Bhagwat Chapter One: Raakshas (stylized as Bhagwat – Chapter 1: Raakshas) is an Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film directed by Akshay Shere. The story revolves around a prostitution racket and the investigation that follows. Produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Pammi Baweja, Harman Baweja, Kanishk Gangwal, and Vipin Agnihotri, the film is a joint production of Jio Studios, Baweja Studios, and Dog 'n' Bone Pictures. It stars Arshad Warsi as Inspector Vishwas Bhagwat and Jitendra Kumar as Sameer, a professor, in the lead roles, with Devas Dikshit, Tara Alisha Berry, Hemant Saini, and Ayesha Kaduskar in supporting roles. The story has similarity with infamous Cyanide Mohan case. The film is scheduled to premiere on ZEE5 on 17 October 2025. == Plot == The story begins in Robertsganj, Uttar Pradesh, in October 2009, with the disappearance of a young woman named Poonam Mishra. A frantic woman tells her husband about their daughter not coming back home. But initial responses are dismissive. Poonam has gone missing, but money, jewellery, and even some bridal wear are also missing. So local police are being pretty reasonable to assume it’s a simple elopement. One policeman even says she was dark-skinned, so she had no marriage prospects. They say she used to have her phone glued to her ears all night long. A local politician builds the “love jihad” narrative around it. He and his minions claim a Muslim man is behind the disappearance. There are riots and riot police, and protestors face off in the streets. Bhagwat arrives in town in this politically charged atmosphere. Bhagwat scolds his new underlings for not being thorough with the case. For instance, they have not checked her call records. Bhagwat assures Poonam’s father that he will get her daughter back within 15 days. The politician visits him, too, but Bhagwat is not intimidated. In fact, it is the politician who leaves with his head bowed. One of Bhagwat’s underlings says it is not necessary that the women are linked. For he knew of a case in which a man abducted and killed young girls in a town not far from there. Some said he used to sacrifice them for some nefarious aims. Bhagwat drops the bomb: he knows the case, for his sister was one of those sacrificed girls. She disappeared when he was 17 and she was 13. The police eventually do check the phone records and discover a phone number to which Poonam used to talk the most. They dig deeper and discover it is the phone number of a labourer. But it was mostly used by a girl called Kaushalya. Oh, and she has also been missing for 7 months. And her name leads to another missing girl in some other town. And so on. The police discover a phone number from one of the missing women. It’s written on the calendar. An out-of-place love story runs parallel to this narrative of missing women. It involves a man who calls himself Sameer (Kumar) and a woman called Mira. Sameer and Mira have a random encounter one day. Sparks fly. Mira cannot resist Sameer’s charms, and she falls in love. Sameer takes her on a romantic date in a restaurant and asks her to wear jeans. She does so, but in the restroom, because her family cannot see her wearing that. As they eat, Sameer says he is a Muslim, so it would be difficult for them to marry. He suggests they should elope. Mira is reluctant as she loves her family. But she loves “Sameer” too. During a Ramayana theatre performance, she contemplates what to do. She knows her traditional parents will never allow her to marry a Muslim man. So she eventually decides to do what Sameer wants her to. The phone number the police discovered at Sandhya’s house is of a photographer called Kavita Shastri who lives near a red-light district. Now, Bhagwat suspects this might be a case of sex trafficking. Perhaps the women were kidnapped to be sold. The pimp is not helpful. He says he doesn’t have local girls because his clients prefer something more exotic. Kavita is currently in Nepal, and when she comes back, Bhagwat and his police officers raid the house. She is found with only a child. Bhagwat confronts her, but she claims to know absolutely nothing. They do discover two phone numbers from her phone, but they are out of service for the time being. Bhagwat asks his officers to keep checking when they become active. One of the numbers does become active, and Bhagwat is informed. They are now triangulating it. They finally have a name: Rajkumar Siritiya. So “Sameer” is really called Rajkumar. Since Bhagwat and his team don’t have solid evidence against him yet, they want to file a minor charge to hold him for some time. The permission is given. They convince Kavita to be a part of their plan as they discover that Kavita is one of Rajkumar’s two wives. The other, the second, is called Sumitra. Although Kavita wants to get back at him, she is also scared of him. She is used as bait to lure Rajkumar out, and finally, he is in police custody. As he is being taken away in the police vehicle, he asks Kavita whether she is all right, knowing fully well that she is the reason he is arrested. In the police station, he is forced to strip. He doesn’t look guilty or contrite, but there is an air of self-assuredness about him that Bhagwat finds grating. Bhagwat orders his men not to let him sleep. Rajkumar’s second wife, Sumitra, is captured as well and brought to the police station. Lots of jewellery is recovered from her home. And at least some of it looks similar to the jewellery of the missing women. During the interrogation, Rajkumar provokes Bhagwat, and in response, the latter beats him. When he is done, Rajkumar, being a classic psychopath, grins and says he is not sure, but he has a couple of broken ribs now. He will use this in his trial. Bhagwat says the day he decides to break ribs, he won’t be able to speak. Still, Rajkumar is a tough nut to crack. The police need a confession or, at the very least, a damning testimony. Sumitra is also questioned and presumably beaten. This bothers Rajkumar, for he really seems to love her. He weeps and requests that the police officers not hurt her. She walks past his jail, dazed. Now, Rajkumar is allowed to sleep, but doesn’t. Now, he wants to talk to Bhagwat. Bhagwat arrives and hands him Sumitra’s confession. Rajkumar says they won’t need it. Now, he tells his story. He says nobody wanted to marry Poonam. He talked a little lovey-dovey with her, and then asked her to marry by eloping. She agreed. They stayed at a certain hotel somewhere. They had sex. He told her he was afraid that she might get pregnant. This freaked her out, and he offered an Ayurvedic contraceptive. It was cyanide. She ingested it and died. By this time, Bhagwat is so furious that he asks for Rajkumar to be taken away. The local police say that a body was found, but they could not identify it, and when nobody claimed it for some time, they cremated it. So poor Poonam has been dead all this time. Bhagwat had promised her father she would be back with him within a fortnight. Now, that cannot happen. He informs the family and apologises. Meanwhile, Rajkumar is all nonchalant about it all. He spouts a bunch of names to the police of the women he has killed. Bhagwat calls him Raakshas (demon). It is revealed that he gave Mira the Ayurvedic “medicine” too, and she, too, apparently ingested it and fell down. So is she dead, too? In a manner of speaking, yes. Responding to Bhagwat’s “Raakshas” comment, Rajkumar later responded that he is actually a hawk. The birds of prey live to 70 years of age, but have to shed wings at about the halfway mark. He is in that transitional stage. So he is certain the police will lose the case against him .On the first day of his trial,he says he will fight the case on his own. He also requests that the judge not call Sumitra to testify. As the trial goes on, Bhagwat and his officers get busy collecting evidence and witnesses to bolster their case. An old associate says that when he was young, he stole jewellery and his theft was discovered, and he was beaten. So he vowed never to leave a task unfinished and never to leave any witnesses. He was also super-smart and had a sharp memory. In the witness box, he claims he didn’t want to marry Poonam, and that was something she wanted. So he refused. But he did not kill her. He weeps, saying he rues the fact that Poonam is dead. This is clearly a ploy to generate sympathy. Poonam’s father is watching this farce and leaves the courtroom. He blames his dead daughter for bringing the family dishonour. Bhagwat discovers a Hindu priest to whom Rajkumar confessed his first murder. But when asked to testify, Rajkumar simply claims the man is lying. Next, Bhagwat has a new lead. He has been thinking about how Rajkumar got so many cyanide pills, as they are not easy to find. He thinks of tiny bottles of perfume that were discovered at Rajkumar’s home. There is a connection, he surmises. Bhagwat eventually tracks the man who supplies Rajkumar. He is convinced to testify. He does so, but again, Rajkumar turns it around. He says he only visited his place to eat keema, which he loved so much. He then wonders aloud whether the man was selling cyanide pills without any permission. The cyanide seller freaks out and claims that he was pressured by the police to give false testimony. Bhagwat has no recourse but to get clinching evidence or eye-witness, or the case is lost. He contemplates shooting Rajkumar to death. But stops. He confesses the same to his wife that he went to end the evil of Rajkumar. But no, the man cannot go off that easily. He has to suffer. In his confession, Rajkumar mentioned a certain Devlok Lodge, where Rajkumar stayed with one of his victims. The police have not discovered what happened to that woman. And that woman is called Mira, whose alleged love story with “Sameer” we followed briefly. Turns out, she didn’t die. She had trouble swallowing pills since her childhood, to the point that she had a phobia. So she did not really ingest that cyanide pill, only licked it. But even that was enough to send her into a coma. When she recovered, she let go of her old life and built a new one. She is now married with a loving husband and even has a little daughter. Bhagwat is told all this by her friend. She requests that the officer not disturb her, as it might destroy her fragile new life. But Bhagwat has no option. He approaches Mira. She is unwilling to risk it all. Bhagwat leaves her with photos of the women Rajkumar has killed.She cries as she looks at the pictures and contemplates what to do. She confesses it all to her husband. He says he can accept “Mira” but not what others will think of them. So it seems Mira will decide not to testify, after all. She might be giving up her husband and even her daughter. Meanwhile, Bhagwat says they cannot just let Rajkumar go to jail on the flimsy charge of fraud. Otherwise, their khaki uniform means nothing. His superior responds that if the world operated according to plan, society wouldn’t have needed the khaki. He asks Bhagwat not to take revenge on behalf of the women and just do his duty. In the courtroom the next day, Mira surprises us by coming to testify against Rajkumar. Hitherto, Rajkumar was relaxed and goofing around. It is only now, worry appears on his face. He looks defeated. Mira’s testimony will now seal his fate. == Cast == Arshad Warsi as DSP Vishwas Bhagwat Jitendra Kumar as Samir Devas Dikshit as Sub Inspector Mahto Tara Alisha Berry Hemant Saini Ayesha Kaduskar as Meera == Marketing == ZEE5 and Jio Studios released the teaser and trailer of Bhagwat – Chapter 1: Raakshas in early October 2025, announcing that the film would premiere on 17 October 2025. == Reception == Rahul Desai of The Hollywood Reporter India said that "Akshay Shere’s police procedural stays busy and sociopolitically alive to the India we live in today." Pritinanda Behera of India Today gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and said that "'Bhagwat Chapter 1 – Raakshas' starts with a promising premise of missing girls and a mysterious professor, but weak storytelling and predictable twists make it an underwhelming crime thriller. Arshad Warsi and Jitendra Kumar give solid performances, but the film fails to leave a lasting impact." Kabir Singh Bhandari of Free Press Journal rated it 3/5 stars and said that "If you're in the mood for a quick crime thriller and want to see Jitendra Kumar in a role he's never done before, watch Bhagwat Chapter One: Raakshas." Aishwarya Vasudevan of OTT Play rated it 2/5 stars and stated that "Despite a compelling performance from Jitendra Kumar, whose quiet menace truly 'kills' it, the plot feels like a rerun—less a fresh hunt and more a walk-through. It lacks the 'depth' to surprise and ultimately feels like a chapter we've already 'read' before." Writing for News 18 Grace Cyril said that "weak suspense and predictable twists make it fall short of its gripping premise." Vinamra Mathur of Firstpost gave 2 stars out of 5 and commented that "Bhagwat plays it too safe, as if afraid or awkward to go all bonkers. There are scenes of sexual tension and police brutality, but the watered-down treatment dilutes all the effectiveness." Sumit Rajguru of Times Now rated it 2.5/5 stars said that "Bhagwat Chapter 1 – Raakshas is an average film that serves the audience nothing but an old wine in the same bottle. You will crave some outstanding moments but end up being disappointed with the watching experience. The two lead actors did good jobs in the performance department, but the spark remains missing from the crime thriller." == References == == External links == Bhagwat Chapter One: Raakshas on ZEE5 Bhagwat Chapter One: Raakshas at IMDb