Kartavya (transl. Duty) is a 2026 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film written and directed by Pulkit. The film is produced by Gauri Khan under the banner Red Chillies Entertainment. It stars Saif Ali Khan, Rasika Dugal, Sanjay Mishra, Zakir Hussain with Saurabh Dwivedi in a special appearance. The film was officially announced on 3 February 2026 by Netflix. It was released on 15 May 2026.
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Plot
Inspector Pawan Malik is a Police inspector in the fictional small town of Jhamli who one day is deputed to provide security to a journalist. While escorting the journalist who is in a separate vehicle, they are intercepted by two bike-borne shooters. In the ensuing shootout, the journalist and one of the shooters is killed, and the other shooter escapes while Ashok, Pawan's subordinate is shot in the arm. Investigations reveal that the escaped shooter is a 16 year old boy Harpal, who has been told to carry out the shooting by one Anand Shri, a local spiritual guru. Anand Shri's men try to silence Harpal, to prevent him from revealing the journalist's murder plot to the police, but he manages to evade them. After the police arrest Harpal, Pawan realises he's just a child and a pawn, and takes pity on him. He promises Harpal that he'll keep him safe.
Meanwhile, Pawan’s brother Deepak, who is in love with Preeti, a woman from a different caste, elopes with her and secretly marries her because both their families oppose their inter-caste relationship. This angers both the fathers as well as the village panchayat who decide to carry out honour killings of Deepak and Preeti. Pawan takes Deepak and Preeti to a safehouse, telling them to lie low for a few days before disappearing.
