The Ikkis Trailer Is Finally Here
Set during the 1971 Indo–Pakistan War, the film releases on January 1, 2026
The final trailer of the much-awaited Maddock film of the year, Ikkis, finally dropped yesterday.
Directed by Sriram Raghavan, the Maddock Films production tells the story of Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal, India’s youngest Param Vir Chakra awardee, who was killed in action during the 1971 Indo–Pakistan War at just 21.
The Trailer
Yes, there are tanks. There’s gunfire. There’s dust, uniforms, and the familiar rhythm of a war film. But Ikkis is careful about where it places its emphasis. The action exists, but it never takes over. Instead, the trailer keeps pulling you back to the quieter stuff—moments with family, flashes of a young romance, a father processing a loss.
A lot of trailer is action, yes – of course it’s showing the bravado of the soldier who sacrificed his life in the battlefield. But more than that, we see glimpses of silences and love and what happens after the war ends. To put it simply, Ikkis isn’t interested in spectacle for its own sake. It’s interested in aftermath of war.
There is also no overstating the emotional gravity of Dharmendra’s presence here. As Brigadier ML Khetarpal, Arun’s father, his scenes in the trailer are sparse—but devastatingly effective. One line, delivered with weary clarity—“Woh hamesha ikkis ka hi rahega”—does more narrative work than any montage could.
Knowing that Ikkis marks Dharmendra’s final on-screen appearance adds an unavoidable layer of poignancy, but the trailer never leans into that sentimentality. Instead, his performance becomes the film’s emotional anchor—a reminder that every act of valour creates a long shadow for those left behind.
The Character at the Centre: Agastya Nanda
For Agastya Nanda, Ikkis marks a defining turn. This is his first theatrical release after The Archies, and the trailer makes it clear that the film is deliberately positioned as a departure—not just in scale, but in sensibility. His portrayal of Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal is marked by restraint. There’s no overt heroism telegraphed here. Instead, what emerges is a portrait of a young officer navigating duty, fear, loyalty, and the understanding of courage.
What gives the character depth is the trailer’s insistence on context. Arun isn’t presented as a symbol first; he’s shown as a son, a trainee, a soldier learning the weight of command.
The Supporting World
Jaideep Ahlawat plays a senior army commander, and from what the trailer suggests, his role is less about authority and more about memory. He seems to function as the film’s moral compass and his role appears to frame Arun’s actions within a larger institutional and historical memory—how the army remembers its fallen, and how those memories are carried forward.
The wider ensemble—Ekavali Khanna, Sikandar Kher, Shree Bishnoi, Vivaan Shah, among others—appears positioned to flesh out a lived-in military ecosystem rather than orbit a single protagonist.
This film also marks the debut of Simar Bhatia, the niece of actor Akshay Kumar, who plays Agastya’s love interest in the film.
The Stakes
Set during the Battle of Basantar, Ikkis arrives at a time when audiences are far more alert to how patriotism is packaged on screen. Raghavan has said the film avoids turning Arun Khetarpal into a superhero, and the trailer sticks to that promise.
This is not a film chasing applause breaks; it’s asking viewers to sit with grief, courage, and the permanence of loss.
Ikkis lands in theatres on January 1, 2026.