Ikka

On the whole, IKKA rests on the star power of Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna and a few powerful moments. At the same time, the film suffers due to a weak script.

Despite its narrative shortcomings, Ikka remains an intelligent courtroom drama that values moral complexity over easy applause moments. It asks interesting questions, even if it doesn't always dramatise them as effectively as it should.

Sunny Deol-Akshaye Khanna's courtroom drama loses to melodrama, teary mothers and dialoguebaazi. The face off between won’t-defend-the-indefensible Arjun Mehra (Sunny Deol) and entitled rich jerk Shauryaman Gaur (Akshaye Khanna) is your standard battle between the good guy vs the bad guy.

Ikka keeps you guessing; the twists never feel forced. The editing could be a little crisper, but the final blow lets you overlook it.

Tillotama Shome lends conviction to her role, but the writing doesn't give her enough ammunition to make the courtroom duels truly compelling.

Overall, Ikka doesn't leave you debating its twists or admiring its legal fight as the best courtroom dramas often do. Instead, it leaves you wondering how a film with Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna ended up feeling this ordinary.

Packaged as a modern, gritty OTT thriller, Ikka leans heavily on the core DNA of commercial Hindi cinema, a formula that has increasingly been reduced to mere nostalgia. Fuelled by the star-versus-star dynamic, its narrative weight rests on the explosive chemistry between Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna.