Daldal OTT Release: Bhumi Pednekar's Bold Crime Thriller Unveiled At IFFI 2025; What To Expect?

Daldal OTT Release: At a special preview at the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Prime Video, India's most popular entertainment destination, revealed an exclusive first look at their series Daldal. Amrit Raj Gupta is the director of the series, which is based on Vish Dhamija's best-selling book Bhendi Bazaar. Bhumi Satish Pednekar, Aditya Rawal, and Samara Tijori play the main parts. Vikram Malhotra and Suresh Triveni produced Daldal, an Abundantia Entertainment series that Triveni created.

Daldal will soon be available on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories, including India. The fictional series enthralled viewers with its compelling depiction of Rita Ferreira, the recently appointed DCP of Mumbai, who must face the ghosts of her past and venture far into the city's moral gray areas in pursuit of a cold-blooded killer.

Daldal's special in-room teaser preview was followed by a thought-provoking fireside talk, titled Beyond the Stereotype: Redefining Women and Power in Modern Storytelling. The session brought together series’ lead Bhumi Satish Pednekar and Nikhil Madhok, Director & Head of Originals, Prime Video India, along with the creative forces behind Daldal.

ALSO READ - Bhumi Pednekar Creates History As First Indian Actress At Young Global Leaders Summit 2025 In Geneva

What To Expect From Daldal?

Daldal cast and producers broke down the psychological depth of the series and how it’s breaking stereotypes in its portrayal of female characters. The discussion touched upon how Daldal deliberately steps away from familiar tropes around female cops and instead, builds a layered portrait of a woman who is strong, conflicted, empathetic, and driven by a complicated sense of purpose.

Actor Bhumi Satish Pednekkar, who plays DCP Rita Ferreira in the series, said, "From the women in my home, I learned that power doesn't need to be loud. It can be quiet, resilient, and rooted in constantly questioning the world around you. That's something I saw my mother do every day, and something Rita does too. She doesn't say much, but she does a lot. If actions speak louder than words, I don't think there's a character who embodies that more than Rita Ferreira. For the first time, I didn't have dialogues or even expressive eyes to rely on. I had to communicate through the smallest physical cues: how her neck tightens with guilt or how her body responds to anger. It was one of the toughest roles I've ever prepared for, and it took months to come out of it. But it was also deeply satisfying because I was pushed, really pushed, by a team that believed in complexity, in darkness, in writing anti-hero traits for women. Very few characters like this get written for us."

Bhumi Pednekkar with Daldal team at IFFI 2025

ALSO READ - Bhumi Pednekar Unveils Luxury Water Brand — You Won’t Believe The Price Of One Bottle

Vikram Malhotra, Founder & CEO of Abundantia Entertainment and Producer of Daldal, spoke of Abundantia Entertainment creating and backing powerful female characters with films and series like Shakuntala Devi, Jalsa, Sherni, Hush Hush and now Daldal. "At Abundantia, it’s always about the story, followed by the gaze of the storyteller. I've always believed that the moment you start boxing narratives as female-led or male-led, you've already defeated the purpose. Stories must connect universally, cutting across genders, for them to truly find their audience. While creating powerful female characters, it’s all about balance. No one is entirely good or entirely bad. My issue with the historical portrayal of women in our cinema is that it always chooses a side. That's the thing we do differently at Abundantia: we embrace human portrayals, complexities, nuance, and emotional truth," he said.

Bhumi Pednekkar along with the team of crime thriller Daldal at IFFI Goa 2025

Producer and Creator Suresh Triveni shared, When this show first came to me, I had the same hesitation as many others: another crime story, another set of familiar tropes. There are patterns you expect in the genre, and you almost assume you'll fall into them. But what we attempted with Daldal was very different. It's not just a good versus bad narrative, and it's definitely not only about discovering who the killer is. We wanted to go beyond that. We were interested in where it all originates. Because the truth is, there is good and bad in everyone; there's rage in all of us. And that's the space the show tries to explore. Instead of limiting ourselves to a whodunnit, we wanted to ask the deeper question: why do people do what they do?"

Director Amrit Raj Gupta spoke about working on the crime thriller, adding, "When I first read the script, I didn't fully understand why Rita is the way she is: her traumas, her past, and how all of that forms her present. Once I understood that, the process became clearer. And of course, when you have an actor like Bhumi who is so collaborative, intuitive, and generous, it becomes a joy. With the support of the producer and creator, things gradually fell into place. One thing we constantly reminded ourselves was this: because these characters are so complex, less is more. We didn't want to overplay anything. We wanted to see them simply as humans: vulnerable, flawed, layered. We didn't want to take sides. We wanted to observe and let the audience decide their own point of view."