A tribute to a mighty heart

Sriram Raghavan's Ikkis chooses silence over noise and beauty over violence. It dares to be a war movie that dreams of peace

- Deepanjana Pal

The first Hindi release of the year, director and writer Sriram Raghavan's soulful war movie Ikkis (2026), has perfect timing.

Coming on the heels of Dhurandhar and weeks before Border 2, it is a reminder that there can be more to the Bollywood blockbuster than blunt-force storytelling.

To begin with, it has a stellar ensemble cast (Agastya Nanda, Jaideep Ahlawat, Sikandar Kher, even Dharmendra). Mirroring the bright-eyed optimism of its heroes, its storytelling assumes a viewer who is smarter and more open-minded than recent box office results would suggest. The script doesn't flatten out complexity or tap into propaganda. Instead, it dares to be a war movie that dreams of peace.