By Neeta Mishra: Rajkummar Rao’s action thriller Maalik has hit the theaters, and it looks to make a mark with its intense performances and explosive story.Pulkit directed Maalik that combines emotional rawness, heart-thumping action, and an exciting storyline with an underworld theme.Let’s check out the story of Maalik along with the early reviews words and the cast members who brought to life this drama…
Maalik is an upcoming gangster drama film. The film tells the story of a man’s ambitious journey through the underworld, combining brutal action with relevant social topics. The shape of the film is energetic, exhilarating, and entertaining; Drama and adventure with high stakes will make for an insane movie experience.
X Review: What Fans Are Saying
Social media is alive with fan reactions. Many fans have praised Rajkummar Rao for diving deep into his role and offering one of the most riveting performances. One user posted on Twitter, #Maalik is a must-watch! Rajkummar Rao is on fire. The story grabs you and doesn’t let go. Solid acting, good background music, and fantastic direction.”Not all feedback is positive. Some audiences felt the first half wasn’t too quick, but viewers claimed the performances had them hooked.”The first half was not what I expected, but let’s see if the second half can save the film. Very solid performances, especially Raj and Manushi,” said another audience member.
Bollywood star Aamir Khan’s return to the big screen after a three-year hiatus has been far from ordinary. Sitaare Zameen Par (2025) which translates to “stars on Earth”, is the first major Bollywood production to feature a mostly neurodivergent cast.
A remake of the 2018 Spanish film Campeones, the story follows a mouthy, knuckle-headed basketball coach, Gulshan (Aamir Khan), who is put in charge of a team of players with intellectual disabilities.
The film slowly grows into itself, much like its characters, but ultimately delivers what the trailer promises: a heartwarming, humorous and uplifting celebration of our individual differences.
In an era of blockbuster spectacles, Aamir Khan Productions brings back a kind of Bollywood storytelling we haven’t seen in a while – something sincere, gentle and quietly revolutionary.
Who is Aamir Khan?
Aamir Khan was born in Mumbai in 1965, and started his acting career as a child actor in his uncle’s film Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973).
Khan is now one of Bollywood’s most enduring and respected figures. He is one of the iconic “three Khans”, alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan (the three are unrelated), who have dominated Indian cinema since the 1990s.
But unlike his Khan counterparts, Aamir Khan has carved a unique career path built on both commercial success and socially-driven storytelling.
He is known for championing social causes through cinema. In one 2015 article, media studies professor Vamsee Juluri referred to him as a “national conscience figure”.
Khan’s films don’t just entertain; they challenge norms and often spark national conversations on important issues.
From producing Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001), India’s Oscar-nominated colonial-era sports epic, to his directorial debut Taare Zameen Par (2007), a moving portrait of a child with dyslexia, Khan’s work often brings underrepresented stories to the mainstream.
His film PK (2014) challenges religious dogma. Meanwhile, Dangal (2016) is a boundary-pushing film based on real-life female wrestlers from rural India, and is also Bollywood’s highest-grossing film of all time.
Beyond the box office, Khan has hosted the TV show Satyamev Jayate (2012–14), which is also the national emblem of India, meaning “truth alone triumphs”.
This show tackles various topics considered taboo in Indian societies, including female feticide, domestic violence and caste discrimination. It has reached millions of households, and even ignited parliamentary debates.
Khan is also popular in other countries, including China, where his films 3 Idiots (2009), Dangal (2016) and Secret Superstar (2017) were massive hits that resonated with audiences for their universal themes.
Sitaare Zameen Par marks his return following the commercial underperformance of Laal Singh Chaddha (2022), an Indian remake of Forrest Gump (1994).
Sitaare (stars) who make the film shine
Directed by R.S. Prasanna, Sitaare Zameen Par enjoyed a strong opening weekend at the box office.
It stars ten individuals with special needs as they prepare for a basketball tournament under the direction of their coach (Khan). This plot alone makes the film a significant entry to Indian cinema, which often ignores or misrepresents disability.
Despite early online trolling and negativity, the film depicts its neurodivergent characters not as victims, or “inspirations”, but simply as people with dreams, struggles and joy.
One line captures this beautifully: “Everyone sticks to their own normal. We each have our own normal.”
Aamir Khan, now 60, plays a key role in the film, but doesn’t dominate it. Instead, his younger co-stars shine. The result is a healing film that celebrates inclusion, while being full of joy and humanity.
Stories that matter
No film is perfect. But it’s hard to dislike a film made with so much compassion.
Bollywood as an industry has increasinglyleaned into action-packed blockbusters, as well as nationalist and Hindu-centred narratives (such as in the 2022 film Brahmāstra).
While many of these offer thrills, few deliver the kind of emotional and social depth that once defined Hindi cinema’s global appeal. Much like Taare Zameen Par – a spiritual prequel to the new release – did 18 years ago, Sitaare Zameen Par invites the audience to slow down and reflect.
It prompts neurotypical viewers to see people with Down’s syndrome as part of the same emotional universe as them – and to laugh with, not at them.
In an interview, Khan explains how the film goes further than just neurodivergent representation, to participation:
In [Taare Zameen Par], it’s the teacher, Nikumbh, a supposedly neuro-typical person, who helps the child with dyslexia. In this film, ten neuro-atypical people are helping the coach, Gulshan. I feel Sitare takes the discourse of the first film ten steps ahead, especially in our country where people need to be sensitised to the topic of neurodivergence.
Last week, India’s president, Droupadi Murmu, attended a special screening and met the cast. The visit sent a clear messsage: stories like this matter.
With Sitaare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan returns to what he does best: using film as both a mirror and message for Indian society. While it won’t change the world overnight, it will make viewers see the world, and each other, a little differently.
By Aamna Aamna, The much-awaited comeback of Aamir Khan to the big screen with the latest film Sitaare Zameen Par has provided mixed reports not only in terms of Sitaare Zameen Par review scores but also in the Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection reports. Although the Sitaare Zameen Par review ratings have accorded the film a favorable rating of 3.5 stars by critics, the first day Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection is a humble beginning to the comeback film by the superstar.
Sitaare Zameen Par Box Office Collection
The current Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection India net total is near to Rs 0.65 crore on Day 1, and the opening has been a modest affair as far as director R.S. Prasanna is concerned in his emotional entertainer. Such a low first-day box office figure of Sitaare Zameen Par compared to the industry expectation, that is, the industry is highly disappointed with such a negative number of opening day and in comparison to the previous release of Aamir Khan, Laal Singh Chaddha, which is having an opening day box office collection of 11.70 crores.
Trade analysts who had tracked the Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection trend said advance bookings fetched Rs 6.88 crore, and more than 1.15 lakh tickets were sold at 9,542 shows all over the country. The Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection report shows that the Hindi version claimed the most money, collecting Rs 3.18 crore out of 9,037 shows, whereas the regional versions earned a minimal part of the total Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection.
Sitaare Zameen Par Review Scores vs Commercial Performance
Although critics awarded Sitaare Zameen Par with fair rating, which said that the film was moving and depicted the specially-abled characters, the box office collection record of Sitaare Zameen Par shows that the audience might not have been so impressed. All the big Sitaare Zameen Par reviews talked about the good second half of the film and how Aamir Khan has regained his entry into serious cinema, but that good Sitaare Zameen Par review mood is not reflecting yet in the way Sitaare Zameen Par’s box office collection is progressing.
The mismatch between the positive reviews of Sitaare Zameen Par and its mediocre box office performance indicates that content-oriented movies do not need to record-breaking first-day collections to succeed, but rather rely on word-of-mouth promotions. According to the industry experts, due to the positive Sitaare Zameen Par review trend, the Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection would travel upwards during the weekend.
Regional Performance in Sitaare Zameen Par Box Office Collection
The multi-release strategy of the language is questionable because early Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection reports are mixed. The above is the box office collection of Sitaare Zameen Par in just one of the versions of Sitaare Zameen Par, that is the Hindi version which also witnessed impressive ticket sales than the other versions of Sitaare Zameen Parat the Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection, the Tamil version accounted for Rs 2.73 lakh out of 163 shows, the Telugu version brought in Rs 9.84 lakh from 342 shows to the overall Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection.
This regional Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection distribution suggests that Khan’s brand value is the strongest in Hindi-speaking markets, although the reception in regional markets to the Sitaare Zameen Par review may have a bearing on the Sitaare Zameen Par box office collection in each city, as weekend collection patterns become clearer.
