‘The law has done its duty’ is what Prithviraj Sukumaran’s DCP Raman Kumar says after carrying out the encounter of four accused men in Meghna Gulzar’s Daayra. Even as the public reveres DCP Raman for taking the law into his own hands and providing instant justice to Ragini Pujari, who was brutally abused and murdered, the film does not present him as a hero.
On the opposite side of vigilante justice on the broad spectrum of the legal system is procedural law, which DCP Ajooni Kohli, played by Kareena Kapoor Khan, firmly believes in. She is tasked with leading a SIT to investigate the killing of the four accused by DCP Raman and his team. For her, the law has to take its own course, even when the process is slow and frustrating.
Daayra Presents Two Opposing Ideas Of Justice
Director Meghna Gulzar, known for her investigative and socially relevant dramas, takes the audience on separate journeys with both lead characters. The film presents the opposing perspectives of the two high-ranking officers with equal weight. It does not turn Raman into a larger-than-life cop or Ajooni into someone who blindly defends a flawed system. Instead, both characters are allowed to question the other side while remaining firmly rooted in their own beliefs.
For DCP Raman’s side of the story, Daayra covers the entire timeline from when he is assigned the case to the moment of the encounter. It is not that he decides the course of his action in a fit of anger. There is a gradual buildup through events and conversations that drive him to punish the accused himself. The film spends time establishing why he reaches that point, without using his personal frustration as an easy justification for what follows.
On the other hand, DCP Ajooni is a firm believer that the law should be allowed to take its own course, no matter the delay. Her belief in the judicial system is not shaken even when her own father’s case drags on for years. This personal experience could have easily been used to make her question everything she stands for, but Daayra chooses a more interesting route. Ajooni continues to believe in the process even after witnessing how painfully slow it can be.
She sets out to investigate the encounter, which has already been presented as an act of defence in the public eye. This creates the central conflict of Daayra. Raman believes that justice sometimes demands immediate action, while Ajooni believes that allowing an individual to decide punishment can weaken the very system meant to deliver justice.
What makes Daayra stand out from other crime thrillers is that it never forces you, or even tries to influence you, to choose one side. Meghna presents both stances with equal honesty and leaves it up to the viewers to draw their own moral line. The film does not offer an easy answer because the question itself is complicated.
In the process, Daayra makes you uncomfortable, forces you to rethink what you believe is ethical, and then leaves you to take your own final position. There are moments when Raman’s argument feels emotionally understandable, while Ajooni’s insistence on procedure brings the larger consequences of such actions into focus. The film works best when it allows these two thoughts to exist together instead of reducing them to right and wrong.
A Non Linear Narrative Leads To A Hard Hitting Climax
The storytelling is not linear, as Daayra moves back and forth between flashbacks and the present day. The flexible chronology in which the events are presented keeps the crime thriller engaging throughout and hits harder as the film approaches the climax. The structure also helps the film avoid becoming just another investigation drama. The question is not simply who was right or wrong, but what happens when two different ideas of justice collide.
The final confrontation between DCP Raman and DCP Ajooni brings this conflict into sharp focus. The two finally come face to face and have an honest conversation about vigilante justice and procedural law. Both attempt to challenge each other by putting forth their perspectives, but neither of them wavers for even a second.
That conversation becomes more important than a conventional climax because Daayra does not use it to deliver a verdict. There is no dramatic moment where one character suddenly realises that the other is completely right. Instead, Meghna Gulzar allows both officers to walk away with their beliefs intact.
That is also where the film’s title gains greater meaning. By refusing to draw that line flaw and justice, Meghna Gulzar turns what could have been a straightforward crime thriller into a much larger conversation about justice, morality, and the limits of the law.