Tigmanshu Dhulia Returns to the Heartland with Ghamasaan, a Dacoit Drama Starring Arshad Warsi and Pratik Gandhi

Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Ghamasaan premiered on ZEE5 on September 11, 2026, marking the filmmaker’s return to the rural crime genre after a six-year gap. The film stars Arshad Warsi as a dreaded dacoit and Pratik Gandhi as the Special Task Force officer tasked with hunting him down in the ravines of Bundelkhand.

Dhulia, known for Paan Singh Tomar and the Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster series, wrote and directed the film. It was produced by Jyoti Deshpande (Jio Studios), Piiyush Singh, Abhayanand Singh, Saurabh Gupta, Ashwini Chaudhary (Golden Ratio Films), and Miten Shah (Yaelstar Films).

The film was completed in 2023 and screened at several festivals, including the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, the Cinevesture International Film Festival, and the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, before its OTT release.

A Long Journey to Release

Ghamasaan was originally planned for a theatrical release in 2024. The delay was a disappointment for Dhulia, who shot the film for the big screen.

‘The film was planned as a theatrical release. We shot it also for the widescreen, anamorphic lenses,’ Dhulia told Mid-Day. He described the shift to an OTT premiere as a ‘bittersweet’ feeling.

The director explained that the setting of Bundelkhand inspired him to tell the story. ‘The terrain of Bundelkhand and later after research we stitched in detailing and that made an otherwise traditional story about dacoits and cops very interesting,’ he told Deccan Chronicle.

Casting the Antagonist and the Cop

Casting the role of the dacoit Maharaj proved challenging. Dhulia said he and his team considered many names before settling on Arshad Warsi.

‘We were toying with many names and nothing was hitting our heart,’ Dhulia recalled to Mid-Day. He had known Warsi since the actor’s debut in Tere Mere Sapne (1996), for which Dhulia wrote more than half the script.

Dhulia said he was impressed by Warsi’s performance in the 2005 film Sehar and described him as ‘an uninhibited actor’ who can portray any role that physically fits him.

For the role of STF officer Aditya Singh, Dhulia’s first choice was Shah Rukh Khan. The director revealed that Khan politely declined the offer.

‘Yaar Tishu, main iss tarah ki realistic pictures nahin karta hoon yaar,’ Dhulia recalled Khan telling him in an interview with Bollywood Hungama.

The role eventually went to Pratik Gandhi. Dhulia had previously directed Gandhi in the web series The Great Indian Murder and offered him Ghamasaan during that shoot.

Gandhi told NDTV that the opportunity to work with Dhulia on a heartland story was enough to convince him. ‘If Tigmanshu Dhulia offers you a heartland story, how do you say no to that?’ he said.

Dhulia’s Vision for the Heartland

Ghamasaan continues Dhulia’s exploration of stories set outside Mumbai. The director has never shot a film in the city, despite living there for over three decades.

‘My characters are not from Mumbai because I don’t know this city so well. I’ve been living here for the past 33 years and I still feel that I don’t belong,’ he told The Hollywood Reporter India.

Dhulia explained that he understands the language, culture, and social fabric of the region he grew up in, which allows him to write characters from rural India with more depth.

He also criticized the current state of Hindi cinema. ‘I feel recent Hindi films are an insult to my intellect,’ he told The Hollywood Reporter India, arguing that the industry relies too heavily on algorithmic formulas rather than unique voices.

Performances and Reception

Arshad Warsi’s portrayal of Maharaj marked a departure from his comedic roles. The actor described the character as a chance to explore a darker side.

‘Playing a negative character with so much darkness, unpredictability and rawness was challenging, but also something I genuinely enjoyed,’ Warsi said in a statement.

Pratik Gandhi said his character’s journey was compelling because Aditya discovers he is fighting a system larger than one man. ‘He isn’t fighting just one individual—he is fighting a well-designed system,’ Gandhi said.

The film received mixed reviews from critics. The Hindu described it as a ‘routine thriller’ that struggles to hold itself together as a genre piece. Hindustan Times rated it 2.5 out of 5 stars, noting that Dhulia’s familiarity with the world benefits the film but it does not offer anything new.

Audience reactions on social media were also mixed. Some praised Warsi’s performance and the film’s authentic regional dialogue, while others pointed to slow pacing and a repetitive middle act.

Ghamasaan is currently streaming on ZEE5.