Netflix's latest Indian original wastes no time throwing its lead character into chaos — and critics are split on whether the film ever fully catches up with its own ambitions.
Gandhari, directed by Devashish Makhija and written and produced by Kanika Dhillon, premiered on Netflix on September 3, arriving in the streamer's action-thriller slot with Taapsee Pannu leading as Bani, a mother whose young daughter goes missing at a crowded train station in the fictional town of Joypurra. A violent attack shortly after leaves Bani temporarily blind — and rather than sidelining her, the film uses that loss to sharpen her other senses as she hunts down a hidden child-trafficking network operating beneath the town's surface.
The cast rounds out with Ishwak Singh as Gokul, Bani's husband, alongside Chhaya Kadam, Swastika Mukherjee, and Mita Vashisht in supporting roles. The film's title draws loosely from Mahabharata mythology, though it isn't a direct retelling — more an allusion woven into the story's themes of blindness, sacrifice, and maternal fury.
Production ran from December 2024 through March 2025, with roughly 50 days of shooting across Mumbai and Maharashtra. Music comes from Shor Police, Clinton Cerejo, and Bianca Gomes, with lyrics by Kausar Munir.
Critical reception has landed somewhere in the middle, with most reviewers agreeing on one thing: Pannu's performance is the film's clearest strength, even when the writing around her wobbles. ReadySteadyCut praised the film's "hyper-violent, satisfying third act" despite calling the overall premise shaky at points, while INVC News rated it 3.5 out of 5, calling it "worth watching" particularly for fans of grounded, female-led Indian crime stories. NDTV landed at 3 out of 5 stars.
Not every reaction was as forgiving. Several reviewers flagged the film's plot as overloaded with twists that dilute rather than deepen the tension, and audience reaction on Reddit has been notably split — one viewer on r/NetflixIndia called it "okay to watch" but felt Pannu's performance occasionally tipped into exaggeration, while a separate, harsher take on r/IndianOTTbestof labeled it among the worst releases of 2026, specifically criticizing continuity issues and its portrayal of police procedure, though even that review conceded some of the action choreography worked.
Running just under two hours, Gandhari is available now on Netflix, having launched globally on September 3 — including US availability the same day.
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