Prahaar Trailer: Rajkummar Rao Takes on Kasab in Court

By AYC Editorial Desk 3 min read

The Prahaar Trailer is out, and it puts the courtroom front and centre. Maddock Films dropped it in late September for Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam. The film is a legal drama about the trial of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving 26/11 attacker.

The launch venue said plenty. The team unveiled the trailer at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai, one of the sites the attackers hit. Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis showed up. So did the real Ujjwal Nikam.

We’ve tracked this film since Rajkummar Rao stepped into the Ujjwal Nikam biopic. This is the first proper look at what it wants to be.

What the Prahaar trailer shows

Per Outlook India, the Prahaar trailer opens with Nikam questioning a young girl about what she saw that night. Her reply hits hard: “Woh raat main kabhi nahin bhool sakti” (I can never forget that night). She remembers two gunmen firing AK-47s into the crowd.

Then Kasab shows up, insisting he came to Mumbai only as a tourist. A tourist. That one line sets up the whole fight.

Here’s the rest, as The Hollywood Reporter India describes it:

  • Nikam fights the legal system itself to expose the gunmen.
  • Sikandar Kher’s character defends the accused and stands against him.
  • Jaideep Ahlawat enters as part of a delegation from Islamabad.
  • A quieter thread shows Nikam supporting his wife through what looks like her own health battle.

THR India calls it a “gory, grueling and high-stakes picture” of the case’s unseen events. The makers’ tagline keeps it simple: “Naa bandook, naa goli, sirf saboot aur sachhai.” No guns, no bullets, just proof and truth.

Our take? Opening on a child’s testimony is a gutsy call, and the right one. It puts a witness’s memory ahead of the villain’s excuses.

Prahaar cast and crew

  • Rajkummar Rao as special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam
  • Wamiqa Gabbi as Jyoti Nikam, his wife
  • Jaideep Ahlawat in a role tied to the Islamabad delegation
  • Sikandar Kher on the defence side, opposite Nikam
  • Tarun Sharma in a key role

Avinash Arun Dhaware directs. He’s known for Killa and Pataal Lok. Dinesh Vijan produces under the Maddock Films banner.

Rao sounds invested, too. “Playing Ujjwal Nikam was a responsibility I felt deeply in my heart from the very beginning,” he said.

Prahaar story and release date

Prahaar retells the Kasab trial from the prosecution’s side, with Nikam at its centre. It isn’t the only recent film to return to 26/11, either. Kangana Ranaut’s Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata went there too.

The release date: 16 October 2026, Dussehra weekend. Maddock announced it in August after shifting the film from 7 August. The official trailer’s title still carries “16th Oct”, so for now the date holds. Languages and an OTT partner? We haven’t seen either confirmed yet.

It won’t get the festival weekend to itself. Reports put Rajinikanth’s Jailer 2 and Dhanush’s Om in the same window. An evidence-first courtroom drama up against Thalaivar at the box office? That’s a brave bet.

Prahaar trailer verdict: a strong opening argument. Now the film has to win its case in theatres on 16 October.