Kareena Kapoor and Prithviraj’s Daayra Posters Reveal Two DCPs on Opposing Sides of Justice

The new character posters for Meghna Gulzar’s Daayra have formally introduced Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran as two senior police officers whose understanding of justice appears set to place them in conflict.

Kareena plays DCP Ajooni Kohli, while Prithviraj appears as DCP Raman Kumar. The crime drama, inspired by true events, is scheduled to release theatrically on September 18, 2026.

Rather than revealing the case at the center of the story, the promotional campaign is building Daayra around two competing perspectives. Its official synopsis says a controversial investigation places Ajooni and Raman on opposing sides of the same system, forcing them to confront questions of truth, accountability, and the moral limits of justice.

What the Daayra Character Posters Reveal

The individual posters released on August 29 give Ajooni and Raman noticeably different visual identities.

Kareena’s poster presents Ajooni as an assertive uniformed officer, while Prithviraj’s Raman has a more restrained appearance amid what looks like a public or media-facing situation. Police tape across the designs reinforces the investigative setting without disclosing the crime they are examining.

The official promotional descriptions position Ajooni as “unflinching, unreadable, and unafraid,” while Raman is presented through a contrast between outward calm and underlying fierceness. These phrases are promotional character descriptions, not assessments of their conduct within the film.

More importantly, both characters hold the rank of DCP. This is not a conventional setup in which a senior officer is paired with a subordinate. The conflict appears to involve two figures with comparable institutional authority but potentially incompatible ideas about how justice should be pursued.

What Is Daayra About?

The makers describe Daayra as an investigative crime thriller inspired by true events. Its disclosed premise follows a controversial case that produces sharply divided reactions and tests the boundary between legal procedure, moral responsibility, and public perception.

The film’s wider campaign has used the line “Two officers. Two perspectives. One truth.” That framing suggests the central tension is not simply about identifying a perpetrator. It is also about how evidence, personal conviction, and institutional responsibility shape the search for truth.

The real incident or combination of incidents that inspired the screenplay has not been officially identified. Attempts to connect the film with a specific criminal case should therefore be treated as speculation unless the makers provide confirmation.

Kareena and Prithviraj Collaborate for the First Time

Daayra marks the first screen collaboration between Kareena and Prithviraj. It also gives both actors law-enforcement roles within the same investigation.

Kareena has previously appeared in police-centered mainstream films, including the Singham franchise, but Ajooni appears to occupy a more central investigative and moral position. Prithviraj, meanwhile, has played law-enforcement and investigative characters across Malayalam cinema, though Daayra places him within Meghna Gulzar’s grounded Hindi crime-drama framework.

Kareena described the film’s appeal as its refusal to instruct viewers what to think, saying that the story takes its characters and audience into morally gray territory. Meghna has similarly described Ajooni and Raman as officers who frequently find themselves on different sides of a delicate line.

These comments support the idea that the film’s primary dramatic engine will be the clash between the two officers, rather than a straightforward hero-versus-villain structure.

Meghna Gulzar Reunites With Junglee Pictures

The film is directed by Meghna Gulzar and written by Yash Keswani, Sima Agarwal, and Meghna. Saurabh Goswami is credited as director of photography, Charu Shree Roy as editor, Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray as production designers, and Ketan Sodha as background-score composer.

Junglee Pictures’ official filming announcement lists Vineet Jain as producer, with the film presented by Pen Studios’ Dr. Jayantilal Gada and produced by Dhaval Gada. Pen Marudhar is the distribution partner.

Daayra is Meghna’s third film with Junglee Pictures after Talvar and Raazi. It is also the first title under a broader collaboration announced between Junglee Pictures and Pen Studios.

When Will the Daayra Trailer and Film Release?

Junglee Pictures announced the September 18 theatrical date through an official behind-the-scenes video released on June 18.

The character-poster campaign identified August 31 as the trailer-launch date. At the time this article was prepared, the official trailer had not yet appeared on Junglee Pictures’ searchable YouTube listings. Editors should check the studio’s official accounts before publication and update this section if the trailer has since been released.

The September 18 release date remains listed by BookMyShow, District, and overseas cinema chain VOX Cinemas.

The Celebrity Hour Take

The posters do more than place two stars in police uniforms. By giving both characters the same rank and positioning them on opposing sides of a disputed case, Daayra creates a conflict between competing interpretations of justice rather than between authority and criminality alone.

That distinction could make the film a procedural drama about systems, judgment, and accountability—not simply a suspense story about solving a crime.

The trailer’s most important task will be to explain the nature of Ajooni and Raman’s disagreement without prematurely revealing the real-world inspiration. It should also clarify whether the two officers are adversaries throughout the film or whether the investigation gradually changes their respective positions.

Sources & Verification

This report was prepared using Junglee Pictures’ official filming and release-date videos, current theatrical listings, the makers’ publicly circulated character descriptions, and attributed comments from Kareena Kapoor Khan and Meghna Gulzar. The Celebrity Hour verified the characters, core creative credits, and September 18 release date. No specific real-life case has been named because the producers have not publicly identified one.