Daayra Hits Theatres Sept. 18 With Kareena Kapoor and Prithviraj as Opposing DCPs

Meghna Gulzar’s crime thriller Daayra, starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran as opposing DCPs, arrives in theatres on September 18, 2026 in Hindi and Malayalam—three days after this reportfollowing an August 31 trailer that framed the film as a true-events-inspired clash over how far the law can bend, The Hindu and Bollywood Hungama reported.

The Hindus trailer write-up describes an opening built around a brutal crime scene and a missing girl, with DCP Raman Kumar (Prithviraj) and DCP Ajooni Kohli (Kareena) debating an encounter killing and whether it was planned. A signature exchangeI work within the boundaries of law, Ajooni says; “And I dont, Raman repliessets the moral conflict. The makers synopsis, carried by The Hindu, says the case places the two officers on opposing sides of the same system” as the film examines “truth, accountability and the moral boundaries of justice.

Bollywood Hungamas coverage expands the creative credits and cast quotes. Gulzar wrote the film with Yash Keswani and Sima Agarwal; music is by Amit Trivedi with lyrics by Gulzar; cinematography is by Saurabh Goswami; editing is credited to Charu Shree Roy and Gulzar. The ensemble glimpsed in the trailer includes Jitendra Joshi, Kshitee Jog, Kanwaljeet Singh, Sandeep Kulkarni and Trupti Khamkar.

Hungama quotes Kapoor Khan on exploring new space as Ajooni, Prithviraj on the characters complexity and the film’s objectivity, and Gulzar on working in “the grey rather than black-and-white morality.

Commercially, Daayra is positioned as Junglee Pictures’ third Gulzar collaboration after Talvar and Raazi, and as Junglee’s first co-production with Pen Studios, with Vineet Jain, Dhaval Gada and Amrita Pandey among the producers and Pen Marudhar distributing, per Hungama. Studio statements carried there frame the film as both a content-first true-events thriller and a star vehicle for two powerhouse leads. For Bollywood desks watching the mid-September slate, the near-term question is whether the trailers procedural intensity and dual-star casting can convert into an opening that matches Gulzar’s prestige track record.

Heading into the September 18 date, the verified facts on record from The Hindu and Bollywood Hungama remain the dual-language theatrical release, opposing-DCP premise, true-events inspiration, and a director-writer team betting audiences still want moral argument about law and accountability on the big screen.