Mirzapur The Movie Review: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Mirzapur The Movie is an entertaining, if slightly overlong, big-screen extension of the beloved series, powered by the return of nearly the entire original cast and a smart balance of nostalgia and fresh plot.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Genre: Action, Crime Drama
Runtime: Approximately 3.5 hours
Director: Gurmeet Singh
Cast: Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Divyenndu, Jitendra Kumar, Ravi Kishan
Mirzapur first hooked audiences back in 2018, and over three seasons, its characters became just as central to its identity as the bloodshed and abuses the show became famous for. So when word came that Mirzapur was making the jump to the big screen, the biggest question was whether the film could actually recapture what made the series work in the first place.
The good news is that it mostly does, largely because almost the entire original cast returns to play the roles they built over the years, with just one notable exception.
The story picks up with Bablu and Guddu, played by Jitendra Kumar and Ali Fazal, still serving as the trusted right and left hands of Kaleen Bhaiya, played once again by Pankaj Tripathi, while they remain locked in a tense standoff with his son, Munna, played by Divyenndu. Into this mix arrives Babban Yadav, played by Ravi Kishan, a drug supplier on the run after stealing product from his own employer.
Babban wants to sell his stolen goods to Kaleen and has his own eyes set on the throne of Mirzapur, so he lures Kaleen outside the city limits to set his plan into motion. If you want to get properly reacquainted with who is who before watching, this character guide breaking down who plays Guddu, Kaleen Bhaiya, Munna and the rest of the cast is a handy refresher.
One of the smartest decisions behind the film was bringing back Puneet Krishna, who created and wrote the original series, to pen this nearly three and a half hour screenplay, alongside director Gurmeet Singh, who was also part of the original show’s core team.
That continuity shows. The film does not waste time re-explaining backstories for anyone who has watched even a single season of the show, and it immediately feels like slipping back into a familiar, well-worn world rather than watching an extended spin-off wearing the franchise’s name for the sake of it.
The story also expands its canvas beyond the streets of Mirzapur itself, taking a significant chunk of the action into the dunes of Rajasthan, which gives the film a visual scale and texture the original series never really had.
Real locations replace studio sets in a lot of key sequences, and the action benefits noticeably from that authenticity, especially since the filmmakers have thankfully avoided leaning on cheap digital effects to cut corners.
Alongside the gang war, the film also weaves in several personal threads. Munna still cannot let go of his resentment toward his father’s second wife Beena, played by Rasika Dugal, whose story gets a genuinely compelling push this time around, giving her arguably the most interesting arc among the film’s female characters.
Guddu and Bablu, meanwhile, continue navigating their strained relationship with their disapproving father, alongside quiet romantic subplots involving sisters Sweety and Golu, played by Shriya Pilgaonkar and Shweta Tripathi.
Performance-wise, Divyenndu continues to be an audience favorite as the volatile Munna, while Ali Fazal and Pankaj Tripathi slip effortlessly back into roles that made them stars in the first place. Ravi Kishan brings real weight to Babban Yadav, and Jitendra Kumar, stepping into a role originally played by Vikrant Massey, settles into the part comfortably enough that it rarely feels jarring.
The film does run long, and there are stretches, including a couple of item songs, that feel more like padding than necessity. Trimming these could have tightened the pacing considerably.
Still, the film moves briskly enough overall, delivering plenty of the seeti-maar dialogue fans have been quoting for years, alongside a genuinely gripping climax and a post-credits twist that strongly hints this will not be the last we see of Mirzapur on the big screen.
If you are curious about just how big a bet this theatrical gamble actually was, this breakdown of the cast salaries and movie budget around the release is worth a look.
In the end, Mirzapur The Movie knows exactly what its audience wants, and it delivers that in full measure: bloodshed, betrayal, family drama, and just enough fresh twists to keep things from feeling recycled. It is a demanding runtime, but one that ultimately pays off.