Hunkkaar: The Roar Review
Director: Karan D Kapadia and Nitya Mehra
Date Created: 2026-09-25 20:37
3.5
Hunkkaar: The Roar Review: Directed by Karan D Kapadia and Nitya Mehra, the JioHotstar series stars Fatima Sana Shaikh as ACP Jasleen Soni, Aneet Padda as Meenu Rawat, Zeeshan Ayyub as Bhalerao, Raghubir Yadav as Sunil “Baapji” Chakosi and Arjun Mathur as Amitabh Sinha. The six-episode series has a runtime of around 50 minutes per episode.
Hunkkaar: The Roar Review
JioHotstar’s Hunkkaar: The Roar revolves around 17-year-old Meenu Rawat, who makes allegations of sexual assault against the highly powerful religious figure of Sunil “Baapji” Chakosi. It may seem to be a straightforward criminal case, but in no time it turns out to be something much larger. The protagonist not only has to face the police and lawyers but has to fight with the media, the supporters of Baapji, and also an indifferent society that seems to have more questions for her than the person she is accusing.
What resonated with me the most about the JioHotstar Hunkkaar: The Roar series is the understanding that Meenu’s biggest problem does not start with the incident itself; it starts from everything that happens after she discusses it. The series constantly analyses her behaviour, and the best example of it comes from seeing her eat paani puri in the market. Something as simple as that becomes fodder for questions on her character. This aspect of the show appealed to me since it managed to convey a message without having a lengthy discussion on victim shaming. It stops being a question of what happened to Meenu and becomes a question of how she acts as a victim.
It would be fair to say that Aneet Padda makes up one of the most important reasons for the success of this story. Meenu does not seem like a character who would gain courage out of necessity. On the contrary, she is scared, confused and obviously influenced by all events that happen to her. Padda manages to convey much of this information with the help of facial expressions and silences instead of having every moment full of drama and emotions. What I especially liked about Meenu was the fact that she started changing along with the development of the investigation.
Fatima Sana Shaikh’s ACP Jasleen Soni adds an entirely new dynamic. While Jasleen appears to be calm and collected, there is an underlying feeling that she knows how hard the case will turn out to be. She is not simply investigating a charge laid against an influential man; she is trying to get the job done in spite of a system that already expects an outcome from her. In fact, I enjoyed the contrast between Jasleen’s subdued nature and the pressure surrounding her. Nevertheless, I think the series could have used more of the pressure exerted by institutions on Jasleen.
The JioHotstar series Hunkkaar: The Roar shows that she was assigned the case knowing she would not be able to solve it, but this conflict is left untouched. The character of Bhalerao by Zeeshan Ayyub is yet another interesting one to watch on-screen. Being the lawyer who takes up Meenu’s case, he brings along the essence of an underdog, which automatically adds some charm to his scenes. His battles in court add some spice to the proceedings, especially when the latter might get monotonous at times due to their nature. The connection he shares with the case adds a personal touch to the plot since he does not come across as a god-like saviour.
Then there is Baapji, played by Raghubir Yadav. This character stood out as very well-executed since the performance never verges into caricatured evilness. It only makes him even more unsettling. This man has managed to establish a reputation of spirituality and dedication. That fact that such a lot of people are ready to stand up for his reputation becomes a significant plot point of the show. Hunkkaar is strongest in demonstrating how influence can save one without having to always make it evident. Baapji does not have to intimidate everybody all the time because his reputation and following do it for him.
The story about Amitabh Sinha from the media world was another one that intrigued me, even though the storytelling here is inconsistent. Arjun Mathur plays a journalist who is clearly interested in bringing this case to light, and the whole series revolves around the complex connection between the media and justice. The journalism he engages in could be beneficial for Meenu, but extra attention alters the way everybody thinks about this case. The concept was good, but not the character development of Amitabh.
The problem that I have with JioHotstar’s Hunkkaar is the fact that there are a lot of things in the series that could be said, but they sometimes say too many things at once. The investigation, the court drama, the press attention, the politics, the followers of Baapji, and many more subplots are all competing with each other for attention. Some of these subplots are introduced with the assumption that they will gain significance later, just for the series to move on without letting them grow.
JioHotstar Hunkkaar: The Roar Review: Summing Up
Overall, the 2026 series Hunkkaar: The Roar is a fairly serious and largely engrossing show with good performances and a narrative that appreciates the social reality in the background of its main case. It is only a pity that the screenwriters tried to treat all their storylines equally rather than allowing the best characters and conflict lines in the plot to carry it through. Nonetheless, it is a great success for the story in terms of raising its stakes and making Meenu’s struggle universal.
