‘Daayra’ Set For September Release; Meghna Gulzar Calls Kareena Kapoor Khan, Prithviraj Sukumaran ‘Yin And Yang’

Director Meghna Gulzar has penned a heartfelt note about her upcoming film Daayra, revealing how the project pushed her creatively into unexplored territory. Reflecting on the film's themes, she said her background in sociology taught her that life exists in shades of grey, and that very idea lies at the heart of Daayra.

Taking to X, Meghna Gulzar shared a two-page note tracing the journey of Daayra and describing how the film took her to “unseen and unvisited places”. She also revealed that the film explores the idea of “duality” at its core.

Her note began, “I was born in Mumbai. Having lived here all my life and having travelled extensively across India, I thought I knew most of the city and the country through my life's journey so far. But the journey of Daayra took me to unseen and unvisited places.” She continued, “And that's just the geography.

Daayra took my creativity to areas I have never explored before. It took my social awareness to reach what I didn't know I had.” She also reflected on her background in sociology, and expressed that life and society cannot simply be divided into black and white.

“As a student of Sociology, I learned that our life and our society are not binary. It's not just black and white. There is a spectrum of grey that we exist in,” she wrote. She added that she has explored this “grey” through films such as Talvar, Raazi, Chhapaak and Sam Bahadur, but Daayra takes the idea even further.

“Daayra for me, not only explores that grey… It invades it... it attempts to dismantle it. And that is the irony of Daayra,” she wrote, adding that while the film is neither black nor white, it is also “always dual”.

Gulzar summed up the film's central theme by saying, “Daayra is only about duality” at its core, with this idea reflected through its two protagonists. A few words from the heart… about a piece of my heart.

To discovering familiar truths in new ways. And new truths in familiar ways. #Daayra Trailer comes to you on 31st August.#Daayra in your Cinemas from 18th September 2026#KareenaKapoorKhan @PrithviOfficial pic.twitter.com/e2vY6D6LBf Gulzar also offered a glimpse into the characters played by the film's lead actors.

Kareena Kapoor Khan plays DCP Ajooni Kohli, while Prithviraj Sukumaran portrays DCP Raman Kumar. The filmmaker described bringing together two major stars from the Hindi and Malayalam film industries as a dream come true.

She explained that Daayra draws inspiration from several real incidents that have taken place across India. “Daayra is a story that takes place, not in a particular city or state of India; but does happen almost everywhere and anywhere in our country,” she wrote.

Although both Ajooni and Raman are law enforcement officers, Gulzar said they frequently find themselves on opposing sides. “Kareena's Ajooni is fiercely righteous. Prithviraj as Raman is righteously fierce. As in life, so in Daayra, they are neither black nor white.

They are both swirling in a sea of grey,” she wrote. She described Ajooni as “stoic and unreadable”, adding that she “cracks people and situations with a smile”. Raman, meanwhile, is described as the “hinge to Kareena's Ajooni”, carrying a “caged rage” and “almost never” smiling.

“The two are the Yin and Yang of Daayra,” Gulzar wrote. Daayra is an upcoming investigative crime thriller directed by Meghna Gulzar. The film stars Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran and is produced by Junglee Pictures and Pen Studios.