Picture Credit: Netflix
Netflix India likes working with the same talent repeatedly. We’ve written about which stars have appeared in the most Indian Originals, and the same goes for talent behind the camera. Without question, the streaming service’s favorite team is writer Kanika Dhillon and actor Tapsee Pannu.
The writer-actor duo has worked together five times so far, with two of those projects being the Netflix Original films Haseen Dillruba and Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba. Their sixth collaboration is the new Hindi Netflix Original movie Gandhari, in which Pannu plays Bani, a mother whose daughter is kidnapped.
The title connects the film’s main character to one of the major characters of the Hindu mythological epic Mahabharata. In the epic, Gandhari is a queen who wears a blindfold in solidarity with her blind husband. She gives birth to 100 sons, all of whom die in an ill-advised war. Dhillon told The Hollywood Reporter India: “Gandhari, in the Mahabharata, has been a mother who could never actively take a stand. This time I wanted to reinterpret that — see her actually making the right decision and getting into the battlefield and fighting that war.”
Dhillon did not just write Gandhari. She produced it, too. The film is directed by Devashish Makhija (Joram).
What is the plot of Gandhari?
Here’s how Netflix describes this Hindi thriller:
After her little daughter is abducted in a crowded railway station and a brutal attack leaves her temporarily blind, a grieving mother must rise from her trauma and confront a shadowy child-trafficking nexus embedded deep within a town of shape-shifters and ancient lore — becoming a mythic force of vengeance to save her daughter and the lost children before they disappear forever.
Who is cast in Gandhari?
Taapsee Pannu stars as Bani. The role is perhaps Pannu’s most physically demanding to date, and her preparation included “strength, flexibility, and stamina training, along with aerial yoga.”
Other key cast members:
- Ishwak Singh (Paatal Lok)
- Chhaya Kadam (Laapataa Ladies)
- Swastika Mukherjee (Qala)
- Mita Vashisht (Criminal Justice)
- Jatin Sarna (Khakee: The Bihar Chapter)
Gandhari has a runtime of 1 hour 56 minutes and a TV-MA rating in the US for violence, language, and child abuse. The Hindi film has dubbed dialogue options in English, French, Hindi audio description, Indonesian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Latin America & Spain), Tamil, Telugu, and Thai. Subtitles are available in 35 languages.
You can see more of Netflix’s upcoming TV and movie slate from India scheduled to arrive in 2026 in the link provided.
Are you excited for Gandhari? Let us know in the comments below!
