Prahaar Review: Rajkummar Rao’s Finest Performance of the Year

It would have been easy for Prahaar: The Untold Story Of Ujjwal Nikam to turn 26/11 into a thriller. Instead, the film keeps its eyes on the legal process, and that is what makes it feel different.

Rajkummar Rao plays Ujjwal Nikam, the special public prosecutor who built the case against Ajmal Kasab, the lone gunman captured alive during the Mumbai terror attacks. Nikam carried the matter from December 2008 until Kasab was executed in November 2012. That is nearly four years of hearings, appeals and national scrutiny, and the film refuses to compress that weight into a montage.

The case behind the film

Director Arun, known for Killa and Three of Us, uses the trial as the spine of the story. It is not a re-enactment of the attack but a study of what a prosecutor gives up to make an airtight case. When the film does open its emotional register, it is in small scenes: Nikam lowering his guard with a Pakistani counterpart played by Jaideep Ahlawat, or the tribute to the victims and police who faced the attackers.

Rao’s performance, piece by piece

Rao builds Nikam from the outside in. His lower vocal pitch, his walk, the Khandeshi-influenced Marathi accent that colours his Hindi, and the tiredness around his eyes all do the work. There is no mimicry here; it is a man being worn down by an enormous responsibility while clinging to a quiet resolve.

• The performance is observed, not an imitation.
• Jaideep Ahlawat gives the film its most human exchanges.
• The closing monologue earns its goosebumps because the build-up is patient.

Empathy without a free pass

The film’s bravest move is to separate Ajmal Kasab the person from the crime he committed. It treats him as human without ever suggesting that remorse can cancel responsibility. That is a difficult line for any film, and particularly for a Hindi cinema landscape that often prefers monsters and heroes. Prahaar chooses the harder path: empathy and accountability in the same frame.

The Times of India review calls Rao’s work “the year’s finest performance so far.” It is a strong claim, but the film supports it by staying calm. It does not sensationalise the attack or use the victims as a prop. Instead, it argues that due process is not a luxury, even for the most hated defendant, and that justice must hold when wounds are still raw.

Should you watch it?

If you are expecting an action reconstruction, this is not that movie. If you want a legal drama that takes procedure seriously and gives Rajkummar Rao room to do something subtle, Prahaar belongs on your list. Its final argument is simple but important: a terrorist must be judged by law, not reduced to a spectacle.

Source: The Times of India