Brace yourself—Rajkummar Rao has shed his boy-next-door image and embraced pure menace in the newly released teaser for Maalik. Dropped with a bang, the teaser unveils Rao as a cold-blooded gangster rising through a world where loyalty is fragile, power is everything, and betrayal lurks in every shadow. Slated for a July 11, 2025 theatrical release, Maalik is shaping up to be one of the most intense action thrillers of the year.
Directed by Pulkit, and produced by Kumar Taurani (Tips Films) and Jay Shewakramani (Northern Lights Films), Maalik marks a fierce pivot for Rao, who’s been making bold choices in genre cinema lately. In the teaser, his transformation is complete—blood-streaked, brooding, and brutal, he carries the weight of a man who didn’t choose violence, but mastered it. The visuals are raw and kinetic, teasing gangland politics, explosive action, and a storyline steeped in ambition, betrayal, and revenge.
With a tagline like “Power. Loyalty. Betrayal. One Man’s Rise to Rule It All,” the film leans hard into gangster epic territory. Written by Jyotsana Nath and Pulkit, and lensed by Anuj Rakesh Dhawan, the visual style hints at a stylized, grounded underworld where every shot bleeds tension. Rao’s steely-eyed presence is central to it all, anchoring a film that promises to explore both the rise and reckoning of a man who dares to seize control by any means necessary.
Maalik marks a significant evolution in Rao’s filmography—he’s no longer just the versatile performer we know from Newton or Stree. He’s entering darker, heavier terrain—and if the teaser is anything to go by, he's going to own it. Come July 11, the question won't be who rules the underworld... it’ll be who dares to challenge the Maalik.
Check Out The Teaser:-