Maalik is
just
unpleasant,
not
even
slightly
engaging,
observes
Deepa
Gahlot.
The
son
of
an
oppressed
farmer
decides
to
go
rogue
and
give
himself
the
title
of
Maalik.
There
is
class
and
caste
rage
here,
and
a
man’s
desire
to
‘snatch’
what
won’t
come
to
him
by
fair
means.
There
are
issues
affecting
our
society
that
need
to
be
addressed,
and
mainstream
cinema
has
the
ability
to
do
that.
But
what
is
to
be
done
if
the
lead
actor,
known
for
playing
light
and
dramatic
roles,
wants
to
go
full
macho?
So
director
and
co-writer
(with
Jyotsna
Nath)
Pulkit
designs
Maalik,
a
film
that
gives
Rajkummar
Rao
the
chance
to
beat
men
to
death,
dunk
their
heads
in
hot
oil,
burn
them
alive,
have
vicious
fistfights,
and
shoot
more
men
than
the
number
needed
to
populate
a
small
town.
The
outlaw
or
baaghi
used
to
be
a
legit
way
to
portray
an
anti-hero.
He
was
fighting
an
unjust
feudal
system,
there
was
a
tragic
nobility
to
him,
remorse,
and
some
manner
of
redemption.
Deepak
aka
Maalik
is
corrupt,
excessively
violent
and
amoral.
Set
in
1990s
Allahabad
(now
Prayagraj),
the
fight
is
not
between
the
righteous
and
the
wicked.
It
is
between
two
gangsters,
the
other
being
Chandarshekhar
(played
by
Saurabh
Sachdeva),
vying
for
government
contacts
and
sand-mining
rights.
Obviously
a
corrupt
politician
Balhar
Singh
(Swanand
Kirkire),
his
gangster
cohort
Shankar
Singh
(Saurabh
Shukla),
an
‘ab
tak
98′
encounter
cop
Prabhu
Das
(Prosenjit)
are
thrown
into
the
toxic
swamp.
Deepak/Maalik
loses
sympathy
when,
soon
after
opening
scene,
he
makes
a
cop
lick
his
own
spit
off
the
ground,
(a
‘forward
caste’
man
as
the
dialogue
informs)
and
kills
him.
No
matter
what
he
does
after
this,
and
no
matter
how
his
descent
into
crime
is
justified,
the
sheer
evil
of
this
scene
means
that
the
audience
cannot
root
for
such
a
man.
He
is
not
just
snatching
what
he
is
being
deprived
of.
He
is
reveling
in
his
evil,
and
enjoying
the
fear
that
his
carnage
evokes
in
people,
including
cops.
With
his
friend
Baudan
Singh
(Anshuman
Pushkar)
and
other
loyal
gang
members,
he
goes
about
his
murderous
sprees
with
impunity,
disregarding
the
pleas
of
his
parents
and
wife
(Manushi
Chhillar)
to
reform.
There
is
nothing
in
Maalik
that
has
not
been
seen
in
films
before,
and
Pulkit
has
just
turned
his
protagonist
into
a
despicable
monster,
and
painted
the
cops
as
the
enemy.
Prabhu
Das
is
referred
to
as
‘licencewala
gunda‘
so
who
cares
about
dozens
of
men
in
khaki
mowed
down
for
just
doing
their
jobs?
A
film
with
relentless
violence
cannot
be
entertaining,
but
Maalik
is
just
unpleasant,
not
even
slightly
engaging.
It
is
not
a
particularly
tough
role
for
Rajkummar
Rao,
and
he
can
emote
when
the
scene
demands
it.
But
the
swagger
looks
imitative
of
earlier
action
stars
and
villains.
He
does
not
play
Maalik
like
a
nice
guy,
without
the
physique
or
mindset
to
be
bad,
forced
by
circumstances
to
become
a
killer.
There
is
no
complexity
to
his
badness,
so
to
project
the
vile
in
him,
he
needs
props
like
a
cigarette
and
a
gun.
Actors
would
walk
on
coals
to
do
the
kind
of
roles
Rao
has
done
in
the
past,
and
he
wants
to
be
run
of
the
mill!
Maalik
Review
Rediff
Rating:
