Last Man in Tower Adaptation Brings Aravind Adiga’s Mumbai Redevelopment Battle to Theatres

The film adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s 2011 novel Last Man in Tower was released in Indian theatres on September 11, 2026. Directed by Ben Rekhi and produced by Rana Daggubati’s Spirit Media, the film stars Manoj Bajpayee as a retired schoolteacher who refuses to sell his Mumbai apartment.

The story is set in Vishram Cooperative Housing Society, a five-floor apartment complex in middle-class Mumbai. A real estate developer named Dharmen Shah, played by Boman Irani, offers residents a large sum to vacate the building so he can construct a luxury high-rise called The Shanghai.

The offer is all or nothing, requiring unanimous consent from all residents. Most of the neighbours agree to sell, but Yogesh Mishra, known as Masterji, refuses to leave the home he shared with his late wife.

The Cast and Characters

Manoj Bajpayee plays Yogesh Mishra, a retired schoolteacher and widower. Divya Dutta plays Sangeeta Puri, a neighbour and mother to a child with special needs who becomes a central figure in the pressure campaign against Masterji. Boman Irani plays the developer Dharmen Shah. Sukant Goel plays Masterji’s son, Gaurav.

The film marks the first on-screen collaboration between Bajpayee and Irani. The screenplay was written by Sooni Taraporevala, with Hindi dialogues by Juhi Chaturvedi. The film runs 97 minutes.

Director Ben Rekhi described the film as a nuanced exploration of the human condition and what ordinary people are capable of when pushed to the extreme. He said the story has grown more relevant with time, noting that the kind of redevelopment seen in Indian cities now was predicted in the 2011 book.

Themes of Greed and Disconnection

The film explores how money can buy silence, loyalty, and even morality. Each resident has a reason to sell. A mother raising a special-needs child wants a better life, a single mother wants to send her daughter abroad to study, and another man wants to pay off his debt.

The narrative depicts how peer pressure, fear, and financial temptation turn ordinary people against a dissenting neighbour. The society itself becomes a character through its redevelopment meetings, evening gossip, alliances, and moral policing.

Manoj Bajpayee said the film serves as a warning about human disconnection. He called it a documentary for the coming time. He told PTI: ‘It is a fine film on relationships and human connection. What people should take away from this is a warning for the coming future. No matter how old or new the building, or its size, at the end of the day, what you should be looking for in future is the relationships you build.’

Bajpayee also said: ‘You invest so much into all of those relationships and you just let it go because of commercial and materialistic reasons. And in the process, you lose yourself. So this is about the possible calamity of human disconnect when we put a lot of focus on materialism.’

Divya Dutta said her character, Mrs Puri, is shaped by her circumstances. She noted there are layers to the character involving a special child at home, a communication gap with her husband, and other things not discussed openly.

Production and Release

Director Ben Rekhi first read the novel after its publication in 2011. The project took over ten years to reach the screen. Rekhi said it was a long journey of resilience and that it is almost a miracle when a film like this comes into the world and gets a theatrical release.

Rekhi worked with scriptwriter Sooni Taraporevala to adapt the book. Juhi Chaturvedi was brought in to write the Hindi dialogues. The film’s music is by Govind Vasantha, with cinematography by Rangarajan Ramabadran.

The film received mostly positive critical reviews. However, it had a quiet theatrical release with limited promotion. On its opening day, the film earned approximately 3 lakh net at the box office. It was made on a reported budget of 13 crore and released across select premium multiplex chains.

Manoj Bajpayee said he read Adiga’s novel for the film because the story involved redevelopment. He wanted to understand how Adiga had looked at the redevelopment of Mumbai. He said: ‘This time, I read Aravind Adiga’s book because the story had to do with redevelopment. I wanted to understand how Adiga had looked at the redevelopment of Mumbai and how much of it she had experienced and observed as a novelist. That curiosity is what made me read the book.’

The film remains in theatres across India.