Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa deserve two masala sachets in their maggi packets because yes they ate their characters in the movie. Dialogues by Neeraj Ghaywan and Varun Grover also do justice to all the characters in the story, irrespective of their screentime. Written so beautifully that literally everyone in the story is cut open (not literally) in front of the audience for them to gauge their significance to the plot.
Rated 8 out of 10 on IMDb, the film is now out on Netflix and somehow is not gaining the enough traction, is not a shocker to me because whenever a good project does get it, anyways. But I am not here to sound like an entitled cinephile who disses Bollywood for praising mainstream, mass entertainers (maybe that’s exactly what I am doing right now). I will talk my heart out about this movie, so if you had not watched it already, please skip reading this review, spoiler alert disclaimer could not be that obvious now.
Being the official nomination from India in the Oscars 2026, the film is about two friends, both coming from the marginalized communities in India. Chandan (Vishal Jethwa) is a dalit-hindu whose parents are daily wage workers and his sister, who had to give up her dream to study further, works at a local school to help the ends meet while Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter) comes from a muslim family and lives with his mother and his handicapped father who is seen pursuing Shoaib to go to Dubai for better work opportunities.
But the boys have very, very different plans for themselves, which is to become a police officer and want to be respectable, which is common for any socially and economically household in a North-Indian village. However, this is when destiny meddles with their plans as Chandan amongst the two boys was able to clear the exam which automatically drew a wedge in their friendship. But this is not the end of their friendship (yes, it is gonna end but hold on it is way more tragic and heartbreaking).
After drifting apart, both the boys find themselves crippled of the opportunities to find a means of livelihood, as Chandan, though he cleared the entrance, learns that there is no official notice to be issued for joining the forces until a whole year and Shoaib joins a water purifier selling company to help pay bills for his father’s knee condition.
Chandan decides to study further and meets Sudha (Janhvi Kapoor) who urges him to continue with his graduation studies but his sister humbles him by making him realise that being the male child of the family he is given a choice to study but she is not. She is subjected to the responsibilities and now she is tired of all the burden.
Meanwhile, Shoaib, if it is not classic enough, faces a communal discrimination at an office party, despite outstanding every sales person in the office, slowly rising above from the post of just being an office boy which he joined for temporary basis.
He decides to quit the job and soon after, the two friends meet again and destiny puts them far away from their homes, in a different state, in Surat, Gujarat. The boys start off working at a local cloth mill and things start to look better for each of the families. Chandan’s father begins the construction of their dream home whereas Shoaib’s father has his health improving.
The tragedy strikes yet again, and COVID hits, the government announces nation-wide lockdown, mills and factories shut down, streets empty, people locked in their homes, and a whole lot of things go sideways for these two. The boys eventually run out of the savings and decide to go back to their village and be with their families. Despite the struggle to find means of transport to migrate back, they urged a truck driver to help them travel back but Chandan catches a cold and the fellow passengers start to doubt.
They are eventually put off the truck and start their journey on foot with little to no resources with them. And here is when the plot slowly transitions towards the climax which is why you should literally drop everything on your watchlist and give this a watch right away and experience the struggles that these boys go through regardless of any social or economic class you come from.
In its totality, the film will loudly speak to the audience about the deeply rooted societal hierarchy and religion based discrimination. But the intersectionality lies when both of them are denied the opportunities and had to take up the menial and get stuck in the survival jobs to make the ends meet for their families.













