Ikka Review
Director: Siddharth P. Malhotra
Date Created: 2026-07-10 18:37
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Ikka Review: Directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra and written by Althea Kaushal and Mayank Tewari, the Netflix film stars Sunny Deol as Arjun, Akshaye Khanna as Shauryaman Gaur, Tillotama Shome as Madhura, Dia Mirza as Avantika, Sanjeeda Shaikh as Gauri Gaur, alongside Shishir Sharma, Ivan Rodrigues, Vijay Vikram Singh, Akanksha Ranjan Kapoor and others. The movie has a runtime of 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Ikka Review
Netflix film Ikka revolves around Arjun, a famous lawyer whose success has always been based on principles and not any kind of manipulation or trickery. Everything takes an ugly turn for him when he ends up defending Shauryaman Gaur, a rich guy facing severe accusations of committing a terrible crime and against whom he personally holds a grudge. During the trial process, Arjun ends up in a situation where he is caught between his own ideals and the urgent necessity of saving his daughter’s life.
What makes Netflix’s Ikka really intriguing is the fact that it doesn’t pose the question of whether Arjun is a good lawyer, but rather how far a good person would go when the circumstances leave him with no other alternative. The moral dilemma is without doubt the best part of the movie, and the fact is that I was much more interested in Arjun’s experience than in the mystery itself. It is always fascinating to watch how a person who has been advocating justice his whole life defends a criminal that he dislikes.
The part that I liked best about this film is that Arjun’s situation is never shallow. This is not about a lawyer choosing to take up a contentious case in order to achieve fame or make money. Whenever Arjun defends Shauryaman in court, you can see the struggle he is going through. On one hand, there is a father who will do anything for the sake of saving his daughter’s life, and on the other hand, there is a man who has believed all along that the law must protect innocence and not use it as a tool for manipulation.
This struggle makes courtroom scenes very intriguing compared to the actual investigation, since you are always unsure whether Arjun is convincing the judge or only convincing himself. The role demands an actor who can convey emotions through his performance, and Sunny Deol fits into it perfectly.
The strength of the character is more to do with his emotional state than anything else in terms of dialogue. He may sound confident while refuting the points within the courtroom, but there is always a tinge of sorrow in his actions because his every win takes him away from his ideologies. What I appreciated the most about the movie was the fact that it repeatedly made us aware that Arjun doesn’t defend Shauryaman because he trusts him, but because he has no other choice.
Shauryaman, on the other hand, is one of those characters whom you simply can’t stand from the very beginning of Siddharth P Malhotra’s Ikka movie. There is just something eerie about the manner in which he behaves, even before the movie shows us some information about his background. All his smiles appear to be calculated, all his talk seems to be manipulative, and through the entire duration of the movie, I could not believe anything he said. Akshaye Khanna has got the full understanding of the character he is portraying here. He did not make Shauryaman an exaggerated evil character; rather, he portrayed him in such a way that his arrogance and unpredictability would put the viewers off.
Among the supporting actors, one of the best was Tillotama Shome. Madhura, she brings all the intensity and determination in her courtroom appearances. While Arjun is always second-guessing himself, Madhura becomes the voice which is unwilling to back down. I found the interplay between the two lawyers quite interesting because both do not just try to win a case; rather, they fight for their own visions of justice. Some of the most powerful scenes of the movie are those where the two lawyers engage in an argument inside the courtroom.
It is a shame that the Netflix movie Ikka did not give due consideration to fleshing out some of the other characters as well. Dia Mirza and Sanjeeda Shaikh are very effective in their respective roles, but do not seem to be doing justice to their role considering the vital part that they play in the emotional drama between Arjun and Shauryaman.
Where Ikka fails to build up momentum is through its storyline. There is enough plot to generate a very good thriller, but the script ends up dragging out many scenes. A number of twists are incorporated to heighten the level of intrigue in the film, but most of them are too predictable for their own good. Rather than building up suspense, they end up slowing down the plot instead.
But the worst thing is about the ending. I am not going to reveal anything here, but after all the build-up of drama and legal conflicts, it seems the movie ends far too fast. It appears that the movie just wanted to get to its end rather than giving enough breathing room to the most important parts of the movie.
Netflix Ikka Review: Summing Up
Overall, the 2026 Ikka movie is an engaging courtroom drama thanks to its acting performances and the moral dilemma that revolves around Arjun. Sunny Deol offers one of the subtlest performances that we’ve seen in a while, Akshaye Khanna confirms yet again why he’s such a great choice for morally questionable characters, and Tillotama Shome makes quite an impact even though she is on screen for less time than most other characters. However, the story that unfolds is rather predictable and lacks consistency and pacing, making it fail as a compelling legal thriller that it sets out to become.
