing and intense in the role, the film itself is a letdown. Critics and audiences found the story to be a clichéd and predictable "rise of a gangster" narrative, offering nothing new to the genre. At over two and a half hours, the movie is criticized for being overlong, with a dragging second half and relentless, repetitive violence that becomes tedious. Despite a strong lead performance, Maalik is considered a missed opportunity that brings no novelty to its well-worn story.

"War 2" was a massive disappointment, failing to live up to the hype of its star-studded cast, which featured Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR. Despite its huge budget and scale as part of the YRF Spy Universe, the film was widely panned by critics and audiences for its weak, predictable, and recycled plot. The action sequences were criticized for being uninspired and, in some cases, having poor visual effects. The film's core issue was a weak script that gave its superstar leads very little to work with, wasting their on-screen potential. As a result, "War 2" was a box office flop, underperforming significantly and failing to match the success of its predecessor.