Shikar (2026): A Thriller That Hunts Its Own Audience
Shikar — the Odia word for "hunt" — drops you into a case that spirals from straightforward to lethal in roughly 146 minutes. It's a film about a lawyer who thinks she's closing in on the truth and doesn't realize until too late that she's become the prey.
The setup sounds clean enough: Prakash, an ordinary family man, asks young advocate Parimita to secure bail for his friend Samir, who's accused of murdering his wife Asha and their seven-year-old son Tanmay. But every answer Parimita uncovers creates three new problems. By the midpoint, you're not tracking a simple criminal case — you're watching someone walk deeper into a conspiracy that's designed to catch her.
Released theatrically on 12 June 2026, Shikar is a Moon TV Movies production directed by Mrutyunjaya Sahoo. It's a serious genre play, not filler. And it's worth your time if you're tired of thrillers that rush the investigation to get to the action sequence.
Cast, Runtime, and What You're Actually Signing Up For
Here's what matters upfront:
- Runtime: 146 minutes (2 hours 26 minutes)
- Lead: Amlan Das as Prakash
- Supporting cast: Elina Samantray, Supriya Nayak, Gyana Hota, Pradyumna Lenka
- Language: Odia
- Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Drama
- Rating: 0/10 (no consensus reviews available yet on major aggregators)
That 0/10 rating? Don't read too much into it. It usually means either the film is too recent to have accumulated user reviews on platforms like IMDb or Moviebuff, or the aggregator hasn't populated the score yet. Theatrical releases from smaller regional industries sometimes lag behind on scoring infrastructure.
Elina Samantray carries particular weight here — she's an established name in Odia cinema, which signals the production took the cast seriously. Amlan Das, in the Prakash role, maintains this unsettling calm throughout. You're never quite sure if he's an innocent man or someone very carefully controlling what you see. That ambiguity — held without overplaying it — is surprisingly difficult to sustain across a 2.5-hour runtime.
How the Film Actually Works: Procedural First, Conspiracy Second
Director Mrutyunjaya Sahoo structures this less like a conventional whodunit and more like an actual hunt. The first act is deliberately procedural — interrogation rooms, legal paperwork, the slow accumulation of inconsistent statements. Some viewers will find this tedious. They'll be wrong (though I understand the impulse).
By the time Parimita starts realizing the case has teeth — that hidden secrets and unexpected suspects keep emerging — the film's already trained you to pay attention to small details. The visual language leans into that claustrophobia: tight interiors, faces held in close-up during questioning, camera work that makes every room feel smaller than it should. When the conspiracy's shape begins to emerge in the second half, you've already internalized the world's logic.
What's striking is that the screenplay doesn't hand Parimita clean leads. She earns each revelation through risk, and that friction — the sense that every question brings her closer to danger rather than answers — is where the thriller mechanics actually grip you.
Where to Stream Shikar (and Why Regional Availability Matters)
Shikar is available on major OTT platforms, but which one depends entirely on your region. The exact streaming lineup for Odia-language titles can shift faster than English-language catalog titles, so checking a dedicated tracker beats guessing.
Movie OTT aggregates real-time streaming availability across platforms — you can check which service has Shikar in your region without clicking through five different apps. If you're in India, it'll likely be on one of the major services already. If you're outside India, availability gets patchier, though the film's theatrical classification as a mainstream suspense drama (not a niche art-house release) suggests reasonably wide digital distribution.
Honestly, bookmark the Movie OTT page if the title isn't live in your region yet. Regional Indian thrillers don't always stay on the same platform for long, so the where-to-watch widget is your most reliable snapshot of current availability.
If You Liked This, Watch It
If you appreciated the slow-burn mystery mechanics of something like Andhadhun or the procedural rigor of Badla, Shikar delivers on that same wavelength — a case that deepens rather than simplifies as you move through it. The hunter-and-hunted reversal is the film's real engine, not the final reveal.
That said, don't expect action set-pieces carrying the third act. This is psychological tension built through dialogue, staging, and the mounting realization that you — like Parimita — may have missed something crucial. If you need your thrillers loud and fast, the deliberate first act will test your patience.
The Thing Nobody Mentions About Odia Genre Cinema
Regional Indian cinema doesn't always get national platform attention, and that's a genuine gap. Shikar is exactly the kind of title that proves why that matters — it's a competent, craft-forward thriller that would draw conversation if it were in Hindi or Tamil. The fact that it's in Odia doesn't make it less ambitious or less well-executed. It just means you have to look slightly harder to find it.
Movie OTT keeps tabs on exactly this kind of regional release, so you don't have to hunt for it yourself — the tracking is already done.
Quick Facts You'll Want to Know
Who directed Shikar? Mrutyunjaya Sahoo (sometimes credited as Mrutyunjaya Sahu). Moon TV Movies produced it.
What's the actual plot? Prakash hires advocate Parimita to bail out his friend Samir, accused of a double murder. Parimita digs deeper. The case doesn't make sense. Then it makes too much sense, and she realizes she's in danger.
Is this a remake? No — there's a 1968 Hindi film called Shikar, but this is entirely separate. Different language, different story, different era.
How do I know if it's actually good? The lack of aggregated reviews means you're basically reading the premise and deciding if it speaks to you. If slow-burn mystery thrillers with procedural groundwork appeal to you, it's worth the time. If you're skeptical, start with something else and come back to it.
Should I watch it in one sitting? At 146 minutes, it's doable. But this isn't a film designed for background watching — you'll miss the details that matter. Give it your actual attention, or don't bother.
Bottom Line
Shikar won't grab every viewer. It asks for patience in the early going, and it doesn't explain everything neatly at the end. But it delivers exactly what the title promises: a hunt in which the roles of hunter and hunted keep reversing, and the person asking the questions slowly realizes they're the one being tracked.
It's a solid regional thriller with real craft behind it. Stream it when you're in the mood for a mystery that trusts you to keep up.
