Bhagwat: Chapter One – Raakshas
- Director
- Akshay Shere
- Studio
- Jio StudiosBaweja Studios
- Release Date
- 17 October 2025
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
Review
Akshay Shere's "Bhagwat: Chapter One – Raakshas" arrives with the architectural bones of a contemporary crime thriller—missing girls, an shadowy antagonist, sociopolitical weight—but stumbles in translating promise into execution. The opening moments generate genuine intrigue, and there's undeniable ambition in how the film grapples with India's darker underbelly. Yet the narrative trajectory proves disappointingly familiar, populated by plot turns that feel mechanically assembled rather than dramatically earned. Most damaging is the film's reluctance to fully commit to its provocative material; hints of sexual menace and institutional brutality that could have supplied genuine friction are instead neutered, transforming what aspires to be a morally complex thriller into something timidly conventional.
The film's most valuable asset is its cast. Jitendra Kumar inhabits his antagonist with palpable menace and psychological nuance, while Arshay Warsi grounds the proceedings with naturalistic, understated work. These are performers with the skill to elevate material significantly, and their evident investment suggests that a more incisive screenplay could unlock something genuinely powerful. Yet committed acting cannot compensate for a narrative that borrows liberally from the contemporary crime-thriller playbook without matching their structural sophistication or kinetic suspense machinery. The film aspires to the weight of recent genre entries but settles for merely adequate
Storyline
So this movie kicks off in a small town in Uttar Pradesh back in 2009 when a young woman named Poonam suddenly vanishes. Her parents are absolutely devastated and go to the police for help, but the cops basically brush them off, assuming she ran away with some guy. To make matters worse, a local politician starts spreading this whole "love jihad" thing, blaming a Muslim man for taking her, which gets everyone in town fired up and protesting. That's when this cop named Bhagwat shows up and is clearly frustrated that nobody's doing their job properly—he even tells Poonam's heartbroken father that he'll find her within two weeks, no matter what pressure comes from above.
As Bhagwat digs deeper, he starts connecting some dots that others completely missed, especially by looking at phone records. He also mentions this haunting personal connection—his own sister was apparently a victim in some ritualistic murders from the past. What begins to emerge is this disturbing pattern where multiple women have gone missing, all seemingly linked together. It becomes clear that there's something much darker and bigger happening than anyone initially thought.
Meanwhile, we also follow this charming guy named Sameer who's busy manipulating a woman named Mira into falling for him. He's got this whole act down—he tells her they can't be together because he's Muslim and convinces her to run away with him. He's smooth, calculated, and clearly knows exactly what he's doing, which honestly gives you a pretty creepy feeling about what his real intentions might be.