Login/Sign Up
Critics Review
2.00
his gangster drama falls flat despite Rajkummar Rao's fine act
Rajkummar Rao delivers a strong performance. He strikes a balance between being a dreaded gangster and a caring family man. Even in a brief role, Prosenjit Chatterjee delivers a fine act as the SP determined to bring Maalik down. Manushi Chhillar has limited screen time but is decent as Maalik�s wife. Anshumaan Pushkar is also effective as Maalik�s college friend turned trusted aide. The other supporting cast�Saurabh Shukla, Swanand Kirkire, and Saurabh Sachdeva�lend able support. Maalik is an uninspired and clich�d gangster drama that offers little novelty and can be skipped.(more)
Source: Dhaval Roy, Times Of India
1.50
Rajkummar Rao film is predictable to a fault
Rajkummar Rao goes all out doing the mobster thing, hefting machine guns and goons, killing and rampaging with impunity in the Illahabad (Allahabad) of the late 80s-90s.(more)
Source: Shubara Gupta, Indian Express
1.50
Rajkummar Rao's Badla Mode Is Totally Passable As The Actor Turns Slave To Predictable Storytelling!
If you are a gangster drama-villain as hero-violence freak, you will find nothing here that was not there in the zillion such underworld-meets-politics movies that everyone from Ram Gopal Varma and Mahesh Manjrekar to Anurag Kashyap and the South filmmakers have been peddling for more than two decades now.(more)
Source: Vijay, Koimoi
3.00
Old wine, new swag, with a fiery Rajkummar Rao works in parts
Despite its flaws, Maalik stands tall, much like its hero, punching above its weight thanks to Rajkummar Rao's fiery energy.(more)
Source: Rishabh Sri, Hindustan Times
2.00
Rajkummar Rao rules in this rambling action drama
A typical gangster story born out of class struggle in the Hindi heartland, the film is less than the sum of its parts(more)
Source: Anuj Kumar, The Hindu
2.00
Can't Root For This Maalik
A film with relentless violence cannot be entertaining, but Maalik is just unpleasant, not even slightly engaging. It is not a particularly tough role for Rajkummar Rao, and he can emote when the scene demands it. But the swagger looks imitative of earlier action stars and villains. He does not play Maalik like a nice guy, without the physique or mindset to be bad, forced by circumstances to become a killer. There is no complexity to his badness, so to project the vile in him, he needs props like a cigarette and a gun. Actors would walk on coals to do the kind of roles Rao has done in the past, and he wants to be run of the mill!(more)
Source: Deepa Gahlot, Rediff.com