Anurag Kashyap’s directorial Bandar is set to land for a digital premiere on Zee5 on August 28, 2026. It’s a crime drama with Bobby Deol in the lead role, along with Sanya Malhotra, Sapna Pabbi and Saba Azad.
The film leans into themes like accusation, what people assume in public media scrutiny and justice.
Made by Saffron Magicworks and Zee Studios, Bandar keeps tracking Samar Mehra, a former television actor whose life flips after he is accused of rape by a former partner.
Once the allegation comes out it sparks heavy media attention and drags him into a legal battle, and somewhere through all of that the movie looks at what happens when someone is treated as “guilty” in the court of public opinion before the full situation is even visible.
Bandar has also been framed around the #MeTooForMen conversation, and it asks uncomfortable questions about victimhood, consent, and how public opinion begins to steer cases with serious allegations.
Instead of moving like a clean, straight line story, Bandar kind of wanders through the grey zones of its main conflict, and shows the ripple effect that an accusation creates across the people involved.
Speaking about the film and its central premise, director Anurag Kashyap said, “What drew me to this story was its willingness to ask difficult questions, including one that society is often uncomfortable confronting: can men be victims too? The film challenges audiences to look beyond black-and-white narratives and consider the uncomfortable grey areas that often exist in real life. It asks whether we are truly willing to listen before we judge, and whether our understanding of victimhood, truth and empathy is sometimes influenced by our own assumptions. The film is anchored by some exceptional performances, especially from Bobby, who completely immersed himself in the character and brought a vulnerability and intensity that the role demanded. Whatever the journey of the film may have been so far, I believe the story remains relevant and worthy of discussion. I’m glad that Bandar will now reach a wider audience on Hindi Zee 5, and I hope viewers engage with it, interpret it in their own way, and keep the conversation going long after the film ends.”
Directed by Anurag Kashyap, Bandar has Bobby Deol in the lead with Sanya Malhotra, Sapna Pabbi, Saba Azad, Indrajith Sukumaran, Raj B Shetty and Jitendra Joshi, among other names. The movie is put together by Saffron Magicworks and Zee Studios and it will stream only on Zee 5 starting August 28.