• The trailer for Aakhri Sawal, starring Sanjay Dutt, dropped on Friday and is already generating major buzz online
• The film tackles some of India’s most controversial historical events, including the Gandhi assassination and the Babri Masjid demolition
• Sanjay Dutt plays Professor Gopal Nadkarni, a mentor accused of institutional bias by his own student over a rejected RSS thesis
• Aakhri Sawal will be the first Hindi film to release with integrated Indian Sign Language support for deaf audiences
• The film hits cinemas worldwide on May 15, 2026, in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam

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Sanjay Dutt is back with something that’s going to get people talking — and not just in movie theaters. The trailer for Aakhri Sawal landed on Friday, and within hours it had the internet firmly split between excitement, curiosity, and genuine debate. This isn’t your average Bollywood political thriller. It’s going somewhere few mainstream Hindi films have dared to go.

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Directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Abhijeet Mohan Warang, the film centers on Vicky Hegde (Namashi Chakraborty), a sharp but rebellious scholar whose thesis on the RSS gets rejected — leading him to publicly accuse his mentor, Professor Gopal Nadkarni, of institutional bias. What starts as an academic dispute spirals fast: national media coverage, political firestorms, and a psychological battle between student and professor that escalates all the way to a televised confrontation.

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Dutt shared the trailer on his Instagram with the caption: “What happens when the truth refuses to stay buried? Watch the trailer of #AakhriSawal — where every answer comes at a cost. Trailer Out Now. Get ready to know the answer on 15th May only in cinemas.”

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The nearly three-minute trailer doesn’t shy away from the heaviest chapters in Indian history. References to the RSS’s alleged involvement in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, the Babri Masjid demolition, and the Emergency are woven directly into the narrative — not as background color, but as the beating heart of the debate the film is building toward. It’s the kind of material that makes audiences sit up straight.

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Dutt is commanding as Professor Nadkarni — restrained, precise, delivering hard-hitting dialogue with the kind of gravity that reminds you why he still owns a room. Chakraborty holds his own opposite him, projecting the intensity of someone who genuinely believes he’s pulling back a curtain on something. Amit Sadh also makes a strong impression as Aditya Rao, and the broader ensemble — Sameera Reddy, Tridha Choudhary, Neetu Chandra, Mrinal Kulkarni, Harsimran Oberoi, and Rockey Raina — fills out a world that feels lived-in and charged.

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One casting note that’s raised eyebrows: producer Nikhil Nanda also appears in the film, playing M.S. Golwalkar. The film is produced by Nanda and Dutt together, presented by Nikhil Nanda Motion Pictures, and distributed nationwide by PVR INOX Pictures.

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Fan Reactions Are Already All Over the Map

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The comment sections lit up the moment the trailer dropped. Dutt’s fans were enthusiastic — “One word…. Unbelievable.. waiting for this….goosebumps,” wrote one viewer. Another offered the perfectly Indian compliment: “Sawaal nahi Bawal hai bawal.” Others were more cautious. “Mujhe to lagta hai iss movie par bahut controversy hogi,” predicted one commenter — and honestly, they’re probably right. Someone else noted, “Just wow trailer. Sanjay dutt acting skill is increasing day by day,” which tracks with what the footage actually shows.

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A few viewers were already reading the ending: “Lgta hai end mein RSS ko hero bna dege, agar nahi to fir yeh movie release nhi hogi” — a comment that says as much about the current climate around politically charged cinema as it does about the film itself.

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A Historic First for Accessibility in Hindi Cinema

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Beyond the politics, Aakhri Sawal is making history in a quieter but meaningful way. It will be the first Hindi film to release with integrated Indian Sign Language (ISL) support built directly into the theatrical experience for deaf audiences. The team is also working on additional accessibility measures for visually challenged viewers. For a film that positions itself as being about truth reaching everyone, that commitment carries real weight.

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Worth noting: the film was originally scheduled to open on May 8 before being pushed to May 15. It releases in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam — a wide, multi-language rollout that signals the makers are betting big on this one landing across India.

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Whether Aakhri Sawal becomes a conversation-starter or a lightning rod — or both — the trailer has already done its job. The question it keeps asking is simple: what happens when the truth refuses to stay buried? Come May 15, audiences will find out what answer Dutt and Warang have been sitting on.

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The post Sanjay Dutt’s Aakhri Sawal Trailer Is Bold, Political, and Already Dividing the Internet appeared first on Cream.

• Raja Shivaji grossed INR43.66 crore ($4.6 million) in its first three days, a Marathi cinema first.
• Riteish Deshmukh directs and stars in the film, with his wife Genelia Deshmukh co-producing.
• The film’s opening weekend more than triples the previous Marathi record held by Sairat (2016).
• The star-studded cast includes Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, and Boman Irani.
• Raja Shivaji released worldwide on May 1 in both Marathi and Hindi.

Riteish Deshmukh has just made history. His directorial debut Raja Shivaji — a sweeping historical epic from Jio Studios and Mumbai Film Company — pulled in INR43.66 crore ($4.6 million) across its opening weekend in India, making it the biggest opening weekend ever for a Marathi-language film. By a distance.

To put that in perspective: Sairat (2016), still the highest-grossing Marathi film of all time with a $13.7 million total run, opened to just $1.3 million. Timepass 2 (2015) and Mauli (2018) each debuted to around $1.2 million. Raja Shivaji didn’t just clear those benchmarks — it more than tripled them in three days.

Maharashtra led the surge, with packed cinemas and strong footfalls across the state. The film’s Hindi-language version also found real traction beyond the home market, a sign that the story of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is resonating well beyond its regional base.

The Story Behind the Epic

Raja Shivaji chronicles the rise of young Shivaji Bhonsale — the warrior-king who challenged the might of established empires, founded the Maratha kingdom, and laid the groundwork for “Swarajya,” the concept of self-rule, during one of the most turbulent periods in Indian history. Rather than retreading familiar ground, the film deliberately draws from lesser-known stories surrounding his life, zeroing in on his strategic mind and battlefield valor as much as his eventual legend.

Deshmukh both directs and takes the titular role — a bold creative bet that appears to have paid off. The ensemble he assembled around him is genuinely stacked: Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Boman Irani, Bhagyashree, Fardeen Khan, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sachin Khedekar, Jitendra Joshi, and Amol Gupte. His wife, Genelia Deshmukh, appears in the cast and also serves as producer alongside Jyoti Deshpande.

Behind the camera, the film carries serious pedigree. Cinematography is by Santosh Sivan — the legendary DP behind films like Dil Se and Asoka — and the score comes from Ajay-Atul, the composing duo whose work on Sairat became a cultural phenomenon in its own right.

Where It Stands in the Record Books

After just one weekend, Raja Shivaji already sits at No. 7 on the all-time list of Marathi-language grossers, slotting in behind Sairat, Baipan Bhari Deva, Ved, Pawankhind, Natsamrat, and Lai Bhaari. With that kind of momentum — and a May 1 release date that gave it a holiday weekend boost — the question now is how high it can climb.

For Deshmukh, long known to Hindi film audiences as a comedic leading man, this is a different kind of statement. Raja Shivaji is a declaration that Marathi cinema can command the kind of opening weekends typically reserved for Bollywood tentpoles — and that the stories of Maharashtra deserve that scale.

The post Raja Shivaji Breaks Marathi Box Office Records appeared first on Cream.