Dacoit: A Love Story (2026)

TLDR: Dacoit: A Love Story is a 2026 Telugu-Hindi bilingual action romance directed by Shaneil Deo in his directorial debut. It stars Adivi Sesh as a Dalit convict seeking revenge and Mrunal Thakur as his former lover, with Anurag Kashyap playing the villain. Shot across Rajasthan in a neo-Western style inspired by Sholay, the film has a gripping first half and strong performances but loses momentum badly in the second half. Released on April 10, 2026, and now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Worth watching for Adivi Sesh fans and lovers of the genre — go in with tempered expectations.

I have been a fan of Adivi Sesh since Major (2022). That film showed he could carry a deeply emotional, true-life story with real weight and conviction. So when Dacoit: A Love Story was announced — a neo-Western revenge romance set in the dusty badlands of Rajasthan, co-written by Sesh himself — I was genuinely excited.

And for a good chunk of this film, that excitement was justified.

Then the second half arrived.

Let me walk you through the whole thing honestly.

Dacoit: A Love Story — Movie Details

What Is Dacoit: A Love Story About?

The story centres on Haridas — everyone calls him Hari — a Dalit man played by Adivi Sesh.

Hari was once in a deep, passionate relationship with Saraswati (Mrunal Thakur), a woman whose family and social circle make the relationship almost impossible. Their love is real, but the world around them is not kind to it.

A betrayal — the details of which slowly unspool across the film’s first half — lands Hari in prison. He spends years inside, carrying his anger and his grief in equal measure. When he finally gets out, he does not want to rebuild his life. He wants revenge.

What he does not count on is crossing paths with Saraswati again.

The film weaves together Hari’s criminal activities after his release — a series of robberies connected to a wider criminal chain — with the re-emergence of his past relationship. CI Rambabu, known as Swamy, is hunting him down. And Hari is hunting someone else entirely.

The caste angle runs through all of this quietly but seriously. It is not a film that shouts its social commentary, but it is there, shaping every injustice Hari has faced and every choice he makes.

Full Cast Breakdown

The Neo-Western Vision

Adivi Sesh and director Shaneil Deo spent two full years writing this script together. In interviews, they described their visual inspiration as Sholay and The Magnificent Seven — big, sprawling, sun-baked stories of outlaws and justice and revenge.

Principal photography happened almost entirely in North India — with large portions in the deserts of Rajasthan — specifically to capture that Western aesthetic. And visually, cinematographer Danush Bhaskar delivers. The sepia-toned, dusty frames feel distinctive and intentional.

This is not a film that looks like most Telugu or Hindi action films you have seen recently. It has a specific, committed visual identity and you feel that from the first frame.

Anurag Kashyap as an Actor — A Real Surprise

This is one of the most talked-about aspects of the film and for good reason.

Anurag Kashyap is one of India’s greatest filmmakers — the mind behind Gangs of Wasseypur, Black Friday, and Ugly. But he has acted very rarely. Dacoit: A Love Story marks his debut in Telugu cinema.

The story of how it happened is brilliant. Adivi Sesh approached Kashyap with the role at the wedding of Naga Chaitanya and Sobhita Dhulipala in December 2024 — a genuine wedding-pitch moment. Kashyap agreed, and also helped write the Hindi dialogues for the film.

As CI Swamy, Kashyap brings a specific kind of menace. He is not a loud, theatrical villain. He is controlled, methodical, and deeply unsettling in the quieter moments. Whether he is a great actor is still debatable, but whether he is an interesting screen presence is not.

Adivi Sesh — Fully Committed

Adivi Sesh wrote this role for himself and you can feel every bit of that ownership in the performance.

Hari is a character carrying rage, grief, love, and pride all at once — and Sesh makes sure none of those emotions ever cancel each other out. In the first half especially, his scenes with Mrunal Thakur crackle. The flashback sequences that establish the relationship are some of the film’s best writing, full of specificity and emotion.

New Indian Express gave the film a positive review, calling it a serviceable action-packed drama where both Sesh and Mrunal Thakur shine. That is a fair way to put it.

Mrunal Thakur — Again, Excellent

This is the second Mrunal Thakur review I have written recently — she also appeared in Do Deewane Seher Mein (2026) which you can read about on HDMovies4U.

In Dacoit, she plays a very different kind of character. Saraswati is a woman who made a choice that destroyed someone she loved — and she has had to live with that. Thakur plays the guilt and the complexity without turning Saraswati into either a villain or a victim. She is someone the film asks you to understand rather than judge.

The chemistry between her and Adivi Sesh is genuine and their shared scenes are the emotional core of the film.

What Works

The first half is genuinely excellent. The love story is written with care, the caste dynamics are handled with intelligence, and the Rajasthan backdrop gives everything a mythic, sun-scorched energy that matches the tone perfectly.

Adivi Sesh and Mrunal Thakur are both on top form. Anurag Kashyap’s casting is inspired. The cinematography is distinctive and confident. The premise — revenge love story set in a neo-Western landscape — is one of the more original ideas in Indian cinema in recent years.

The Indian Express gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and said the film earns its emotional punches slowly rather than announcing them early. Firstpost also gave it 3.5 stars, describing it as powered by its swiftness and unpredictability. For the first half, both those verdicts are accurate.

What Doesn’t Work

The second half is where things fall apart.

Once the film moves past its love story roots and tries to become a full-scale action thriller, it loses the intimacy that made the first hour so compelling. There are too many characters. Too many subplots. The criminal conspiracy involving Prakash Raj’s Solomon Reddy feels underdeveloped and disconnected from the emotional core.

Filmfare put it well — Dacoit sets out to explore the fragile boundary between love and vengeance with emotional sincerity, and for a time it succeeds, but in its pursuit of narrative complexity, it loses sight of what makes it special.

India Today gave it 2.5 stars and said the first half earns your attention but the second half spends it unevenly. Times of India gave it just 2 stars, calling it uneven and overstuffed. Those are fair assessments of the second half specifically.

At 152 minutes, the runtime is the film’s biggest enemy. A tighter cut of around 130 minutes — focusing less on the action mechanics and more on the central relationship — would have made this a much better film.

The Music

The soundtrack was composed by Bheems Ceciroleo with audio rights sold to Sony Music India for ₹8 crore — which shows the confidence the makers had in the music.

“Rubaroo” is the romantic centrepiece — a slow, aching love song that fits the film’s emotional register perfectly. “Touch Buddy” (or “Chichubuddi” in Telugu), featuring Pawan Singh and Jonita Gandhi, is a high-energy cross-cultural track that was launched live in Gorakhpur and became one of the promotional highlights.

The music overall suits the film’s neo-Western, emotionally loaded world.

The Box Office Reality

Dacoit: A Love Story earned ₹52.99 crore at the worldwide box office against a budget of ₹65 to 100 crore. That is a box office shortfall, and the film was described as a disappointment commercially.

It opened to ₹6 crore on day one and ₹7 crore on day two, which suggested decent initial interest — but it faded quickly. Competition from Bhooth Bangla in its third weekend did not help.

The film was originally scheduled for March 19, 2026, to coincide with Ugadi, Gudi Padwa, and Eid. It was pushed to April 10 to avoid clashing with Dhurandhar 2 — but then found itself battling an extended Bhooth Bangla run instead.

Where to Watch

Dacoit: A Love Story is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. You can watch it in both Telugu and Hindi with subtitle options.

For more honest reviews of Telugu, Hindi, and multilingual releases across all major OTT platforms, keep visiting HDMovies4U. We cover everything so you know exactly what is worth your time before you press play.

Should You Watch It?

If you are an Adivi Sesh fan, yes — absolutely. He is exceptional here and this is clearly a passion project that comes from a genuine place.

If you love pan-Indian action films with strong emotional cores and do not mind a messy second half, there is enough here to enjoy.

If you want a tight, well-structured thriller with a satisfying ending — you might walk away frustrated.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars. A film with a brilliant first half, a committed lead performance, and a Rajasthan landscape that deserves to be seen on a big screen — let down by a second half that never finds its footing.

Check the full cast and details on the IMDB page for Dacoit: A Love Story before you watch.