मालिक

Set in the gritty bylanes of late-1980s Allahabad, Maalik traces the transformation of Deepak, a farming-family student, into the feared gangster 'Maalik.' When corrupt politician's men brutally injure his father, Deepak abandons his law studies and takes to the underworld, building a criminal empire under the mentorship of Prabhu Das. His rise through Allahabad's hierarchy culminates in a shocking betrayal by his closest associate. Shot in Lucknow, Varanasi, Unnao, and Kanpur, Rajkummar Rao's first full-action role drew comparisons to 1990s UP crime sagas like Vaastav.

Sachin-Jigar compose a lean, period-infused album for Tips Music with Amitabh Bhattacharya's lyrics throughout. 'Naamumkin' (Varun Jain, Shreya Ghoshal) is the film's principal love theme with a classical melodic underpinning. 'Dil Thaam Ke' (Rashmeet Kaur, Rana Mazumder) adds a folk texture. 'Raaj Karega Maalik' (Akasa Singh, MC SQUARE) is the gangster anthem. 'Affair' imports Bhojpuri star Khesari Lal Yadav. Two reprises — a sad Naamumkin and a rap Raaj Karega Maalik — complete the set.

Maalik is significant as Rajkummar Rao's first fully committed action role — a genre pivot requiring an actor known for small-scale realist performances (Newton, Aligarh, Shahid) to embody a gangster's physical menace across a late-1980s Allahabad period timeline. Filmed across Lucknow, Varanasi, Unnao, and Kanpur, the film attempts to revive the UP crime saga genre that produced classics like Satya and Vaastav. Sachin-Jigar's album, lyricised throughout by Amitabh Bhattacharya, uses regional voices intelligently — Khesari Lal Yadav's Bhojpuri guest appearance on 'Affair' is the soundtrack's most culturally specific moment.

At ₹26.30 crore worldwide, Maalik underperformed relative to expectations for a Rajkummar Rao vehicle with Sachin-Jigar music, suggesting the star's core audience did not fully embrace his action genre transition. The film moved to Amazon Prime Video on 5 September 2025, finding a broader audience for its period setting and album. Rajkummar Rao's action transition remains an open question — Maalik provided proof of his physical commitment to the role, even if the overall commercial performance was disappointing.