Kartavya Review Roundup: Saif Ali Khan's Netflix Cop Drama

Kartavya, a police drama with Saif Ali Khan as Inspector Pawan Malik, arrived on Netflix on May 15, 2026. It is written and directed by Pulkit and produced by Gauri Khan's Red Chillies banner. The reviews were mixed, and the spread between them is unusually wide.

The film

According to Wikipedia, the film runs 108 minutes. Saif Ali Khan plays Inspector Pawan Malik. Rasika Dugal, Sanjay Mishra and Zakir Hussain are in the supporting cast. Pulkit wrote and directed it, and Red Chillies Entertainment produces. It is a direct-to-Netflix release, so there are no theatrical collections to report.

The reviews

The published scores range widely. Rotten Tomatoes lists 25 per cent from 12 reviews, which is a low score from a small sample. Individual outlets gave: Indian Express 1.5 out of 5, Rediff 2, Hindustan Times 2.5, NDTV 3, [IndiaToday.in](http://IndiaToday.in) 3 and Filmfare 3.5.

The difference between the Indian Express at 1.5 and Filmfare at 3.5 is two full stars on a five-star scale, which is rare. It tells us that the film divides critics on taste, not that one side is clearly wrong. The median of those six scores is 2.75.

Saif Ali Khan's year

Kartavya is one of two Saif Ali Khan titles in 2026 coverage. The other is Haiwaan, Priyadarshan's remake of Oppam, in which he appears with Akshay Kumar. It opened on September 11 and closed at about ₹15 crore worldwide on Koimoi's figures against a reported budget of ₹130 crore to ₹150 crore. Indian Express reported that Priyadarshan ruled out serious films with Akshay Kumar after the result.

Saif's next projects, according to the sources we reviewed, are a Netflix series, Hum Hindustani, and an untitled Excel Entertainment thriller that is in the writing stage. Neither has a confirmed release date.

Streaming and expectations

A streaming release cannot be judged by box office, and Netflix does not publish daily figures for individual films. We did not find an official viewership number for Kartavya, so we make no claim about its reach.

What we can say is that Red Chillies, the production house behind King, has two very different releases connected to it this year: a streaming police drama in May and a large theatrical film in December. Their audiences and budgets are not comparable.

What the critics' divide suggests

When critics split this widely, the safest advice is to look at what each reviewer praised and criticised. The sources we reviewed give scores but not full texts for all of them, and we have not paraphrased reviews we did not read in full. A reader who wants more detail should open the individual reviews.

What we do not know

We do not know the budget. We do not know the film's viewership. We do not know whether Netflix will commission more films from Pulkit. And we have not seen any official statement from Saif Ali Khan or the producers on the reception.

Two releases, two routes

Saif's 2026 shows both sides of the current market. Kartavya went straight to Netflix in May and drew a mixed critical response. Haiwaan went to theatres in September and drew a very small audience. The first has no published numbers, and the second has clear ones. That asymmetry is a real limit on any comparison between the two, and we do not claim that one did better than the other.

The bottom line

Kartavya is a 108-minute police drama that critics scored anywhere from 1.5 to 3.5 out of 5. If the premise and the cast appeal, it is available on Netflix; if reviews are your guide, expect a divided response.

Sources

*Cover photo: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Chief_Guest_Actor_Saif_Ali_Khan_addressing_at_the_closing_ceremony_of_the_41st_IFFI-2010,_at_Panaji,_Goa_on_December_02,_2010_%281%29.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Chief_Guest_Actor_Saif_Ali_Khan_addressing_at_the_closing_ceremony_of_the_41st_IFFI-2010,_at_Panaji,_Goa_on_December_02,_2010_%281%29.jpg)* (GODL-India).*