Wild Dog

Wild Dog is a 2021 Telugu action thriller written and directed by debutant Ahishor Solomon and produced by Matinee Entertainment, with Nagarjuna as a National Investigation Agency officer hunting a terrorist. Dia Mirza, Saiyami Kher, Bilal Hossein and Atul Kulkarni co-star, and S. Thaman scored the music. Drawing on real terror cases, including the 2007 Gokul Chat blast and the capture of Yasin Bhatkal, it was released in cinemas on 2 April 2021 to largely positive reviews but failed at the box office.

What the story is about

On 13 February 2010 a bomb explodes at a bakery in Pune, killing many. Two weeks later the Home Ministry hands the case to the NIA, and its top officer Vijay Varma, known as “Wild Dog”, is brought back by his friend and senior, DIG Hemanth. Working from CCTV footage, a survivor’s description and an earlier tip-off about 50 kilograms of RDX being moved across the Andhra–Tamil Nadu border, Vijay and his team identify the bomber as Khalid of the Indian Mujahideen, and the film follows their methodical hunt for him.

Cast and crew

• Nagarjuna as NIA agent Vijay Varma, “Wild Dog”
• Dia Mirza as Priya Varma
• Saiyami Kher as NIA agent Arya Pandit
• Atul Kulkarni as DIG Hemanth
• Bilal Hossein as Khalid, based on Yasin Bhatkal
• Ali Reza as NIA agent Ali Reza
• Anish Kuruvilla as Vinod

Writer and director: Ahishor Solomon. Production: Matinee Entertainment. Music: S. Thaman. Cinematography: Shaneil Deo. Action: David Ismalone. Runtime: 127 minutes.

Making the film

Announced in December 2019, the film was shot in Hyderabad and Goa, and about 70% was complete by February 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic stopped production. Filming resumed in September 2020 and wrapped in November after schedules in Leh, Manali and Jammu. It was first reported as a Netflix original, but in March 2021 the makers withdrew from the digital deal to release it in cinemas, as Cinema Express reported.

Reviews and box office

Neeshita Nyayapati of The Times of India gave it three out of five, praising Solomon for an action film “devoid of any commercial elements”. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu felt better writing in the first hour could have raised the bar, but singled out the action, cinematography and Thaman’s score. Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost (three out of five) found the characters too familiar to surprise, The Hans India wanted a tighter screenplay, and Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express said it “more or less feels like a television film”.

Commercially it did not work: The Times of India reported that it ended up “a colossal flop”, and The Hans India published its closing collections.

Where to watch Wild Dog

According to Wikipedia, Wild Dog premiered on Netflix on 22 April 2021, with dubbed Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil versions. We have not checked the current Netflix listing, so availability in your region may differ.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Wild Dog and the reviews and reports it cites, linked above; our own cast and crew records.