O’ Romeo Review (2026): Vishal Bhardwaj’s Bloody Valentine Is Poetic, Messy, and Unmissable
Release Date: February 13, 2026 Director: Vishal Bhardwaj Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Triptii Dimri, Nana Patekar, Avinash Tiwary, Farida Jalal, Tamannaah Bhatia, Disha Patani, Vikrant Massey Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala Music: Vishal Bhardwaj | Lyrics: Gulzar Genre: Action / Crime / Romance Runtime: 178 minutes Certificate: A (Adults Only) Streaming: Amazon Prime Video (post-theatrical) Our Rating: ★★★ / 5
When Gulzar Meets Gunfire — Welcome to Vishal Bhardwaj’s Mumbai
There’s something almost audacious about releasing a film like O’ Romeo on Valentine’s Day weekend. No roses, no soft-focus romance — just razor blades, revenge, and the kind of love that burns everything it touches. And honestly? That’s peak Vishal Bhardwaj.
The filmmaker who gave us Kaminey‘s electric energy and Haider‘s Shakespearean anguish is back — and this time he’s dipping his pen in Mafia ink. O’ Romeo is inspired by a chapter from journalist S. Hussain Zaidi’s book Mafia Queens of Mumbai, which chronicles the real-life story of Sapna Didi, a woman who transformed grief into vengeance in the shadows of Mumbai’s underworld. Bhardwaj takes that seed and plants it in the fertile, bloodsoaked soil of 1990s Bombay, where gangsters are gods and nobody dies clean.
The result? A film that is equal parts spectacular and scattershot — a gangster opera that you won’t forget, even if you can’t entirely love it.
The Story: A Hitman, a Woman with a Death Wish, and a Don Who Deserves Both
The year is 1995. Mumbai — or Bombay, as they still call it here — is run by fear, and fear has a name: the underworld.
At the center of this world stands Ustara (Shahid Kapoor), a cold-blooded hitman who does his killing with the elegance of a barber — literally, using a pair of razor-sharp blades. He’s under the protection of Ismail Khan (Nana Patekar), an Intelligence Bureau officer with his own agenda, ever since a falling out with fugitive gangster Jalal (Avinash Tiwary) put a price on his head.
Ustara’s world gets complicated — and interesting — the moment Afshan (Triptii Dimri) walks into his hideout. She’s a woman wrapped in quiet grief and simmering fury, carrying a hit list: a lawyer, a corrupt cop, and the man who destroyed her life — Jalal. Ustara, who lives by a very particular moral code, finds himself drawn not just to her mission, but to her. What starts as a reluctant partnership becomes something far more dangerous than either of them bargained for.
It’s a love story drenched in blood — and Bhardwaj wouldn’t have it any other way.
Performances: Shahid Kapoor Commands the Screen
Let’s start with what works best: the performances.
Shahid Kapoor as Ustara is a reminder that when this actor is in the right director’s hands, he is genuinely one of the most magnetic screen presences in Bollywood. His Ustara is volatile, street-smart, charismatic, and unpredictably tender. He carries every scene with an effortless intensity — the kind that makes even the most over-the-top moments feel grounded. Does he occasionally veer into performative aggression? Yes. But he commits so fully to the character that you go along with him, almost against your better judgment.
Triptii Dimri holds her own as Afshan, bringing layers of controlled pain to a character who could’ve easily been a one-note revenge figure. She looks like a dream and acts like a firecracker — the combination works beautifully here.
Nana Patekar is, as always, riveting to watch. His Ismail Khan is a man of quiet menace, someone who makes you feel the danger without raising his voice. Every time he’s on screen, you sit up straighter. His chemistry with Shahid is electric, and the film desperately wants more of it.
Avinash Tiwary as the antagonist Jalal gets a role that’s well-written in concept but a little underserved in execution. He’s menacing enough, but the film doesn’t quite allow him to become the towering villain the story needs. Farida Jalal brings warmth and authenticity in her brief appearances, while cameos from Vikrant Massey and Tamannaah Bhatia are enjoyable, even if they don’t add much weight to the narrative.
Direction: Vishal Bhardwaj’s World-Building Is Extraordinary — His Pacing, Less So
Here’s the thing about Vishal Bhardwaj: even his flawed films feel like events. And O’ Romeo is no exception.
The world he constructs — the gritty bylanes of 1990s Mumbai, the brothels and church confessionals, the interplay of religion and crime, the Bollywood-underworld nexus — is alive and breathing. There are individual scenes in this film that are simply breathtaking. A hit job carried out in a cinema hall while “Dhak Dhak Karne Laga” plays in the background is inspired filmmaking. A scene involving a character wearing sindoor under a burqa becomes a quiet commentary on Indian identity without a single line of explicit dialogue. These are the moments that remind you why Bhardwaj is in a league of his own.
But at 178 minutes, the film struggles with its own ambition. The first half builds patiently — maybe a little too patiently. Bhardwaj is a filmmaker who believes in earning his emotions, but there are stretches where the pacing becomes a test of audience loyalty. The second half, while more propulsive, brings some jarring tonal shifts — including an extended sequence set in Spain that feels dramatically disconnected from the Mumbai soul of the story.
The screenplay, co-written by Bhardwaj, is the film’s weakest link. For all its stylistic confidence, the narrative loses emotional clarity in the second half, and the climax — the moment the whole film is building toward — lands with less impact than it deserves.
Music: Gulzar’s Poetry in a World of Gunshots
If there’s one thing about O’ Romeo that is purely, unambiguously excellent, it’s the music.
Vishal Bhardwaj composing for Gulzar’s poetry in a crime drama is one of those rare gifts that Bollywood occasionally offers. The songs are atmospheric, soulful, and perfectly calibrated to the film’s emotional register. Bhardwaj uses music as a narrative device rather than a commercial interrupt — a philosophy that elevates even the film’s more melodramatic moments. The soundtrack doesn’t just accompany the story; it breathes life into it.
Some critics feel the song placements could have been sharper, and that’s fair. But as a body of work, the music of O’ Romeo is among the best of the year.
Cinematography and Technical Craft: Visual Brilliance
Credit where it’s due — O’ Romeo looks magnificent. The cinematography captures the seedy glamour of 1990s Bombay with a painter’s eye, using shadow and neon, grime and gold, to create a visual world that feels simultaneously authentic and heightened. The action sequences are stylishly choreographed, particularly the opening fight scene that establishes Ustara’s character in one gloriously violent flourish.
This is a film that rewards being watched on the big screen. It has a scale and a visual ambition that demands it.
What Works, What Doesn’t
What works beautifully:
- Shahid Kapoor’s committed, electric performance as Ustara
- Nana Patekar’s effortlessly menacing screen presence
- Vishal Bhardwaj’s atmospheric world-building in 1990s Bombay
- Gulzar’s music — poetic, haunting, and perfectly placed
- Individual set pieces and scenes that are genuinely brilliant
- Triptii Dimri holding her own against powerhouse co-stars
What lets it down:
- A screenplay that loses its grip in the second half
- A runtime that could have been trimmed by at least 25-30 minutes
- The Spain sequence that breaks the film’s Mumbai rhythm
- An underwritten villain who doesn’t quite rise to the occasion
- A climax that doesn’t match the film’s own emotional build-up
O’ Romeo vs. Bhardwaj’s Earlier Work: Is It Worth the Comparison?
Inevitably, any Bhardwaj film invites comparison to Haider, Kaminey, and Omkara. It’s a burden O’ Romeo both earns and struggles under.
This film is not Haider. It doesn’t carry that film’s devastating emotional precision or its Shakespearean architecture. It’s not quite Kaminey either — that film’s breakneck energy and tonal playfulness are largely absent here. But it sits comfortably in the same universe: a world where love is self-destructive, morality is a gray zone, and poetry can coexist with violence.
If you walk in expecting a masterpiece, you may be let down. If you walk in expecting a genuinely ambitious, imperfect, visually extraordinary piece of mainstream Indian cinema — one that takes real creative risks — you’ll find plenty to admire.
Should You Watch O’ Romeo?
Yes — with a caveat.
Go in knowing this is a film that demands patience, especially in the first half. Go in knowing the second half doesn’t fully deliver on the promise of the first. Go in knowing this is not Bhardwaj at his very best. And go in knowing it has an A certificate for a reason — the violence is graphic, the language is strong, and this is definitively not a family outing.
But also go in knowing you’ll see Shahid Kapoor give one of the performances of his career. You’ll see a master filmmaker do extraordinary things with atmosphere and music. You’ll see Gulzar’s poetry find unlikely beauty in a world of razor blades and gangland betrayal.
And oh — don’t leave when the credits begin. There’s a mid-credit scene that hints at a sequel, and it’s worth waiting for.
O’ Romeo is flawed, sprawling, and sometimes frustrating. It’s also, in flashes, absolutely magnificent. Like any good opera, it demands surrender — and if you give it that, it has something real to offer.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | February 13, 2026 |
| Director | Vishal Bhardwaj |
| Producer | Sajid Nadiadwala |
| Lead Cast | Shahid Kapoor, Triptii Dimri, Nana Patekar |
| Music | Vishal Bhardwaj / Gulzar |
| Runtime | 178 minutes |
| Certificate | A (Adults Only) |
| Streaming | Amazon Prime Video |
| Our Rating | ★★★ / 5 |
Have you watched O’ Romeo? Drop your thoughts in the comments below — we’d love to know if you think the chaos was worth it!
Tags: O Romeo, Shahid Kapoor, Vishal Bhardwaj, Triptii Dimri, Bollywood 2026, movie review, gangster film, Valentine’s Day movie, Nana Patekar, Gulzar, Bollywood action, Amazon Prime Video, O Romeo review
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