Anurag Kashyap's 'Nishaanchi' Marks His Theatrical Comeback with Amazon MGM

Gangsters. Grit. Guns. And a major OTT giant going full masala theatrical.

Bollywood’s master of messy morality and underground realism, Anurag Kashyap, is officially back with Nishaanchi, a gangster thriller that promises to revisit the dark, pulsating streets that made Gangs of Wasseypur a cult. The film is scheduled to release in theatres on September 19, 2025.

And what’s wild? The backing. It’s not Phantom Films this time—Kashyap’s long-brewing script found its godfather in Amazon MGM Studios, marking one of the first major Hollywood + Bollywood collabs that’s genuinely creative-first. In Kashyap’s words, it felt like going back to the days when his best work got the right kind of support.

The Storyline: Nishaanchi follows the turbulent journey of two brothers who take starkly different paths in life think crime, betrayal, and the classic Kashyap themes of power, redemption, and everything in between. It’s all about the consequence emotional, political, and violent.

Casting Curveball: The film is headlined by Aaishvary Thackeray, yes, from that Thackeray lineage. But don’t dismiss him as another political scion cashing in—he cut his teeth as an assistant director on Bajirao Mastani. Joining him are rising stars like Vedika Pinto, Monika Panwar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and the ever-reliable Kumud Mishra.

Why This Matters for Bollywood: For Amazon MGM, this is more than content play—this is positioning. Theatres in India are still kingmakers, and a gritty gangster epic backed by an iconic indie director is a signal to the industry: the OTT giant wants prestige and pop appeal.

Nishaanchi could be Kashyap’s return to theatrical relevance, a comeback on his own terms. It’s retro, it’s violent, it’s emotional—and in a sea of sanitized Bollywood, that might just be its greatest asset.