Actress Mrunal Thakur has opened up about why she chose to star in the action‑romance revenge drama Dacoit, calling it a love story that resonated with her on a deeply personal level and describing the role as one “made for me.” The film, co‑starring Adivi Sesh and directed by Shaneil Deo under the backing of Anurag Kashyap, blends gritty crime‑thriller beats with a complex, emotionally charged relationship at its core, a combination that Thakur says drew her to the project instantly.
A love story “with anger and revenge”
In interviews promoting the film’s April 10 theatrical release, Thakur has repeatedly framed Dacoit as a different kind of love story, one that moves beyond the softness of conventional romances and adds anger, heartbreak and the desire for vengeance to the mix. “I have acted in simple love stories, which have had all the ingredients of love, dating, etc. In this, you will see the other side,” she explained, noting that the narrative explores how love can curdle into “a broken heart filled with courage” when betrayal and loss come into play.
She described the central relationship as a two‑sided emotional clash: Adivi Sesh’s character, a man who emerges from prison to confront the lover who wronged him, and her own character, a strong‑willed woman caught in the crossfire of their past and his present rage. For Thakur, this layered dynamic offered a chance to showcase a side of romance that is usually underrepresented in mainstream cinema, particularly for female protagonists who are more often cast in purely nurturing or decorative roles.
Why the project appealed to her
Dacoit also marks Thakur’s first film shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu, shot in locations such as Hyderabad and Bulgaria, giving her a fresh cinematic canvas away from the usual urban‑Bollywood setups she has worked in earlier. At the teaser launch, she described the experience as a “refreshing departure” from her previous roles, even as she acknowledged that her screen time is limited but emphasised that the quality and intensity of the scenes outweigh sheer quantity.
The Telugu‑Bollywood crossover, paired with Anurag Kashyap’s creative involvement and the presence of actors such as Prakash Raj and Atul Kulkarni, further enhanced the project’s appeal as a high‑stakes attempt at a pan‑India, genre‑hybrid film. For Thakur, the combination of a bold narrative, challenging emotions and a multilingual shoot made Dacoit not just another assignment, but a story that “felt meant” for her, a phrase she has stood by in multiple interviews leading up to the release.
Promotional stunts and public buzz
The film’s marketing has also leaned into its edgy, law‑breaking image, including a viral clip in which Thakur appears in a police van wearing handcuffs, which some initially mistook for a real arrest before it was clarified as a spoofed arrest‑style promotional stunt tied to the Dacoit campaign. The makers used the confusion to generate curiosity, turning the short video into a viral talking point that amplified the project’s visibility ahead of the April 10 release.
For Thakur, the attention underlines what she has repeatedly stressed: that Dacoit is less about traditional “love‑and‑roses” storytelling and more about presenting a darker, tougher form of romance one that combines desire, fear, courage and the shadow of crime in a single narrative arc.
-Samuthiran
