On the last few nights of December, when Mumbai traffic thins out and cinema lobbies smell faintly of cold popcorn and year-end exhaustion, Ikkis arrives without noise. No victory laps. No chest thumping. Just a film stepping into the light with its head slightly bowed, like it already knows the room it is walking into.
This is not a season built for restraint.
While the industry counts fireworks and records, Ikkis carries something heavier. It carries history. It carries the memory of Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal, a Param Vir Chakra recipient whose bravery has lived for decades in school chapters and army folklore, now given flesh by Agastya Nanda. It also carries the quiet finality of Dharmendra’s last onscreen appearance, a fact that sits in the chest longer than any trailer cut or poster tagline.
And yet, the trade conversation around the film is blunt. Current box office predictions suggest an opening around two crore rupees. In any other week, that number might have had room to grow. In this one, it feels almost inevitable.
The reason has a name, and it is everywhere.
Dhurandhar has not just dominated the box office; it has occupied it. Even deep into its run, weekday numbers are coming in strong enough to shame fresh releases. Screens remain locked. Prime show timings are scarce. Audiences are still choosing spectacle, scale, and volume. There is little oxygen left for anything that asks viewers to sit quietly and listen.
Truth is, this was never meant to be a fair fight.
Sriram Raghavan has never been interested in making noise for the sake of it. His films prefer tension over thunder, intention over excess. When he publicly said he would never make a film like Dhurandhar, it did not sound dismissive. It sounded honest. Ikkis was always built on a different frequency, one that does not lend itself to mass hysteria or opening day frenzy.
That difference is also why the makers chose to step back from a Christmas release and land on January 1, 2026, instead. Officially, it is a postponement. Unofficially, it feels like a quiet acknowledgment of reality. Sometimes survival means waiting for the room to empty before you speak.
The film itself has moved carefully at every step. A brief India-Pakistan dialogue, reportedly just fifteen seconds long, was removed by the censor board ahead of certification. It is a small cut, but one that reflects the tightrope such stories walk today. War films are no longer just about history. They are about headlines.
Behind the scenes, however, some moments feel deeply personal. Bobby Deol stepping in to dub the younger portions of Dharmendra’s voice is one of them. A son lending sound to his father’s past. Cinema is doing what it does best, folding time, blurring generations. At a recent Mumbai screening, filmmaker Subhash Ghai was visibly emotional, praising Dharmendra with the affection of someone who has seen an entire era pass in front of his eyes.
Agastya Nanda stands at an unusual starting point. Playing Arun Khetarpal is not a role designed to manufacture fandom overnight. There are no easy applause moments baked into the performance. Reports suggest his portrayal leans into sincerity rather than theatrics, a risky choice in a market addicted to scale. But perhaps the right one. Stories like this do not ask to be performed. They ask to be respected.
The numbers, for now, remain modest. Trade analysts are realistic. With Dhurandhar still pulling crowds, Ikkis is likely to struggle for screens and visibility in its opening days. Word of mouth will matter more than banners. Late shows may matter more than premieres. Time may matter more than hype.
And just like that, the conversation shifts.
Because films like Ikkis are rarely remembered for their opening weekends. They linger differently. They stay alive through discussions, through quiet recommendations, through viewers who walk out subdued rather than exhilarated. Dhurandhar will be remembered as a box office phenomenon, a film that rewrote records and refused to slow down. Ikkis may be remembered for something less measurable, but no less powerful.
The image of a young officer standing his ground. The echo of Dharmendra’s final moments on screen. The feeling that cinema, once in a while, still knows how to pause.
Honestly, Ikkis feels like a film asking for patience in a very impatient season. Whether the audience grants it that patience remains to be seen. But as the year turns and the noise begins to fade, there is a chance that this quiet film finds its voice.
Sometimes, the loudest stories are not the ones that shout.
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Zayn blends critical thinking with genuine fandom. Whether it’s decoding OTT series arcs or rating the latest Bollywood blockbuster, he writes with clarity, pop fluency, and a dash of irreverence.
