Kartavya Ending Explained: Are Inspector Pawan And Anand Shri Dead?

Pulkit’s Kartavya builds its conflict around two systems that survive because people continue to protect them: blind faith and social honour. By the time the film reaches its ending, we find SHO Pawan Malik (Saif Ali Khan) confronting an entire ecosystem where caste, religion, masculinity and power have worked together to justify violence for hundreds of years.

But the ending of Kartavya doesn’t offer an easy victory to anybody. The guilty die, but the ideology survives. Pawan manages to punish some of the people responsible for destroying his family, yet he also becomes part of the same cycle of violence he was fighting against.

Why Was The Journalist Killed?

The film begins with a journalist arriving in Jhamli to investigate Anand Shri (Saurabh Dwivedi in his debut acting role), a powerful godman accused of exploiting minors through his ashram. The deeper she digs, the clearer it becomes that Anand Shri’s influence extends far beyond religion. He has political backing, social authority and complete control over vulnerable children who are trapped within his system.

Jhansi’s SHO, Pawan Malik, is tasked with ensuring her safe return, but she is killed by Harpal (Yudhvir Ahlawat), a 16-year-old boy living under Anand Shri’s control. Later, Harpal confesses that he committed the murder in exchange for freedom from the abuse and exploitation inside the ashram. Pawan tries to rescue him from the clutches of Anand Shri, but in vain. 

The Big Betrayals

While Pawan tries to set things right in his village, the two people closest to him are sabotaging him behind his back. One is his father, Harihar (Zakir Hussain), and the other is his colleague, Ashok (Sanjay Mishra).

First, Ashok secretly helps Pawan’s younger brother, Deepak, and his wife, Preeti, hide after their intercaste marriage. On the surface, this looks like an act of kindness. But to Pawan and Deepak’s father, Harihar, his son marrying outside his caste is like a stain on the family and the village’s social order. By hiding the couple, Ashok exposes their location to Harihar and the panchayat, so that they can be killed as per village norms.

Ashok also collaborates with Anand Shri and indirectly contributes to Harpal’s death as well. Once Harpal becomes inconvenient, the corrupt network ensures he is eliminated before the truth can come out.

What Happens At The End Of Kartavya?

In the second half of Kartavya, Nirmal (Saharsh Kumar Shukla), Anand Shri’s right-hand man, reveals to Pawan that Ashok has been betraying him all along. Enraged, Pawan goes on a killing rampage. He plans his vengeance by getting Ashok to meet Nirmal, and killing Nirmal before Ashok can reach the location. Then, when Ashok arrives and confesses to his betrayal, he kills the inspector and reports to his boss Keshav that the murders were caused in an act of self-defence.

Finally, Pawan drags Harihar to a field for a confrontation that leads to the latter’s death. The movie ends with the emotionally shattered inspector returning home to his wife Varsha (Rasika Dugal), and son to a monologue on what it means to do your duty, or Kartavya.

You might think here that the story feels incomplete: after all, the godman is still alive and well. But the point of the movie is to show just how impossible it is to solve the conflict cleanly.

Pawan may have avenged Deepak and punished the immediate perpetrators, but the larger issues remain untouched. The caste system still exists. Mob mentality still exists. Blind devotion still exists. Children are growing up in environments that teach hatred before independent thought can develop. Pawan’s own son chants the village slogan of hate and violence. And by the end, even Pawan becomes consumed by urge to kill the guilty with the same conviction with which the panchayat killed Deepak. 

And so you’re left with the uncomfortable question: what is the line between fighting against evil and fighting for it, if in the end, you end up using the same means as them?