Acclaimed actor-filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Ghamasaan, currently streaming on Zee5 is supposedly inspired by true events set in Uttar Pradesh of 2006. Though the movie has been doing film festival rounds since 2024 it only got an official release on 11th September 2026.
The movie tries to capture the essence of the era of overlords and mafia who enjoyed political patronage. Screenplay and direction by Tigmanshu Dhulia an old hand on sagas related to Indian hinterlands, police and dacoits/mafia, who has shown his creative superiority in movies like Paan Singh Tomar, Shagird, Haasil, Saheb Biwi and Gangster series to name a few.
Ghamasaan is set in Bundelkhand and opens with a police team consisting of the dare devils of UP police who have set an ambush to catch the notorious gangster called Maharaj (Arshad Warsi), though no one has seen him but the name spells terror right from the villages, mofussil towns to cities of the area and it also echoes within the rank and files of the law force and of course the political circles. Gory killings at will, chopping off heads, gouging out eyes to exact revenge and spread terror is Maharaj ‘s calling card.
The real-life dacoit who inspired the film Ghamasaan
Shiv Kumar Patel, alias Dadua, was a notorious Indian dacoit who terrorized the Bundelkhand border region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh during the 1980s and 1990s.
Dubbed the “Veerappan of Bundelkhand,” his gang operated out of dense ravines and forests using sophisticated automatic weaponry. Dadua’s criminal reign ended on 22 July 2007, when he and several gang members were killed in a shootout with the Uttar Pradesh Police Special Task Force (STF) in Chitrakoot’s Ailaha village.
The ambush ultimately fails as the overload has eyes and ears everywhere. His dread is such that the CM himself asks him to tone till elections. A Special task force headed by Aditya Singh (Pratik Gandhi) is convened to contain Maharaj ‘s activities till the election is over. From here starts a game of catch me if you can as both sides declare war on each other leading to a fight to the finish.
A rustic feel all throughout
The setting of Ghamasaan is rustic, good recreation of 2006 pre smartphone era. Caste angle too has been touched upon.
In the acting department Arshad though dependable as ever has put on a lot of weight however he has conveyed the underlying menace aqas the antagonist, Pratik may carry a slight Gujrati twang like an after taste but looks every inch a UPite, as STF team commander appears lean but one can feel energy in his presence, conveys a lot with liveliness in his eyes and purpose in his acting. For once a Bollywood movie does not demean women but has shown them as equal partner with a mind of her own in Ishita Dutta’s character.
Many senior Bollywood, OTT and stage actors lend support ably. A dehati lok geet plays in the background. Director has tried to keep the movie authentic, however the punch and power is missing. Ghamasaan’s dated theme running into 150 minutes of watch time may not appeal to a cross section of the society
– Review by Pawan Gupta
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Cast of Ghamasaan:
Arshad Warsi as Maharaj
Pratik Gandhi as Aditya Singh (IPS)
Ishita Dutta as Aparna Singh (Aditya’s wife)
Roshan Joy Koottyani as Raghu Menon (IPS)
Himangshu Dhulia as Chief minister Kripal Singh Yadav
Seema Azmi as Kumari Sarojini
Rajpal Yadav as Kalika
Murari Kumar as Chota Patel
Ananya Pathak as Badri
Hemant Sharma as Lakhua
Deepraj Rana as Harsh Verma
Kumar Kanchan Ghosh as Manavendra
Puneet Singh as Sahdev Singh
Jatin Goswami as Angad
Karan Pandey as Narendra
Anurag Thakur as Balram Yadav
Preserving India’s Rich Heritage: Brijeshwari Kumari Gohil the princess of Bhavnagar, Gujarat
Credits of Ghamasaan:
Production companies – Jio Studios, Yaelstar Films, Golden Ratio Films
Produced by Ashwini Chaudhary, Jyoti Deshpande, Saurabh Gupta, Abhayanand Singh, Piiyush Singh
Based on – Dadua, the dreaded dacoit of Bundelkhand region in UP
Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia
Screenplay by Tigmanshu Dhulia
Story by Piiyush Singh, Ram Yash Singh
Cinematography – Dev Agarwal
Edited by Sourabh Prabhudesai
Music by Anuj Garg
Distributed by ZEE5
