Daaku Maharaaj

Daaku Maharaaj (“King of the Bandits”) is a 2025 Telugu action thriller directed and co-written by Bobby Kolli, starring Nandamuri Balakrishna as Sitaram, a civil engineer who becomes the dacoit “Daaku Maharaaj” to protect a drought-hit village from the royal Balwant Singh Thakur (Bobby Deol, in his Telugu debut). It opened in theatres on 12 January 2025 for Sankranti, runs 148 minutes, and has streamed on Netflix since 21 February 2025.

What the story is about

In 1996, Krishnamurthy (Sachin Khedekar), a wealthy philanthropist in Madanapalle, lives with his young granddaughter Vaishnavi. When he reports illegal activity on his leased-out tea estate, a local MLA and his powerful backers start threatening the family. Word reaches a feared dacoit leader known as Daaku Maharaaj, who is locked up in a prison in Bhopal, and he slips out to protect them. The film then cuts back to 1992 in the Chambal region to show how Sitaram, an irrigation engineer sent to help a village starved of water by the Thakur family’s quarries, became that outlaw. We stop at the set-up here.

Cast and characters

• Nandamuri Balakrishna as Sitaram / Daaku Maharaaj
• Bobby Deol as Balwant Singh Thakur
• Shraddha Srinath as Nandini, the district collector
• Pragya Jaiswal as Kaveri, Sitaram’s wife
• Sachin Khedekar as Krishnamurthy and Makarand Deshpande as Govind Gujjar
• Ravi Kishan as MLA Trimurthulu Naidu and Sandeep Raj as his brother Manohar
• Urvashi Rautela as SI Janaki, Aadukalam Naren as a minister, and Chandini Chowdary as Shivani
• Shine Tom Chacko as Inspector Stephen Raj

Crew and music

• Director and co-writer: Bobby Kolli
• Producers: Suryadevara Naga Vamsi and Sai Soujanya (Sithara Entertainments, Fortune Four Cinemas and Srikara Studios)
• Music and background score: Thaman S (songs include “The Rage of Daaku”, “Chinni” and “Dabidi Dibidi”)
• Cinematography: Vijay Kartik Kannan; editing: Ruben and Niranjan Devaramane

The film was announced on Balakrishna’s birthday in June 2023 under the working title NBK109, as his 109th film as a lead actor, and the title was revealed with a teaser in November 2024. Filming began at Ramoji Film City in November 2023 and wrapped in December 2024, with a major schedule in Jaipur.

Release and reception

Daaku Maharaaj was released on 12 January 2025, with Tamil and Hindi dubbed versions following later that month. Reviews were mixed, with Balakrishna’s screen presence, the action and Thaman’s music praised more than the writing. Paul Nicodemus of The Times of India (3.5/5) called it “a high-octane entertainer” and a treat for the star’s fans, and Sashidhar Adivi of Times Now (3/5) liked the first half but found the rest “routine and predictable”. Avinash Ramachandran of The Indian Express (2.5/5) said it “crumbles under the weight of the familiar”, and Srivathsan Nadadhur of The Hindu called it “a mixed bag”.

On box office, Moneycontrol’s year-end list of 2025 Telugu films puts it at over ₹130 crore worldwide, sixth highest among Telugu films of the year.

Where to watch Daaku Maharaaj

Daaku Maharaaj streams on Netflix. It started streaming on 21 February 2025 in Telugu, with Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi dubbed versions.

More Telugu films like this on Tollywood Desk: They Call Him OG, Mass Jathara, Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Daaku Maharaaj and the reviews it summarises; box office from Moneycontrol; our own cast, crew, release and OTT records.