Anurag Kashyap’s newest movie, Bandar, – which also goes by Monkey In A Cage – will come to cinemas everywhere on May 22, 2026, and is a very serious drama about being in prison, for general audiences. Bobby Deol is in the film, and, after it was shown at film festivals, reviewers said his acting was very real and showed a lot of depth. Since it showed in Toronto, people have been looking forward to it more and more.
When It Comes Out and How It Will Be Shown
The people making the film have said it will be in theaters all over the world on May 22, 2026, at the same time. They picked this date so Bandar will be one of the first big movies in early summer, and to get people who follow film festivals, and regular moviegoers, to go see Kashyap’s newest work on a large screen. The plan is to make the most of the good reaction the film got at festivals, and also to let distributors in different areas plan showings that work for them. The first advertising will talk about the film’s worrying story, the group of actors in it, and the people who made it – all to make a lot of people aware of it before the opening weekend.
What the Film is About, and Bobby Deol’s Part
Bandar is about Sabar, a TV star whose popularity is going down, and is played by Bobby Deol. His old girlfriend makes a very serious claim against him, and he is held by the courts while they investigate, which makes for a story that is tight, and has a lot of moral problems. Deol has a part which is one of the hardest he has ever taken, playing someone whose public and private lives mix together. People who saw the film at its first showing said Deol was happy to do hard things, and gave detail to a story about power, who is responsible for what, and spectacle.
The People Making the Film, and the Writers
Anurag Kashyap is the director of Bandar, and is working with the writers Sudip Sharma and Abhishek Banerjee. Sharma and Banerjee have both done good work with stories that are rough, and about problems in society, and have written a script that puts a lot of stress on being true to life, and on what people are feeling. Nikhil Dwivedi, the producer, got the project together, and the film has a strong group of other actors. Sanya Malhotra, Saba Azad, Sapna Pabbi, Raj B Shetty, Jitendra Joshi, Riddhi Sen, and Nagesh Bhosle are all in important parts, and will give good performances all through the film.
How It Was Received at Festivals and What People Are Saying Before It Comes Out
Bandar first showed at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival, in the Special Presentation section. Reviewers said the film was powerful and did not hold back, which made a lot of international attention for it well before it came to cinemas. The reaction at the festival made people expect more of the film, and showed Kashyap still wants to make stories that cause trouble. Early reviews talked about the film’s tense feel and how hard its moral problems were, and said Bandar was one of the best films at the recent festivals.
What Bandar Means for Kashyap and Deol
For Kashyap, Bandar is going back to making the kind of raw, socially important stories that he has made a lot of in his career. The film goes on with his looking at people who are not clearly good or bad, and at societies that are broken – things he has often gone past what is normal in movies to do. For Bobby Deol, Bandar is a good thing to be a part of, and an important part of his getting his career going again. At the film’s first showing, Deol said he had never thought one of his films would go to a festival, and said how good it felt to work with Kashyap and the people making the film. Bandar is one of a number of projects that have seen Kashyap’s work go from film festivals to wider showings. The director’s recent films have made people argue and paid attention, and Bandar is now going to normal cinemas with the same kind of energy that made it get attention at the festival. With a director people respect, writers who have done a lot, and a group of actors, Bandar wants to have the good opinion of festivals and get a lot of people to go and see it. The May 22, 2026 showing gives people everywhere a chance to judge a film that talks about fame, being accused of something, and the legal system, in a way that does not hide anything.
