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Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Mishra, Manish Chaudhary, Rasika Duggal, Saurabh Dwivedi
Director: Pulkit
What’s Good: Saif Ali Khan!
What’s Bad: Scattered storyline!
Loo Break: Whenever you want!
Watch or Not?: Yes, to witness Saif Ali Khan’s acting prowess!
Language: Hindi
Available On: Netflix!
Runtime: 1 Hour 48 Minutes
User Rating:
“Mahabharat ki ladai ke 14ve din Arjun Kashmakash mein the. Ek din pehle beta khoya tha apna aur saamne khade the Guru Dronacharya aur Arjun ke bete ki maut mein Dronacharya ka bhi haath tha aur Arjun samajh nahi paa rahe the ki apne guru se bhida jaaye ya nahi. Aur phir dharam karam aur kartavya mein Arjun ne yuddh ka kartavya nibhaya aur apne Guru se lad gaya. Hum manushya jhandu prasad hai, dharm karte hain karm choot jata hai, karm karte hain dharm chhoot jaata hai, kartavya tak to kabhi baat hi nahi pahunchti!” SHO Pawan Malik explains the law of duty and righteousness to his junior, Sanjay Mishra. But does he choose to follow his duty when there is a time to choose? It forms the narrative of Kartavya.
There are films that fail despite good intentions, and then there are films that almost break your heart because you can actually see the gem hiding behind the clouds, managing to give you only a silver lining beneath all the clutter. Somewhere between its haunting silences, casteist-charged conversations, aching morality, and an emotionally exhausted man trying to survive a collapsing system, this Pulkit directorial had the potential to become something exponentially good!
Instead, Kartavya ends up becoming two separate films awkwardly stitched together with threads too weak to carry the emotional burden of either story. And yet, despite everything that does not work, I am unable to stop admiring Saif Ali Khan. What a genius of an actor this man is! How is this man getting better with age? How is he still surprising us after all these years? How does he enter a frame looking so emotionally detached and still manage to convey a thousand suppressed emotions with one exhausted glance?
Kartavya Movie Review: Script Analysis
Kartavya is set up in a city called Jhamli, which is rotting with two major evils – caste-based honor killings and one abusive man turned spiritual life coach who rules the city, and has a blind following. Saif Ali Khan has the responsibility to maintain the law and order of this emotionally and morally corrupt city!
The film introduces us to SHO Pawan (Saif Ali Khan), a morally conflicted police officer stuck between political pressure, systemic corruption, personal guilt, and the ugly realities of law. As a deeply disturbing case begins unraveling layers of power, caste, fear, and abuse of law, Pawan finds himself walking a dangerous line between duty and survival.
Simultaneously, the film also tries to explore another morally heavy thread involving ordinary men trapped in extraordinary circumstances – basically two tracks crossing paths that include decent performances from Sanjay Mishra, Saurabh Dwivedi, Rasika Duggal, and Zakir Khan.
Kartavya Movie Review: Star Performance
Saif Ali Khan is so tired beyond repair that even his rage feels too cold on screen. He is not a heroic cop written to deliver mass dialogues or whistle-worthy moments. He is a man carrying the emotional weight of the film. Saif has always been underrated because Bollywood never fully understood how to use his intelligence as a performer. But in Kartavya, Saif Ali Khan does everything with a practical approach. No screaming. No dramatic collapse. Just emotional numbness and helplessness at times, and it is devastating. Honestly, had the screenplay matched his performance, we would have been discussing this as one of the year’s best performances in Indian Cinema.
Sanjay Mishra once again proves why he remains one of India’s most dependable actors. The man does not perform for applause anymore; he performs for truth. Every scene featuring him carries authenticity. Rasika Duggal, despite limited screen time, adds remarkable emotional depth. Zakir Khan keeps the suspense of the film alive. Saurabh Dwivedi’s journey might get better as an actor, but this was not his cup of tea!
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Kartavya Movie Review: Direction, Music
The problem with Kartavya is that both stories are compelling individually. Together? They suffocate each other, and never seem like they belong to the same chapter! Pulkit is clearly an immensely talented filmmaker. You can see it in the way he stages tension. You can see it in the way choices and opinions dominate conversations in his film. You can see it in how beautifully he captures emotional decay. But he fails to render the pain because, probably, he trusts stillness way too much, allowing discomfort to breathe so comfortably that the film starts losing its plot!
Dialogues occasionally sound written for impact rather than authenticity. And most importantly, the screenplay struggles to merge its two thematic tracks into one narrative. This is exactly why Kartavya feels like two excellent short films trapped in one overextended feature film.
One short film could have focused entirely on SHO Pawan and his personal fight with the caste bias and his exhaustion, moral collapse, helplessness, and quiet rebellion against a rotten system. That alone had enough material to become a devastating psychological drama.
The second short film could have centered around his professional fight against the abuse of power in a corrupt system, where he turns messiah for a victim, but fails because he trusts his confidante way too much! Separately, both stories had extraordinary potential. Together, they dilute each other’s impact, simply because they feel too distinctly far from each other!
Kartavya Review: Last Words:
As SHO Pawan, Saif Ali Khan delivers one of the finest performances of his career. In fact, there are moments in Kartavya where he is so magnetic that the film temporarily disappears. You stop noticing the screenplay problems. You stop questioning the pacing. You stop caring about the uneven narrative structure. You simply watch him exist onscreen like a wounded lion who knows the jungle is dying but still refuses to surrender.
The film constantly shifts between psychological drama, political commentary, investigative thriller, and social realism without full transitions. Ironically, despite having emotionally rich themes, the film starts losing emotional grip midway because of narrative clutter. With the two different narratives, the film keeps interrupting itself.
Just when one story begins gripping you emotionally, the narrative cuts away to the other track, demanding equal investment. And honestly, that’s frustrating because the raw material here is genuinely powerful. Kartavya is frustrating because it misses the mark big time. You can see a good story scattered throughout the film like shattered glass reflecting light from different angles. Pulkit’s direction has maturity. The writing has ambition. The performances have soul. But the storytelling lacks cohesion.
Still, even within this flawed structure, Saif Ali Khan rises like a giant. He delivers a performance so intelligent and emotionally layered that he almost tricks you into believing the film around him is more complete than it actually is. He deserves a better film. But Kartavya still deserves to be watched – if only to witness an actor performing his craft with such finesse, command, and sincerity!
3 stars!
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